Milwaukee’s Radio Disc Jockeys Stimulated a Generation of R&B and Jazz Lovers

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Hoyt “Dr. Bop” Locke

Hoyt “Dr. Bop” Locke

Prior to the 1990s, Milwaukee teenagers and their parents grooved on mellow sounds of vinyl records spun on radio by often legendary Black and white disc jockeys. In the 1953-1963 golden age of original Black rhythm and blues, they were just as important locally as nationally renowned R&B pioneer Alan Freed—and Dick Clark, who went on to gain fame on TV’s “American Bandstand.”

Over the years, popular, well-known Black DJs gracing the airways here included Eddie O’Jay (in his pre-New York days), WAWA’s Hoyt “Dr. Bop” Locke, O.C. White, Jim Frazier and Mannie Mauldin Jr., whose catch phrase was, “It takes both the black and white keys on the piana, to play the Star Spangled Banna.”

Through their efforts—which included emceeing R&B concerts—this unique music hit its peak in listenability and danceability while performed most effectively by Black recording artists. Milwaukee teens poured into Radio Doctors at Third and Garfield Ave. and Third and Meinecke, and Music Mart on Third near West Center Street to buy the jams and, occasionally, talk in person to the DJs, who occasionally visited.

When I first heard the Spaniels’ haunting “Baby, It’s You” (1953)—still the best R&B record of all time—I was hooked on radio DJs. And a few years later, I was lucky enough to trade R&B and doo-wop insights in person, and by phone, with WRIT’s white Chuck Dunaway. 

Rockaway with Dunaway

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Photo: thegreatdeejays.com

Chuck Dunaway

Chuck Dunaway

In the mid-‘50s, the youthful Dunaway—calling himself the “boy disc jockey” on his popular “Rockaway With Dunaway” show—bragged that he co-wrote the teenage Five Notes two-sided Chess Records hit, “Show Me The Way” and “Park Your Love.” On one occasion, he played both continuously in his afternoon program, pausing only for commercials, and saying, “I’m glad I wrote this.” And we loved it.

How well I recall summer nights in 1956, when the Five Notes attracted big crowds on busy Wesst Walnut St. between Sixth and Seventh by wailing away a cappella outside Larry’s Frozen Custard. Billed on colorful posters as “Singing like the Clovers,” they made several local gigs heavily promoted on the air by Dunaway.

Milwaukee’s R&B and jazz disc jockeys were so influential in those days, me and my running buddy, Sam Johnson, emulated them by playing DJ at house parties. We spun hits by the Spaniels, Drifters, El Dorados, Clovers, Counts, Flamingos, Dells, Marvin and Johnny, Drifters, Cadillacs, Johnny Ace, Ruth Brown, Five Keys, Harptones, Danderliers, Diablos and Platters.

“The Dark Side”

When the 90s arrived—while co-hosting WNOV’s “Carter-McGee Report”—I also talked on-air, as an in-studio guest, with Ron Cuzner on WFMR’s “The Dark Side”; with Paul Cebar on WMSE, and on WYMS with blind Greg Drust, Jack “Jr.” Black, my Lincoln High School pal Al Russell, and my future wife, Susan Orr.

While hosting her popular “Jazz in the Afternoon” program, Susan often played Spaniels’ hits such as “Baby, It You,” “Danny Boy,” “You Gave Me Peace of Mind” and their sensational, upbeat version of the classic “Stormy Weather.”

Of course, Milwaukee was only one city caught up in the doo-wop and R&B craze in urban America. This great Black sound was played on 45, 33 and 78 rpm records in New York by Hal Jackson, Douglass (Jocko) Henderson, Tommy (Dr. Jive) Smalls, Bobby Jay, Evelyn Robinson and Mary Louise; in Gary, Ind. by Vivian Carter; in Chicago by Al Benson and Daddy-O-Daley; in Shreveport by Chester “Daddy Yo Hot Rod” McDowell; in Los Angeles by Nathaniel (Magnificent) Montague; in Charlotte by “Chattie Hattie” Leeper, and in Birmingham by Ed Castleberry, who later gravitated north.

Aside from our local DJs, perhaps the most widely listened-to radio program by R&B-happy young Black Milwaukeeans in the 1950s was “Randy’s Record Shop” on clear-channel WLAC in Nashville. Hosted by the Black-sounding, White Hoss Allen and others, the show was heard on car radios on summer nights -- introducing many of us to the likes of Ivory Joe Hunter, Lloyd Price, Dinah Washington, Little Richard, Varetta Dillard, the Chantels, James Brown and his Famous Flames, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Faye Adams and others.

Among the most celebrated R&B personality-disc jockeys to come down the pike was the flamboyant, bearded Wolfman Jack, of “The Midnight Special” fame, who soared to national prominence as a radio DJ in the 1973 hit film American Graffiti. In this funny, melancholy movie about car-cruising teenagers, Wolfman played many original Black R&B hits, turning the soundtrack into a trove of doo-wop and early rock ‘n‘ roll. 

  Near the end, he intoned: “A little kiss on your ear. Goodnight sweetheart, I’ll see you later. Ohhh, the Spaniels.” Throughout his tour de force, the Spaniels were the only group Wolfman named. It was music to my ears, and inspired me to write the authorized biography Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight: The Story of the Spaniels (1995).

Sharing the Royalties

But all was not peaches and cream in DJ land. Alan Freed, credited by some with coining the phrase “rock ‘n’ roll” on his “Moondog Show” in Cleveland, used an early form of payola. For example, with WINS in New Yorkin exchange for airing Moonglows’ hits such as “Most of All,” “Starlite” and “In Love,” he demanded that his name appear on the record label as co-writer with Harvey Fuqua, to share the royalties. 

In 1991, while researching my Spaniels’ book in Gary, Ind., James “Pookie” Hudson—their legendary lead singer-song writer—told me Freed asked for the same thing with the group’s 1954 smash hit, “Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight.” After Pookie righteously refused, Freed never booked the Spaniels for his big shows at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, and never played their records on the air.

Yet, Freed’s efforts to stage a major New York concert were depicted in R&B’s best ever movie, 1978’s American Hot Wax. If you appreciate great DJs, and love original Black R&B, see this film. But for me, it all started listening to radio DJs in my Milwaukee hometown.