Losing Legends and Finding Classic R&B on the Radio

Major artist passings are inherently sad, but some resonate personally, especially Classic R&B acts. My first major promotion at the then-WGCI (Dustyradio 1390) Chicago was a listener cruise headlined by Jerry Butler. By then, he was “the commissioner” for his career in local politics, but he was a consistent friend of our underdog AM music station. Doing R&B Oldies in Chicago also gave me an extra appreciation of his catalog, particularly the Curtis Mayfield-penned Butler hits that had been before my time as a listener. (“He Will Break Your Heart,” remade listlessly by Dawn as “He Don’t Love You” was much better in its original form; that led to discovering  “Find Another Girl.”)

Roberta Flack was one of the few local heroes that a Washingtonian had. In 1979, I saw her in a free concert on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where the power went out, but she picked up her cover of Janis Ian’s “Jesse” with, if anything, more force the second time. Like Bill Withers, she was another artist I learned to appreciate more after getting past the hit singles.

I see no proof now that Roy Ayers was from Washington, but he was such a presence that I assumed he was somehow connected for years. Ayers’ recent obituaries almost always led by mentioning “Everybody Loves the Sunshine.” That one wasn’t a single, but felt like it had previously been there after Mary J. Blige (barely) reworked it for “My Life.” The one I remembered was 1977’s “Running Away,” which kicks off with a drum flourish so ferocious that Phil Collins must have been listening. In 1986, Ayers’s “Hot” was one of the early signatures of KPWR (Power 106) Los Angeles, to the point that even rival KIIS played it.

I don’t have the same personal stories with Gwen McCrae, but “Rockin’ Chair” is the soundtrack of a New York-Florida drive in summer ’75. It was an odd blast of Southern soul in a 3-4 year period full of them, and when American Top 40 listeners convene on Bluesky for every Saturday’s noon rerun, it’s exactly the type of song they’ve come to discuss. I remember hearing the then-new WRKS (Kiss 98.7) play her “Funky Sensation” — even though CHR never would in that early-’80s era — and being excited for her second act.

Several years ago, I wrote that there were more radio choices for Classic Soul. Since then, two of the stations featured have evolved to Adult R&B. Another is playing less ’60s/early ’70s and more ’90s. The format, where it exists, is often unhosted, making it hard to find anybody to commiserate with about Jerry Butler or Roy Ayers. The artist tributes I did come across were more likely to be on weekend specialty shows. (Barry Scott’s The Lost 45s played Flack and featured the show’s previous interview with her.)

Classic soul itself is easier to find these days. Triple-A spices more of it in at odd intervals. Often, you encounter it everywhere but the radio. A few months ago, “You Made a Believer (Out of Me)” by Ruby Andrews, a song that was deep on Dustyradio 1390, was on a random restaurant tape. In Athens for Radiodays Europe, I heard “Across 110^th Street” by Bobby Womack (more enduring in Europe than America) in the airport, and a live DJ playing “Any Love” by Rufus & Chaka Khan (excellent, but obscure anywhere) for runners as I passed the Athens Marathon route.  I can find 90% of the songs on a 1970s R&B radio playlist in streaming.

(There’s also a happy sidenote in the rise of new “Southern Soul” in the spirit of the originals. Atlanta’s Classix 102.9 has switched to a yesterday-and-today mix, on the heels of crosstown WTBS-LD (87.7 The Vibe) debuting an Adult R&B format with a strong Southern Soul Component.)

But there are still Classic R&B outlets, including Urban One’s WPPZ (Classix 107.9) Philadelphia, (the sister of the Atlanta Classix). Here’s WPPZ’s longtime host (and first-generation rapper) Lady B, heard here just before 3 p.m., February 28:

• Loose Ends, “Hangin’ on a String (Contemplatin’)”
• Harold Melvin & Blue Notes, “Wake Up Everybody”
• Michael Jackson, “Human Nature”
• O’Jays, “Darlin’ Darlin’ Baby (Sweet Tender Love)”
• Mary Jane Girls, “All Night Long”
• Funkadelic, “One Nation Under a Groove”
• Keith Sweat, “Twisted”
• Barry White, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”
• A Taste of Honey, “Boogie Oogie Oogie”
• Cameo, “Back and Forth”
• Wreckx-N-Effect, “Rump Shaker”
• Whitney Houston, “You Give Good Love”

KXBS-HD3 (Foxy 106.9) St. Louis is also hosted. When I wrote about it 18 months ago as “the station I couldn’t turn off,” it had just signed on with a mix that already relied heavily on the ’90s/early ’00s. Here’s Foxy 106.9 with Kiki the First Lady at 3:30 p.m., March 6:

• Chaka Demus & Pliers, “Murder She Wrote”
• LL Cool J, “Doin’ It”
• Adele, “Hello”
• Mario, “Space”
• Tyrone Davis, “Turn Back the Hands of Time”
• Whitney Houston, “The Greatest Love of All”
• Tevin Campbell, “Round and Round”
• Joe, “Stutter”
• Avery*Sunshine, “Call My Name”
• Kiana Lede, “Natural”
• Sade, “Paradise” — oddly, the second time I had heard it that afternoon; it was on SiriusXM’s late-’70s/’80s R&B channel The Groove a few hours earlier

WHKO-HD-3 (The Soul of Dayton) is leaning newer since I last wrote about it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t still surprise me. It’s just with different songs now. Here’s the station at 3:45 p.m., March 6:

• War, “Gypsy Man”
• Case, “Touch Me, Tease Me”
• Hi-Five, “I Just Can’t Handle It”
• Rick James, “Cold Blooded”
• Eddie Murphy, “Put Your Mouth on Me”
• Zapp, “Computer Love”
• O’Jays, “Back Stabbers”
• Karyn White, “Romantic”
• Brandy, “Almost Doesn’t Count”
• Luther Vandross, “I Really Didn’t Mean It”
• Ray Parker Jr., “The Other Woman”

Eighteen months ago, SiriusXM’s Smokey’s Soul Town moved channels, went unhosted, and reimaged itself around vignettes from Motown legend Smokey Robinson. The station is still ’60s/’70s-based, to differentiate it from the late ’70s/’80s The Groove. Here’s Smokey’s Soul Town at 5:15 p.m., March 6:

• Staple Singers, “I’ll Take You There”
• Edwin Starr, “Twenty-Five Miles”
• Archie Bell & Drells, “Tighten Up”
• Jimmy Charles, “A Million to One”
• Four Tops, “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)”
• Barbara Lewis, “Baby I’m Yours”
• Temptations, “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”
• James Brown, “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”
• Sam Cooke, “Frankie and Johnny”
• Barry White, “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby”
• Mary Wells, “Two Lovers” — with a Smokey intro about being assigned her production for the first time.

Last year, I profiled the two British DAB outlets specializing in Classic R&B. That prompted a mention in the comments of Tom Lawler’s Jammin’ 105, a tribute to the onetime New York Rhythmic Oldies outlet. That station is celebrating 15 years and is a particularly good source for some of the disco and R&B titles that crossed over in New York, but not elsewhere. Here’s Jammin’ 105 at 5:40, March 6:

• Prince, “Kiss”
• Sly & Family Stone, “Thank You (Falettinmebemicelfagain)”
• Diana Ross/Supremes & Temptations, “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”
• Robert Palmer, “Every Kinda People”
• Johnnie Taylor, “Disco Lady”
• Stevie Wonder, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”
• Teena Marie, “Square Biz”
• Teddy Pendergrass, “I Don’t Love You Anymore”
• Aretha Franklin, “Think”
• Lost Generation, “The Sly, the Slick, and the Wicked”
• Des’ree, “You Gotta Be”
• Jacksons, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”
• Madonna, “Into the Groove”
• Blondie, “Heart of Glass”
• First Choice, “Dr. Love”