New Book About SOUL TRAIN

[milven]

Interesting article in today's NY DAILY NEWS about a new book coming out next week about SOUL TRAIN

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music-arts/aboard-nelson-george-soul-train-book-article-1.1727395

[milven]

Also in the book, is Dick Clark's brazen scheme to oust Don Cornelius and replace Soul Train with his own all-black dance show

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2585503/Exposed-Dick-Clarks-brazen-scheme-replace-Don-Cornelius-Soul-Train-black-dance-show.html#ixzz2wo5G32Vn

[soulster]

Some of the stuff I already knew about. I knew Dick Clark had little respect for Black people anyway, and only used them for financial gain, but I didn't know about him trying to get rid of Don Cornelius. I guess i'll find out how he tried it when I get this book. What an asshole!

[carole cucumber]

Also in the book, is Dick Clark's brazen scheme to oust Don Cornelius and replace Soul Train with his own all-black dance show

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2585503/Exposed-Dick-Clarks-brazen-scheme-replace-Don-Cornelius-Soul-Train-black-dance-
show.html#ixzz2wo5G32Vn [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2585503/Exposed-Dick-Clarks-brazen-scheme-replace-Don-Cornelius-Soul-Train-black-dance-show.html#ixzz2wo5G32Vn)

I'm surprised that the author of the article, Caroline Howe, begins by describing American Bandstand as "lily-white". Have I been living in a parallel universe? My recollection is of Dick Clark featuring performers of various races.

It was sad to read that African American leaders at the time did not have a strong enough faith in Don Cornelius' abilities or in American teens of all colors to support the show. With a 2 year jump start and a hit status for Soul Train, any competition [[even from someone so entrenched in television as Dick Clark) would not necessarily signal the end of Don Cornelius' dream, as is mentioned here as a certainty.

And regrettably, neither Don Cornelius nor Dick Clark are alive to give their reactions to the assertions in the article.

[arr&bee]

I saw the history of soultrain on tv last week and while i was surprised at the move by dick clark,i do believe that in the early days of american bandstand while black performers appeared i don't think that black teens danced at the start, i could be mistaken.

[Jimi LaLumia]

Dick Clark took it upon himself to integrate his tv shows and his traveling tours, in a still dangerous era for him to do so.. it was on a Dick Clark "Caravan Of Stars" that the supremes became THE SUPREMES!

[soulster]

I'm surprised that the author of the article, Caroline Howe, begins by describing American Bandstand as "lily-white". Have I been living in a parallel universe? My recollection is of Dick Clark featuring performers of various races.

It was sad to read that African American leaders at the time did not have a strong enough faith in Don Cornelius' abilities or in American teens of all colors to support the show. With a 2 year jump start and a hit status for Soul Train, any competition [[even from someone so entrenched in television as Dick Clark) would not necessarily signal the end of Don Cornelius' dream, as is mentioned here as a certainty.

And regrettably, neither Don Cornelius nor Dick Clark are alive to give their reactions to the assertions in the article. He meant that the audience was lilly-white in the beginning. He added Blacks, but he only wanted a certain number of them, and he didn't want them to mix with the whites. He thought it would hurt his ratings to do so.

Oh, Black leaders had faith in Cornelius, but, remember, this was the early 70s, and Whites still had complete control over media. I haven't read how Clark thought he could pull it off, but Cornelius was syndicated, and was with Metromedia, Inc., IIRC. His home base in the 70s was KTTV in L.A..

I do remember that in some major markets, Soul Train was on at 3:00 A.M. Sunday morning! We used to believe that it was because of the stations being racist. But, perhaps Dick Clark had something to do with it. This is speculation on my part, pending reading the book, but it makes sense.

[soulster]

I saw the history of soultrain on tv last week and while i was surprised at the move by dick clark,i do believe that in the early days of american bandstand while black performers appeared i don't think that black teens danced at the start, i could be mistaken. In the late 60s or early 70s, Harvard University did a study on Black music that was commissioned by the major record labels at a time they were wondering how to get in on Black music, since they didn't have a clue. In that study, Harvard advised against buying Soul Train. I don't have the book handy, but there was a bit about that, specifically.

[marv2]

I'm surprised that the author of the article, Caroline Howe, begins by describing American Bandstand as "lily-white". Have I been living in a parallel universe? My recollection is of Dick Clark featuring performers of various races.

It was sad to read that African American leaders at the time did not have a strong enough faith in Don Cornelius' abilities or in American teens of all colors to support the show. With a 2 year jump start and a hit status for Soul Train, any competition [[even from someone so entrenched in television as Dick Clark) would not necessarily signal the end of Don Cornelius' dream, as is mentioned here as a certainty.

And regrettably, neither Don Cornelius nor Dick Clark are alive to give their reactions to the assertions in the article.

Don Cornelius would probably say that the situation was overblown and Dick Clark would just be hurt by the accusations. True, he saw how popular Soul Train had become and decided to try to directly compete with a similar show of his ownthat did not last even a year.

[splanky]

Soul Train has apparently been on a number of folks minds real deep over the past couple of years. I am at the moment waiting on a book about the show by another author, Ericka Blount Danois and will probably read the one Questlove [[of the Roots) just had published. I'm also waiting on a 4 DVD set of highlights from the show. Hmmm, I'm curious as to how
each writer will tell his or her story though I know both Questlove and Nelson style
already quite well...love, peace and soul indeed....
BTW, this is a thread that too would have been better served on the main forum as Soul
Train wasn't all about Motown and many interested in the show won't come in this section
or to the Clubhouse....

[marv2]

I saw the history of soultrain on tv last week and while i was surprised at the move by dick clark,i do believe that in the early days of american bandstand while black performers appeared i don't think that black teens danced at the start, i could be mistaken.

You're not mistaken because it was out of Philadelphia at the start in the 1950's. I believe Bandstand started at that old studio near 59th & Market in Philly in or around 1953 with different host before Clark was hired. It was a local show that used local kids as dancers. The neighborhood now around the original studio is predominately black. During the show's early years, there were no black dancers featured.

[marv2]

Dick Clark took it upon himself to integrate his tv shows and his traveling tours, in a still dangerous era for him to do so.. it was on a Dick Clark "Caravan Of Stars" that the supremes became THE SUPREMES!

Yeah, but there were a lot of other great performers on those tours too! It is true what you said about Dick Clark. He would stand up to discrimination and just plain unfairness when it was the norm to look the other way.........

[soulster]

Dick Clark took it upon himself to integrate his tv shows and his traveling tours, in a still dangerous era for him to do so.. Now that I think about it, we did have this discussion on another thread some time ago. Turns out Dick Clark was no pioneer of civil rights at all. He really didn't want to have Blacks on his shows, only because he thought it would hurt him. He tried segregation of the Black dancers and audiences, and let's not even talk about what he thought about gays!

Oh, if you came up in the late 60s and 70s, after he moved his show to Los Angeles, and the turmoil of the 60s were over, you may not see any hints of stuff he did. But, that was the time he was trying to muscle in on Soul Train.

And, I really get tired of Black people excusing and forgiving some White people for all the racist crap the pull. White man kills a Black kid. The Black parents are all [[in a feeble voice) "We forgive you and will pray for you.". But a Black kid shoots a White person? The White parents want blood! Dammit! Look how many Black people supported poor Paula Deen after her racist remarks became known! And, there are still a lot of Blacks who praise Dick Clark for his so-called progressive integration. Hah!

OK, I got that out of my system.

[marv2]

He meant that the audience was lilly-white in the beginning. He added Blacks, but he only wanted a certain number of them, and he didn't want them to mix with the whites. He thought it would hurt his ratings to do so.

Oh, Black leaders had faith in Cornelius, but, remember, this was the early 70s, and Whites still had complete control over media. I haven't read how Clark thought he could pull it off, but Cornelius was syndicated, and was with Metromedia, Inc., IIRC. His home base in the 70s was KTTV in L.A..

I do remember that in some major markets, Soul Train was on at 3:00 A.M. Sunday morning! We used to believe that it was because of the stations being racist. But, perhaps Dick Clark had something to do with it. This is speculation on my part, pending reading the book, but it makes sense.

Soulster you are not wrong about in certain markets, Soul Train in very off peak hours! As a kid when Soul Train first when on the air in national syndication. It came on in Detroit at 1:00 p. m. , Saturdays on WJBK Channel 2 the local CBS affiliate. I think I first saw the national version of Soul Train around 1972. Just about 10 years later when I was in college in Colorado I was shocked to learn that Soul Train was aired there after 1 a.m. on Sat. nights/Sun mornings. It did not make sense to me at the time, but now considering the demographic make-up of Denver in those days [[it was predominately white....) I can see why the station just through it on in a time slot that in the coming years would generally be reserved for "info-mercials"!

[soulster]

Soulster you are not wrong about in certain markets, Soul Train in very off peak hours! As a kid when Soul Train first when on the air in national syndication. It came on in Detroit at 1:00 p. m. , Saturdays on WJBK Channel 2 the local CBS affiliate. I think I first saw the national version of Soul Train around 1972. Just about 10 years later when I was in college in Colorado I was shocked to learn that Soul Train was aired there after 1 a.m. on Sat. nights/Sun mornings. It did not make sense to me at the time, but now considering the demographic make-up of Denver in those days [[it was predominately white....) I can see why the station just through it on in a time slot that in the coming years would generally be reserved for "info-mercials"!

Well, 1982 was about the time where Soul Train, along with American Bandstand, both started to lose popularity and ratings. Prime-time shows like Solid Gold and the TV version of Casey Kasem's American Top 10 were more popular. And, MTV had premiered. So, it was no surprise that Soul Train would be shifted to those hours.

But, I was fortunate to have gotten KTTV. Soul Train, for us, always came on on Saturday afternoon, except during Dodgers games in the summer.

[midnightman]

Didn't Dick Clark almost cancel a show because the Klan was gonna beat up Sam Cooke for performing at a mixed race show in Alabama and Sam was like "over my dead body"? I think I recalled such a story. Also Berry Gordy himself mentioned how much of a "pioneer" Dick was for breaking black artists on his show. Yet, he never paid tribute to Don Cornelius when he died? Odd.

Anyway I remember when they mentioned Dick's show on the Soul Train VH-1 documentary. That ripoff was lame lol trying to cut in on Don's dollars.

[marymary]

Was Janis Gaye really a Soul Train dancer? I don't remember that!

A few years ago I used to be able to catch classic episodes of Soul Train at ~2am on my local Fox affiliate. I always joked that I dreamt them up since I could never find them when checking the tv schedule, just when I had insomnia the episodes woukd magically appear on my tv. If anyone has seen a classic ep in syndication recently let me know!

[marv2]

Well, 1982 was about the time where Soul Train, along with American Bandstand, both started to lose popularity and ratings. Prime-time shows like Solid Gold and the TV version of Casey Kasem's American Top 10 were more popular. And, MTV had premiered. So, it was no surprise that Soul Train would be shifted to those hours.

But, I was fortunate to have gotten KTTV. Soul Train, for us, always came on on Saturday afternoon, except during Dodgers games in the summer.

No, let me clarify something. Soul Train aired out there during the overnight hours even in late 1978. They could aired that late at night for years in Colorado, I can't speak about when and how long prior to '78.

[midnightman]

Was Janis Gaye really a Soul Train dancer? I don't remember that!

A few years ago I used to be able to catch classic episodes of Soul Train at ~2am on my local Fox affiliate. I always joked that I dreamt them up since I could never find them when checking the tv schedule, just when I had insomnia the episodes woukd magically appear on my tv. If anyone has seen a classic ep in syndication recently let me know!

No she wasn't. Janis would've confirmed it already by now... lol she might've danced on Soul Train while Marvin was on it in '77 probably.

[soulster]

No, let me clarify something. Soul Train aired out there during the overnight hours even in late 1978. They could aired that late at night for years in Colorado, I can't speak about when and how long prior to '78.

KTTV was the station where Soul Train originated. I lived in Arizona, but in my area, we got KTTV via cable. It was on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM MST ON THAT CHANNEL.

It wasn't until 1976, when I lived in Texas, that I discovered that the show was broadcast at one, two, or three on the morning in some other cities.

[reese]

Was Janis Gaye really a Soul Train dancer? I don't remember that!

A few years ago I used to be able to catch classic episodes of Soul Train at ~2am on my local Fox affiliate. I always joked that I dreamt them up since I could never find them when checking the tv schedule, just when I had insomnia the episodes woukd magically appear on my tv. If anyone has seen a classic ep in syndication recently let me know!

The Bounce TV network airs SOUL TRAIN episodes every week.

There doesn't seem to be a set schedule. When I first started receiving BOUNCE, they were airing every morning. Then they switched to weekend mornings. In any event, if you check the online schedule, you can see when they air and who is appearing. So far, the same episodes have been shown over and over again, but they still have a large library.

http://www.bouncetv.com/

[Jimi LaLumia]

Motown's cross over breakthrough was very much thanks to Dick Clark and shows of his like "Bandstand", "Where The Action Is", etc..Berry Gordy will tell you that if you ask him, I'm sure...and Don Cornelius stood on the shoulders of Clark's actions.."soul Train"s initial success was cited as Gladys Knight & The Pips saying yes to appearing on the show.. by that point Gladys owed a good chunk of her breakthrough success to exposure provided by Dick Clark, which I'm sure that she also would tell you..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjwwDrlNa3g

[marymary]

The Bounce TV network airs SOUL TRAIN episodes every week.

There doesn't seem to be a set schedule. When I first started receiving BOUNCE, they were airing every morning. Then they switched to weekend mornings. In any event, if you check the online schedule, you can see when they air and who is appearing. So far, the same episodes have been shown over and over again, but they still have a large library.

http://www.bouncetv.com/

I will be on the lookout for that network but sadly it doesn't air in Seattle yet...I guess when network execs want to target black people "pacific northwest" is not the first thing that jumps to mind.