Herman Grizzard (1900-1971) was an American radio

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 nightclubs or music fes ...

who attained fame from the 1940s through the 1970s for playing

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

and other music on Nashville radio station

WLAC WLAC (1510 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States of America. Owned by iHeartMedia, it broadcasts a talk radio radio format, format. The radio studio, studios are in Nashvill ...

. Grizzard was one host of a nightly series of four programs on the station. He shared the block of programs with "

John R. John R. (born John Richbourg, August 20, 1910 – February 15, 1986) was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame in the 1950s and 1960s for playing rhythm and blues music on Nashville radio station WLAC. He was also a notable record prod ...

" Richbourg,

Bill "Hoss" Allen Bill Allen (a.k.a. "Hossman" or "Hoss"; born William Trousdale Allen III, December 3, 1922 – February 25, 1997) was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame from the 1950s through the 1990s for playing rhythm and blues and black go ...

, and

Gene Nobles Gene Nobles (August 3, 1913 – September 21, 1989) was an American radio disc jockey who attained fame on Nashville radio station WLAC from the 1940s through the 1970s by playing rhythm and blues music. Career Nobles was a former carnival bark ...

. Together they were known as the "50,000 Watt Quartet". Grizzard began his affiliation with the historic clear-channel AM station during its early years in the 1930s. Up to the mid-1940s, he hosted a variety of different programs. By 1950, Grizzard joined the station's move to a nighttime format of R&B,

soul music Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...

, and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

. The station developed the programming to sell advertising to

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

-oriented products and businesses. For many years, Grizzard's program was sponsored by Buckley's, a local Nashville record store. It was located on Church Street near downtown and the

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

campus. Most of Grizzard's program was devoted to promoting the store's stock, often sold in packages of three to six 78 or 45 RPM discs. Buckley's, along with Randy's Record Shop in nearby Gallatin (sponsor of Nobles' program), and Ernie's Record Mart (sponsor of Richbourg's show), conducted large mail-order businesses. They provided many customers the chance to buy music that, prior to the late 1950s, was not readily available to many

Euro-American European Americans are Americans of European ancestry. This term includes both people who descend from the first European settlers in the area of the present-day United States and people who descend from more recent European arrivals. Since th ...

s, at least not from "respectable" outlets. Buckley's inventory consisted chiefly of recordings by local artists on Nashville-based labels. Grizzard featured these songs liberally on his program. After Grizzard's death, Buckley's sponsored Bill "Hoss" Allen's program for several years. The store closed in the early 1970s. Grizzard was also an early

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

broadcaster: He announced play-by-play action of minor-league teams in Nashville. For most of his show's run, Grizzard used the

Avery Parrish James Avery Parrish (January 24, 1917 – December 10, 1959) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger. He wrote and recorded "After Hours (Avery Parrish song), After Hours". Injuries from a bar fight in 1943 ended his career as a piani ...

tune "

After Hours After Hours or Afterhours may refer to: Film and television * ''After Hours'' (film), a 1985 black comedy by Martin Scorsese * ''After Hours'' (Canadian TV series), a 1953 variety series * ''After Hours'' (1958 British TV series), a comedy s ...

" — performed by Parrish with the accompaniment of the

Erskine Hawkins Erskine Ramsay Hawkins (July 26, 1914 – November 11, 1993) was an American trumpeter and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is best remembered for composing the jazz standard " Tuxedo Junction" ( ...

Orchestra — as an opening theme.

References

Bibliography

External links

WLAC Radio: The Unofficial Webpage
– station history (features a rare aircheck of Grizzard and a full-length recording of "After Hours") {{DEFAULTSORT:Grizzard, Herman American radio DJs 1971 deaths 1900 births