REMINDER - Sunday 7/23 - TV One Switch Unsung

[woodward]

Just a reminder to all forum members:

Tonight Sunday 7/23 10:00 P.M. TV ONE
Switch - UNSUNG
This is scheduled to run for 1:18.

After that there is a :52 minute Debarge segment.

Didn't want anyone to forget about it.

[marv2]

Thanks for the reminder Woodward.

[sansradio]

The DVR was set yesterday!

[marv2]

It was a good show. I was a bit surprised that after not seeing the members of Switch for something like 30 plus years, I did not recognize them at first. But overall a good show.

[marv2]

[sansradio]

We really enjoyed it. Parts were hard to watch, but it was well-executed and long overdue.

I think TVOne's gotten the memo that the show was losing its focus on the truly "unsung"; next week, The Dramatics will be spotlit! Great choice.

[marv2]

We really enjoyed it. Parts were hard to watch, but it was well-executed and long overdue.

I think TVOne's gotten the memo that the show was losing its focus on the truly "unsung"; next week, The Dramatics will be spotlit! Great choice.

Now the Dramatics story should take about 2-3 hours it is that interesting.

[lockhartgary]

From the Ebony website:

Additional artists honored this season will be Marvin Sapp, Switch, The Dramatics, Shanice and Ice-T.

[Circa 1824]

They certainly were unsung. I never heard of them or their music.

[blackguy69]

From the Ebony website:

Additional artists honored this season will be Marvin Sapp, Switch, The Dramatics, Shanice and Ice-T.

I find them doing an episode on ice t interesting seeing he's on tv virtually every week with law and order svu but music wise it makes sense.

[marv2]

I find them doing an episode on ice t interesting seeing he's on tv virtually every week with law and order svu but music wise it makes sense.

Ever notice that the focus of Unsung is artists from mostly 70s,80s, 90s and 00s? Not many episodes on folks from the 50s and 60s.

[Ngroove]

They certainly were unsung. I never heard of them or their music.

You must not have / had a decent enough R&B station that plays / played classic R&B in your area, or not listened to the radio in big cities. Switch has been / had been / is, depending on if there's any "Quiet Storm" formatted programs on your local area stations, a regular enough fixtures on Quiet Storms. But if there is none in area, or if the program plays more everyone else, carry on.

But I love Switch. Quite fondly cherished enough listens to "There'll Never Be" and "I Call Your Name" and "Love Over And Over Again" back when my area still had such decent classic R&B stations that had a "Quiet Storm" evening program format.

Always knew Unsung should have done more coverage for them than "There'll Never Be" and stepping stone for the rest of the DeBarge Family.

But I thought the story was, after he left the group and before he was imprisoned, Bobby joined DeBarge after they left Motown and joined another record company for one album, even that it tanked. But, I suppose such information was not used in the DeBarge episode either, since it was a post-Motown album that didn't match their greatness at Motown.

[Ngroove]

Ever notice that the focus of Unsung is artists from mostly 70s,80s, 90s and 00s? Not many episodes on folks from the 50s and 60s.

Ike Turner
Bobby Womack
Marvelettes
Mary Wells
Florence Ballard
Tammi Terrell
David Ruffin
Eddie Kendricks
the Spinners
Wilson Pickett
Otis Redding
Johnnie Taylor
Isaac Hayes
Lou Rawls
James Brown

as well as acts such as the Manhattans, O'Jays, Emotions, and Whispers, who started, some of them even made their first marks on the R&B charts in the sixties, with the Dramatics counting under that category also.


My question, more specifically, why not, since about 100% of them are pretty well known / remembered nevertheless, why not real "unsung" fifties-sixties singers, like, say, Sylvia Robinson, or Linda Jones, or Bettye Swann, or Barbara Mason, or Brenda and the Tabulations, or Ruby and the Romantics, or the Masqueraders?

[marv2]

Ike Turner
Bobby Womack
Marvelettes
Mary Wells
Florence Ballard
Tammi Terrell
David Ruffin
Eddie Kendricks
the Spinners
Wilson Pickett
Otis Redding
Johnnie Taylor
Isaac Hayes
Lou Rawls
James Brown

as well as acts such as the Manhattans, O'Jays, Emotions, and Whispers, who started, some of them even made their first marks on the R&B charts in the sixties, with the Dramatics counting under that category also.


My question, more specifically, why not, since about 100% of them are pretty well known / remembered nevertheless, why not real "unsung" fifties-sixties singers, like, say, Sylvia Robinson, or Linda Jones, or Bettye Swann, or Barbara Mason, or Brenda and the Tabulations, or Ruby and the Romantics, or the Masqueraders?

Thanks NGroove. The second part of your post is more of what I was getting at. There were many from those years that are truly Unsung.

[RanRan79]

My question, more specifically, why not, since about 100% of them are pretty well known / remembered nevertheless, why not real "unsung" fifties-sixties singers, like, say, Sylvia Robinson, or Linda Jones, or Bettye Swann, or Barbara Mason, or Brenda and the Tabulations, or Ruby and the Romantics, or the Masqueraders?

Probably has a lot to do with interest. While the tone of the show is supposedly "unsung", most of the people showcased are pretty well known even outside of serious music lovers. TV One operates like any other television station: always asking who or what is going to pull in the ratings. While I would KILL for an episode on Linda Jones, I'm not convinced it would pull in "crazy" ratings. And I suspect neither would the TV One execs.

[reese]

Always knew Unsung should have done more coverage for them than "There'll Never Be" and stepping stone for the rest of the DeBarge Family.

But I thought the story was, after he left the group and before he was imprisoned, Bobby joined DeBarge after they left Motown and joined another record company for one album, even that it tanked. But, I suppose such information was not used in the DeBarge episode either, since it was a post-Motown album that didn't match their greatness at Motown.

I believe they were a quartet at this time, with El and Bunny gone, but Bobby included. I remember them doing a guest spot on PUNKY BREWSTER.

[lockhartgary]

Probably has a lot to do with interest. While the tone of the show is supposedly "unsung", most of the people showcased are pretty well known even outside of serious music lovers. TV One operates like any other television station: always asking who or what is going to pull in the ratings. While I would KILL for an episode on Linda Jones, I'm not convinced it would pull in "crazy" ratings. And I suspect neither would the TV One execs.

Agreed. Their audience probably skews on the younger side, which would explain the increased rap artists' spotlights when compared to the earlier shows.