Frankie Crocker
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Frankie "Hollywood" Crocker (December 18, 1937 – October 21, 2000) was an American
disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
who helped grow
WBLS WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary formatted FM radio station, licensed to New York City. It is currently owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared services agreement, along with sister stations ...
, the
black music Black music is a sound created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Lati ...
radio station in New York.


Early soul radio

According to popeducation.org, Crocker began his career in Buffalo at the AM Soul powerhouse
WUFO WUFO (1080 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Amherst, New York, and serving the Buffalo metropolitan area. It is owned by the Visions Multi Media Group headed by Sheila. L. Brown and it broadcasts a hybrid Urban AC and Classic Hi ...
(also the home to future greats Gerry Bledsoe, Eddie O'Jay, Herb Hamlett,
Gary Byrd Imhotep Gary Byrd (born March 14, 1949) is an American, New York City-based radio talk show host and executive producer, radio DJ, poet, songwriter, music recording artist and producer, rapper, writer and community advocate/activist. Byrd began h ...
and Chucky T) before moving to
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, where he first worked for Soul station
WWRL WWRL (1600 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City. WWRL airs an all-news radio format as an affiliate of the Black Information Network (BIN). The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. By day, WWRL broadcasts at 25,000 wat ...
and later top-40
WMCA WMCA may refer to: *WMCA (AM), a radio station operating in New York City * West Midlands Combined Authority, the combined authority of the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom *Wikimedia Canada The Wikimedia Foundation, ...
in 1969. He then worked for WBLS as program director, taking that station to the top of the ratings during the late 1970s and pioneering the radio format now known as
urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
. He sometimes called himself the ''"Chief Rocker"'', and he was as well known for his boastful on-air patter as for his off-air flamboyance.


"Moody's Mood for Love"

When
Studio 54 Studio 54 is a Broadway theater and a former disco nightclub at 254 West 54th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company, Studio 54 has 1,006 seats on two levels. The theater was ...
was at the height of its popularity, Crocker once rode in through the front entrance on a white stallion. In the studio, before he left for the day, Crocker would light a candle and invite female listeners to enjoy a candlelight bath with him. He signed off the air each night to the tune "
Moody's Mood For Love "Moody's Mood for Love" is a 1952 song by Eddie Jefferson, whose melody is derived from an improvised solo by jazz saxophonist James Moody (saxophonist), James Moody (and a brief solo in the middle by pianist Thore Swanerud) on a 1949 recording ...
" by vocalese crooner
King Pleasure King Pleasure (born Clarence Beeks; March 24, 1922 – March 21, 1982) was an American jazz vocalist and an early master of vocalese, where a singer sings words to a well-known instrumental solo. Biography Born as Clarence Beeks in Oakdale, Te ...
. Crocker, a native of Buffalo, coined the phrase "
urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
" in the 1970s, a label for the
eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...
mix of songs that he played. He'd been the program director at WWRL and felt held back by what he considered to be the narrow perspective of the station. He quit and was twice re-hired by the station management; "He knew how to attract attention," the chairman of Inner City Broadcasting, Hal Jackson was the owner of WBLS and once said, "We called him Hollywood." By 1979 he was shuttling between the west and east coast, with programming duties at KUTE in L.A. which featured R&B before a format change instituted there and on the east coast at
WBLS WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary formatted FM radio station, licensed to New York City. It is currently owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared services agreement, along with sister stations ...
which he called "Disco and More", relying on his expertise at "finding the music". Speaking to ''Radio Report'' magazine, an industry periodical, Crocker said, "There is nothing I won't play if I hear it and like it and feel it will go for my market". WBLS-FM broke Blondie,
Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...
, Shannon, D Train, all Arthur Baker records, The System,
Colonel Abrams Colonel Abrams (May 25, 1949 – November 24, 2016) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, dancer and actor. Early life Colonel Abrams (his real name) was born in Detroit, Michigan. His family later moved to East 13 Street, in Manhattan's ...
,
Alicia Myers Alicia Myers (born November 20, 1957) is an American R&B musician. Beginning her music career with the band Al Hudson & the Soul Partners, who later evolved into One Way, Myers went on to a moderately successful solo career in the early 1980s, ...
and supermodel
Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...
. He made, " Love is the Message" by
MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bel ...
NYC's unofficial anthem on the radio. WBLS airplay made " Ain't No Stoppin Us Now" by McFadden and Whitehead a favorite cookout, church, wedding and graduation song. "
The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...
" by
the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...
became a hot song in the Black Community. He gave America exposure to an obscure genre called "
Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
" and a little known Jamaican rocker named
Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...
.
Fatback Band The Fatback Band (later, simply Fatback) is an American funk and disco band that was popular in the 1970s and 1980s. The Fatback Band is most known for their R&B hits, "(Do the) Spanish Hustle", "I Like Girls", "Gotta Get My Hands on Some (Mone ...
frontman Bill Curtis credited Crocker with breaking the group in New York.


TV and film career

Crocker was the master of ceremonies of shows at the
Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...
in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
and was one of the first VJs on
VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communic ...
, the cable music
video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...
channel, in addition to hosting the TV series '' Solid Gold'' and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
Friday Night Videos ''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...
''. As an actor, Crocker appeared in five films, including ''
Cleopatra Jones ''Cleopatra Jones'' is a 1973 American blaxploitation film directed by Jack Starrett. Tamara Dobson stars as an undercover government agent who uses the day job of supermodel as her cover and an excuse to travel to exotic places. Bernie Casey, Sh ...
'' (1973), ''
Five on the Black Hand Side ''Five on the Black Hand Side'' is a 1973 African American comedy film based on the 1969 play of the same name by Charlie L. Russell. It was shot in Los Angeles, California. Leonard Jackson appeared as John Henry Brooks. He was cast in Steven ...
'' (1973), and ''Darktown Strutters (Get Down and Boogie)'' (1975). He is credited with introducing as many as 30 new artists to the mainstream, including Manu Dibango's "
Soul Makossa In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...
" to American audiences. While both
Gary Byrd Imhotep Gary Byrd (born March 14, 1949) is an American, New York City-based radio talk show host and executive producer, radio DJ, poet, songwriter, music recording artist and producer, rapper, writer and community advocate/activist. Byrd began h ...
and Herb Hamlett were influenced by Crocker, it is only Hamlett who always attributes his success to his mentor in Buffalo, Frankie Crocker. Frankie Crocker was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2000 and the New York State Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2005.


Controversies

;Career Crocker was indicted as a result of a 1976
payola Payola, in the music industry, is the illegal practice of paying a commercial radio station to play a song without the station disclosing the payment. Under US law, a radio station must disclose songs they were paid to play on the air as spons ...
investigation; the charges were later dismissed. After he was charged, the radio station dropped him, and Crocker moved to L.A. and returned to school. After the payola charges were dismissed, he returned to New York radio in 1979 as DJ and Program Director on WBLS-FM, at the end of the
disco era Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
. Crocker's career in radio ended by 1985. He moved to MTV as a VJ on the
VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communic ...
cable channel. ;Relationships He was charged in 1983 with hitting ''Penthouse'' Pet Carmela Pope; the charges were later dropped. He also was mentioned as a paramour of, and suspect in the February 12, 1977 murder of, the young Hollywood starlet Christa Helm.


Death

In October 2000, Crocker went into a Miami area hospital for several weeks. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and kept the illness a secret from his friends and even from his mother. He died on October 21, 2000. His friend and former boss Bob Law, a onetime program director of WWRL, said of Crocker, "He encompassed all of the urban sophistication. He appreciated the culture, the whole urban experience, and he wove it together. That's missing now, even in black radio".


Discography as a leader of The Heart & Soul Orchestra

*''Presents The Disco Suite Symphony No. 1 In Rhythm And Excellence'' (1976) *''Frankie Crocker & The Heart And Soul Orchestra'' (1977)


See also

* * *
Imhotep Gary Byrd Imhotep Gary Byrd (born March 14, 1949) is an American, New York City-based radio talk show host and executive producer, radio DJ, poet, songwriter, music recording artist and producer, rapper, writer and community advocate/activist. Byrd began h ...
*
Contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...
*
Vaughn Harper Vaughn Harper (March 1, 1945 – July 9, 2016) was an American broadcast announcer and DJ. Early life Harper played high school basketball at Boys High School (Brooklyn), Boys High School in Brooklyn and was an All American standout rebounder tha ...
*
Hal Jackson Harold Baron Jackson (3 November 1915 – 23 May 2012) was an American disc jockey and radio personality who broke a number of color barriers in American radio broadcasting. Biography Early years Jackson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, ...
* Melvin Lindsey *
Tommy Smalls Tommy Smalls (August 5, 1926 – March 8, 1972), known as Dr. Jive, was an influential African-American radio disc jockey in New York City during the early days of rock and roll. He owned the Smalls Paradise club in Harlem in the 1950s. Life ...
*
WEPN-FM WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz) branded as ''ESPN New York'', is an all-sports radio station licensed to New York City. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and its operations are controlled by Good Karma Brands, under a local marketing agreeme ...
 – Market rival


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crocker, Frankie American radio DJs Radio personalities from Buffalo, New York Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Florida 1937 births 2000 deaths African-American journalists African-American radio personalities Radio personalities from New York City Radio and television announcers Journalists from New York (state) VH1 people 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 20th-century African-American people