Dick LaPalm's DJ List

Dick LaPalm is a legendary jazz and pop record promoter who made his reputation in the 1950s and 1960s. Back in those days, Dick's job was to get records on the air for artists like Nat King Cole, Ahmad Jamal and others. Often musicians consulted with him to determine what types of songs and albums would have the best shot of clicking with listeners. Which meant enormous musical knowledge on Dick's part as well as super networking skills and a tack-sharp memory. Remember, no cell phones, no emails, no Internet back then. Just a Rolodex, a telephone, and plenty of shoe leather and horse-trading.

Last week, Dick sent along a wonderful list of radio disc jockeys who he says were most influential in breaking in jazz artists. As Dick wrote in his email to me: "It's often hard to believe that with the exception of five or six of the names on the list, I called on every one of them and enjoyed many great 'hangs.' "

Here then is Dick's swinging list of platter batters who mattered: 

Most Influential:

• Mort Fega - WEVD - New York City [pictured]
• "Symphony" Sid (Torin) - WADO - New York City
• Sid McCoy - WCFL - Chicago
• Dick Buckley - WNIB and WBEZ - Chicago
• Felix Grant - WWDC  - Washington DC
• Dick Martin - WWL - New Orleans
• Chuck Niles - KBCA - Los Angeles [pictured below]
• Rick Holmes - KBCA - Los Angeles
• Harvey Huston - WPEN - Philadelphia
• Doug Arthur - WCAU - Philadelphia
• Norm Nathan - WHDH - Boston
• Bill Marlowe - WBZ - Boston
• Jim Rockwell - WKMH - Detroit
• Ed Love - WCHD and WDET - Detroit
• Jim Lowe - WRR - Dallas
• Leo Chears - KWK and WSIE - St. Louis
• Pat Henry - KJAZ - San Francisco
• Oscar Treadwell - WNOP - Cincinnati
• Bill Currie - WBT - Charlotte

Important:

• Al "Jazzbeaux" Collins - WNEW - New York City
• Ed Beach - WRVR - New York City
• Allan Grant - WABC-FM - New York City
• Fred Robbins - WOV - New York City [pictured with drummer Sid Catlett, by William P. Gottlieb]
• Holmes "Daddy-O" Daylie - WAIT - Chicago
• Marty Faye - WAAF - Chicago
• Yvonne Daniels - WSDM and WCFL - Chicago [pictured]
• Bob Perkins - WHYY and WRTI - Philadelphia
• Sid Mark - WHAT - Philadelphia
• Joel Dorn - WHAT - Philadelphia
• Bob Murphy - WJBK - Detroit
• John McClellan - WCOP - Boston 
• Tony Cennamo - WBUR - Boston
• Alex "Sleepy" Stein - KNOB - Los Angeles
• Jim Gosa - KBCA - Los Angeles
• Gene Norman - KLAC - Los Angeles
• Willis Conover - WWDC - Washington DC, VOA
• Bill Mayhugh - WMAL - Washington DC
• Paul Anthony - WRC - Washington DC
• Harley Brinsfield - WBAL - Baltimore
• John Hardy - KFRC - San Francisco
• Jerry Dean - KJAZ - San Francisco
• Herb Wong - KJAZ - San Francisco [pictured]
• China Valles - WTMI - Miami
• Tony Mowod - WDUQ - Pittsburgh
• Phil Brooks - WKPA - Pittsburgh
• Ronnie Barrett - WDOK - Cleveland
• Dave Hawthorne - WDOK - Cleveland
• Tom Brown - WHK - Cleveland
• Ray Allen - WCUY-FM - Cleveland
• Ray Scott - WNOP - Cincinnati
• Leo Underhill - WCKY - Cincinnati
• Leigh Kamman - MN Public Radio
• Al Gourrier - WYLD - New Orleans
• Spider Burks - KXLW - St. Louis
• Jim Bolen - KWK - St. Louis
• Joe Rico - WEBR - Buffalo
• Carroll Hardy WEBR - Buffalo
• Phil McKellar - CBC - Toronto
• Herb Lance -WERD - Atlanta
• H. Johnson - WABE - Atlanta
• Tom Mercein - WTMJ - Milwaukee
• Ron Cuzner - WFMR - Milwaukee
• Bill Ardis - WHAM - Rochester, NY
• Harry Abraham - WHAM - Rochester, NY [pictured above with Freddie Hubbard] 
• Gene Amole - KVOD - Denver
• Wes Bowen - KSL - Salt Lake City
• Ed Horne - WLOK - Memphis
• Henry Wailes - WCVE - Richmond, VA

Total: 61 radio stations listed (46 AM, 15 FM)

Comments

[T. Nicholson]

Fyi, H. Johnson of Atlanta is still spinning the platters in Atlanta:

http://www.pba.org/programming/programs/jazz_classics/

[Marla]

Loved this, Marc!

As a young, up-and-coming jazz fan, I spent many hours first listening to William B. Williams at WNEW in NYC. Then, when I discovered Ed Beach, Max Cole and Les Davis at WRVR, I was in heaven.

I feel fortunate to have spent quality time, talking jazz, with Chuck Niles during my visits to the L.A. area. I also count dear Bob Perkins at WRTI in Philadelphia as a friend and fellow jazz lover.

The one thing all of these folks have in common is a deep and passionate love for and knowledge of the music.

I know of the late Mort Fega via my friend, pianist/vocalist Patti Wicks and she continues to speak highly of him - his, knowledge/sense of jazz history, his passion and his integrity. I wish I could have met him and sorry I was not able to hear him as an on air announcer.

Thanks - enjoyed reading this and combing through the list!

Marla

[John Herr]

Marla beat me to the punch in noting that Bob Perkins is still on the air at WRTI in Philadelphia. He's on from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm M-F & 10:00 am to 2:00 pm Sun. I met him at a Jackie Ryan-Larry McKenna 4tet performance at Chris' Jazz Cafe in the City of Brotherly Love last November, & even though I live in Syracuse, I sometimes switch over to his tastefully-chosen selection of jazz after WAER starts its news programming in late afternoon. Tony Mowod is also still on the air, as one of the announcers for the canned service which WAER, Binghamton's WSQX & other NPR jazz stations use in hours when they don't have live, locally-originated shows on the air. I'd like to see you devote a posting to stations that still offer mainstream jazz & to the announcers who carry the banner forward.

[Chris Albertson]

While this guy is right about the importance/influence of many who are on his lists, he obviously is not as "hip" as he would want us to believe. Sid Mark (WHAT), for example, had very limited knowledge of jazz beyond what he read in liner notes, and he was virtually ignorant of its history.

When I asked him why he never played Fats Navarro's records, he said that we weren't "getting his new stuff." Fats had been dead for some time. Sid's thing was and remains Frank Sinatra.

BTW, Joel Dorn replaced me when I moved to New York. WHAT-FM played jazz 24/7 and may have been the country's first all-jazz station, but I don't recall ever hearing Dick LaPalm's name while working there, nor—for that matter—at WCAU. We had a group of promoters/distributors who regularly dropped by, but not this guy.

Sounds like there's some self-puffery going on here.