[bomp] Re: SO much presence

[HOODOO3005@xxxxxxx]

I was talking about the kind of black music that got played on FM rock  
stations in the seventies:

<<I'm not  talking about the harmony groups like the O'Jays  
or the Spinners,  but more like Stevie Wonder, War, Rufus, Curtis Mayfield, 
Bill  
Withers, Osibisa, etc..>>

<<Mmmmm..... much rarer,  though.  Stevie Wonder was in there, I do remember 
him 
being played  around the time of InnerVisions, but for the most part THESE 
PEOPLE WERE  RARE on the F.M. dial>>
They were rare, BUT THEY WERE THERE. It might have been regional - a friend  
of mine spent half the 70's in Dallas, TX and does not recall hearing Stevie  
Wonder in rotation on the rock stations. Yet, I remember hearing Stevie on the 
 Loop in 1978, before they got on their "disco sucks" jag. 
 
Now, you're partially right - the progressive black acts weren't played AS  
MUCH as Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, etc., but they were in rotation. Here in  
Chicago we had WXFM (Triad Radio), which was a holdover from the last days of  
freeform FM - their playlist included, in addition to the expected staples like  
Led Zeppelin, many of the self-contained funk bands like Rufus, as well as  
fusion, obscure prog rock like Neu, and even that first Ramones album. I know a  
guy whose first exposure to Funkadelic was on WLS-FM ("Love Radio," an ABC 
radio  chain, ca. 1970). Now swing over to Detroit - a guy I just interviewed 
from  Creem magazine on this very topic said that WRIF was playing the first 
Bill  Withers album (although nothing after that). While we're still in Detroit, 
may  as well mention that R&B radio didn't break Isaac Hayes...it was a Motor  
City jazz station that played him first, THEN the underground FM stations, 
and  FINALLY the soul outlets. The "underground" influence must have worked, 
because  Hayes played one of the Fillmores right behind the HOT BUTTERED SOUL 
elpee.  (Besides, the album is a lot more psychedelic than people give it credit 
for  being...)
 
So, black music wasn't featured as much as it should have been on FM rock  
stations back then, but to some small extent it was in the mix. If some CBS rep  
showed up at an album rock station in '73, promoting the Isley Brothers right 
 next to the Edgar Winter Group, I'm almost sure he or she wouldn't be  
laughed out of the building...the Isleys might not have gotten the mass airplay  
that Edgar Winter would have, but it wouldn't be out of the question  either.
 
James

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