 Hello and welcome everyone. My name is Melissa Weber and I'm speaking to you from the campus of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. I serve as the curator of the Hogan archive of New Orleans music and New Orleans jazz, a unit of Tulane University special collections or Tusk for short. Now I'll be giving a presentation today titled jive in with Dr. Daddy race radio and representing black in Jim Crow, New Orleans. Thank you for joining me before I start the presentation, I'd like to give some context. The radio preservation Task Force is an organization that was created in 2014 by the Library of Congress's National Recording Preservation Board to facilitate preservation of research on and educational uses of radio recordings held by archiving institutions and private collectors in the US. In 2019, the radio preservation Task Force published a call for papers for its conference titled a century of broadcasting preservation and renewal. I first proposed presenting what you'll see today for that conference and while my proposal was accepted the pandemic canceled the conference, which was to be held in 2020. Fortunately, the conference was rescheduled and I was able to present at the Library of Congress in Washington DC. This past spring. It was a rewarding experience for me but attendance was limited to those who were in DC. Today I'll share with you my presentation kicking off American Archives month which is celebrated in October. This online event is being recorded and the link will be shared with all who have registered for today's events. The recording will also be posted to the Tulane University Library's YouTube page. Following my presentation, I will answer questions that you post at any time by clicking the Q&A button in your zoom toolbar. And now let's begin. I'll share my screen. www easy am New Orleans circa 1949 to 1957. That's right. Jackson Brewing Company and Dr. Dadio want you to move right on in before the time gets too thin and treat yourself to a real friendly light eating swallow of Jack's beers. That's right brought to you every night about this time on that Jack the cat station at WW easy station. That's right. That carnival city station in New Orleans. Susie, Louisiana. Goodness above. Yeah, double bubble. Yes, I tell you, we're going to get right on start the thing going. Yeah. The recording of the opening game of the jive in with Jack's radio program on WW easy am New Orleans, circa 1949 to 1957 represents the story of Vernon L. Winslow senior, who transformed his career from a conservative university art instructor to a broadcasting novice who became not only the first full time black radio disc jockey on New Orleans radio as Dr. Dadio, but one who boasted the highest rated radio show in the city. It represents a story of radio to transform community, but also recognize the value of black dollars and advertising power in the Jim Crow south. It represents New Orleans as a center of musical innovation, placing it as a nucleus in the creation of the emerging 1950s music centered youth culture of rock and roll. And it represents how these stories are brought to life through the stewardship of archival primary sources, upgrading their status from memories to tangible materials that we can access and experience. In this presentation, I'll discuss Dr. Dadio's intersections of black broadcasting history, radio advertising and New Orleans, while integrating recordings from his landmark jive in with Jack's program digitized in 2019 through a Grammy museum grant to Tulane University Special Collections. These recordings, as well as others not used in my presentation are available online via the Tulane University Digital Library, and are from the Vernon Dr. Dadio Winslow collection, part of the holdings of the Hogan archive of New Orleans music and New Orleans jazz, a unit of Tulane University Special Collections. In the late 1940s with commercial broadcast radio, being a mass medium of choice for entertainment, nearly 70% of homes in urban and rural areas in the US, owned at least one radio. Yet an Ebony magazine report showed that among 3000 radio disc jockeys working in 1947, only 16 of those were black equating to less than 1%. The author and mass communication scholar Bala Baptiste notes the following reasons why a change was forthcoming in radio stations, hiring black broadcast talent. They were quote, the migration of blacks from rural to urban places, and their rising social economic status, the emergence of competition in the form of the new medium of television. The profit motive, the influence of clever, assertive black radio trailblazers, and the growing admiration of black music, and quote. Vernon Winslow would play a role in all those factors, though he would enter broadcasting through the back door, both figuratively and literally. Winslow was raised in Chicago and moved to New Orleans after receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1947, Winslow became an art professor at Dillard University, a historically black university in New Orleans, while at Dillard Winslow participated in an arts fellowship in New York City. It was there that he discovered broadcasting, as he would notice white NBC radio announcer Dave Garroway working in NBC studios in Rockefeller Center, the same building where his fellowship took place. In a 1986 interview for the Times Piki Union of New Orleans, Winslow said quote, I was making $44 a week teaching art at Dillard, I was married, and I had two children, I had been to New York and seen the NBC building and I thought, why can't I be an announcer. At this time, there were no black stations and no black announcers, end quote. Winslow devised a plan which involved becoming acclimated in black New Orleans nightlife and hanging out at night spots including the famed do drop in. He pitched to New Orleans stations with a radio show concept involving him as a hip talking DJ playing New Orleans music and the hottest national sounds created by black artists, whether jump blues swing jazz or other race music, which was the term used for black popular music at that time in the late 1940s. WWLAM declined his pitch. WJMR also passed, though offered him the opportunity to produce such a show as long as Winslow could teach white DJs to host the show in both style and voice. Essentially, Winslow was hired to coach white disc copies on black style and vernacular and sell it on air. Winslow's creation was Papa Stoppin, whose music selections and on air narrations would be scripted and selected by Winslow but manifested on the air by one of four white DJs who played the role and were assumed to be black by WJMR increased audience of black and white listeners. In a 1976 interview for the Times-Pikachu newspaper, Winslow recalled, it was my job then to stand behind them and train them how they could talk like blacks, like the Cap Callaway in the lingo that comes out of the ghetto. Here's an excerpt of one of the white Papa Stoppin DJs interviewing music artist, Tab Smith. You'll hear him mention the title of the radio program, Jam, Jive, and Gumbo, as well as language such as fine, frantic mellow music. Please note that each of the digitized audio files vary in their levels of audibility. This is due to the poor condition that the records were in originally and how the lacquer discs were able to be conserved and treated despite flaking cracks and other issues. Hello, New Orleans. This is Tab Smith, the old sex man, saying hello to Papa Stoppin and to all you Jam, Jive, and Gumbo fans. Nice having you here tonight, Tab, giving out this fine, frantic mellow music. And I'd like to ask you a tough question. I know thousands and thousands of fans in the way as an animal like you have to be the same question of all the recordings you've made, which do you consider the best? Well, I personally think Purple Heart is my best. I think that's a good selection and there'll be thousands of people here in New Orleans who would agree with it because Purple Heart has sold and mounted into the hundreds of thousands as our own program, Jam, Jive, and Gumbo can testify. One day in 1948, while one of the Papa Stoppin actors left the control booth to go to the restroom, Winslow got on air himself as Papa Stoppin. WJMR's white management fired him immediately, though they would keep the successful Papa Stoppin show and brand that Winslow built in just one year. Jackson Brewing Company of New Orleans was looking to market Jack's beer to Black residents. A Black public relations staffer named Naomi Borkins brought Winslow's success to the attention of the Fitzgerald advertising agency who managed the Jackson Brewing account. Neither the Fitzgerald ad agency nor WWEZAM were concerned with perceived or real backlash around promoting to Black audiences, which was at that time risky due to rampant racism and dangerous due to threats from white supremacists. Winslow left his art teaching position to not only make more money through this new show titled Jive and With Jacks, but also usher in a new era of radio broadcasting in New Orleans. Jive and With Jacks premiered on WWEZ on May 29, 1949. The program utilized the hip, smooth personality that Winslow originally envisioned. Now he could voice it himself using his moniker Dr. Dario, a name he came up with after a conversation with music star Louis Jordan, where Jordan referred to him as Dario. The main objective of the show was to promote Jack's beer. One way he did this was to throw Jack's block parties at local Black owned night clubs, which were broadcast via live remote on WWEZ. Here's an excerpt of a Dr. Dario Jack's beer promotion at a New Orleans bar. Now here we are at Big Club 225 at 225 South Rampart Street and right here we have a gang of folks around us, Pops. One cat right behind me is holding a bottle and it doesn't look like a Jack's bottle. I don't know what the devil is. Man, what's in that bottle right there? That thing! Well that's groovy, that's groovy. That goes into Jack's party too and right behind me I want you to talk to, I got a jack can stuck in my face here. By the way, I want you to follow right here, he's reading for the microphone. I want you to tell me what you think about this Jack's we got today. What do you say, Pops? Well, my name is L. Y. Douglas, that's the best beer in town, have been drinking it 15 years. I think it's top. Good deal, good deal. Now let me see. Wait now, I think I've got to get to a young lady somewhere. Let me hand the microphone right down here. I think I can climb over here a little bit. May I have your name please? Evelyn Odom. And your name is Evelyn Odom. By the way, what do you think about? Well, tell us what you've been drinking. Jack's beer is wonderful. You find this beer in town. Make it get in the groove. You heard what the lady said. Man, that's really, really, really fine. And here's Dr. Dario doing a Jack's block party at the Garden of Joy. Man, did you ever see a Jack's party in action? But Pops, let me take you to one right now. And leading off to the first person I want you to talk to is somebody whose name begins with M. Yes, she is, yeah. Whenever you're out, come to the Garden of Joy at 1614 New Orleans Street and get all the Jack's beer you want. Directly speaking is Mel Venus. Don't forget, Pops. And Pops, I don't know her address, but I sure wish I did. And right here's Pops. Well, he said there's somebody from out of town. Okay, we'll pick them up right now. Right now, man. Mr. Mrs. Snowden. Mr. Mrs. Snowden from Mobile. Can't open up Big 225. Can't open up Big 225. That's a good deal in Mobile. Okay, we're so glad to have you, sir. And drink a pretty Jack's in Mobile. We hope we can do that down here. Now somebody who has a beret right here. Come on in, man. Let's have it. Take a clip from the Snig Captain. Drink Jack's. This is Snow. And Poppy knows he's Snow. Really knows. Through the popularity of Dr. Dario and his winning concept, jiving with Jack's would become the top rated radio show in New Orleans. Despite his success, Winslow was not allowed to walk in the front door and lobby of the hotel New Orleans, where WWE easy operated. When recording engineer Cosmo Matassa heard about this, he offered his J&M recording studio as a location for Winslow to broadcast from. Matassa was white, but was trusted by the black artists he would record in the style of the newly christened rhythm and blues music, a new term coined by white billboard reporter Jerry Wexler in 1949 to replace the title of race music in the magazine. Wexler would eventually co-found Atlantic Records, one of the premier major labels specializing in R&B. Matassa's R&B recordings of artists such as Fats Domino and Little Richard would help provide the soundtrack of the emerging youth culture of rock and roll. And Dr. Dario's show would be a catalyst in promoting both the music and artists both in New Orleans and outward. Here's Dr. Dario promoting music and Jax Beer live from J&M Music Shop and recording studio at 838 North Rampart Street in New Orleans. Yeah, man, leave that file on the lawn. Just go around to the corner and ask the man, you say, say, Papa, give me a cold, thirsty one, not the one on the bottom of that ice bath. Or Jack, that beer in town is now better than ever, better than ever, ever, that Jack ever was. And listen to some of that junk and boogie blues by Steve McDaniels, a brand new one there, a brand, brand new one. Dr. Dario elevated the authentic presentation of black creation as he himself was a black creator. In his book, Racened Radio, pioneering black broadcasters in New Orleans, Bala Baptiste wrote, quote, mass media was broadcasting black records spun by an African-American disc jockey. Jukeboxes and live performances were no longer the only game in town, end quote. In addition to featuring the most popular music, Winslow's WWE easy show would include interviews with entertainers who performed in New Orleans. Here's Dr. Dario interviewing Duke Ellington in 1951 on Jive and with Jax. The clip begins with Winslow asking Ellington how much he weighs. This is Duke. You see, the best way to catch Duke is just listen to his music, number one, and then see if you can catch him in person on his many personal appearances and see if you can catch that flashing smile. It should have belonged in New Orleans, but of course it belongs to Washington and New York. Well, we're going to spread it around the world, Duke, because we make it all be everywhere. Don't you think so? That's a wonderful idea, a wonderful idea. I'm for Dario, for me, do all your lovely listeners know that we love them madly? And to hear Duke say that, the flash in his eye, and the way he really looks at it straightforwardly, means that that word madly ought to be undisturbed by every Ellington opus in the book. By the way, Duke, it's certainly nice having you on the show, and we want you to carry on. You certainly are our idol. You've been mine since I was about 14 years old, and you've been many millions, that's millions and millions of others, Duke. Well, thanks very much. Love you madly. Ladies and gentlemen, that was really Duke Ellington, and now let's play a little Duke Ellington spin. What do you say? Jiven with Jax also included a segment titled News and Blues. Its presence negates that the program was solely a vehicle for music and emphasizes the importance of advancing news literacy to Winslow's audience, likely a decision made by Winslow himself. Here's the News and Blues intro by Winslow. Here we go, it's Blue Dawn. La Vo Ba, La Vo Da, Da Vo Do, Da Do Da. That's right, it's a dream song bringing you news and blues. That's right, news and blues. First we give you the latest batch of headlines from the Wires of the United Press. Let me come right smack that ass, you knock him down the bed. You heard it, Fred, with that bop hop and treetop and bee bop and blues. Yes, News and Blues. And now we're gonna rip right off with you and pick up a few of the headlines that means our news. The headlines from the Wires of the United Press edited right here in our W-W-E-E-C newsroom. E-E-E. Winslow's promotions and programs led to him being appointed a sales director of the black market for Jackson Brewing Company in 1950. Throughout the run of Jive and With Jax, Winslow would incorporate gospel music alongside secular music recordings. Among the digitized clips from the Winslow collection that I didn't include in my presentation today, but that you can listen to online are recordings by the Golden Chair Jane Jubileers, a live recording of a sermon by an unidentified pastor and Winslow's gospel music cross promotion with Keystone Life Insurance Company. In my research for this presentation, I discovered a vertical file at my repository, which contained the following quote from an unidentified interviewer dated April 12, 1972. Quote, I asked Winslow why he switched from rock and roll to gospel. He said that the show was sponsored by the Jax brewery and that his children used to ask him what he did for a living, and he had to tell them I sell beer. Also, he stopped and considered that he was aiding and abetting alcoholism, and then he decided to go in for church music. Quote, here's a final clip from one of the Jax Block Party promotions live from the Sunset Tavern in New Orleans, which speaks to what Winslow consented with influencing his decision to end Jive and With Jax. That was tough. We are right here, right over the table, right by the door. Okay, here's a lady wants to tell you something. Where you stand by? Hello, everybody. I'm drinking Jax, and I'm drinking Jax for Chase Up. And I love it. I'm just crazy about Jax. Yeah, I'll tell you. Groovy. Groovy. Love that kind of carry on. Am I missing anybody up in front here? I got here, didn't I? Let me see. Let me move on back then. Oh, here we are. Way, way, way, way, way, way back here. Pick up on me. Okay, here we are in the patio right back in the rear of Sunset Tavern, a lovely, lovely regroup fair. Let me hear something about this Jax deal, man. Who are you and where are you from? I'm Pat Gardner from 1431 St. Peter Street. And every time you drink a Jax, you just got to relax. That is straight gate, I'm telling you. And the way he talks to it, he needs it. Here we are again, right here. Oh, and dog glasses. Love those D-bops without it, without the pop, doesn't it? My name is Laurie Kenneson. I travel from coast to coast, but best of all, dear, I like Jax the jack of all. I like a little four-rider pole. I'm straight. She's also with a swell party tonight. And she says she wants some out of town. Let me see. One table more, way over here in the corner. There he is, man. He's been around town all day long. I want him to put a little something down for you. I want him to just, hey, Pop, go ahead. Well, I'm at the Sunset right now. I'm wondering if he's going to drink Jax too, I guarantee you. I like Jax, Pop, because I got a drink and I keep the blues all the time. Yeah, man, he calls me Pop and Stopper, but he means I was at stuff years ago. Ain't no more Dr. Daddy now. How about my friend across the table? I drink Jax the more Jax I drink the more I want to drink. Yeah, man. Love that kind of carry at all. Here we have one more Jax guest. And then we're going to sign off a few... I've been drinking Jax before this time. He don't mean 9.45. He means 19.45. Okay, and now, last but not least, I want Mrs. Leona Mitchell, our newest Jax representative, to say a couple words to you. Hello, everybody. We have a lovely house tonight. Let me know how you like the Jax. Come on, folks, give. Come on, folks, give to some more Jax. Come on, let me see how many got a Jax in their hands. I appreciate you all drinking my Jax. I hope you all drink my Jax. Thank you, ladies. And I thank you gentlemen. Okay, Rolla Papa Rolla, that's it. While on WWEZ and Jiven with Jax, Winslow created a new show, also utilizing his Dr. Daddy O'Persona. Titled Good Evening Mother, Winslow's on-air personality was more relaxed and the music he featured was entirely gospel. In 1976, Winslow told the Times Piquet, quote, I noticed when I was in the rhythm and blues field, the rock field, the excitement was always based upon high fashion, conspicuous spending, meeting somebody at the airport. Gospel music provides for a different kind of introspection. You begin looking a little bit deeper and you say, golly, you mean to tell me I wasted those four hours and all I did was talk about myself? It starts you asking questions, end quote. Here's a clip of Dr. Daddy O's Good Evening Mother program on WWEZ. Now, once again, it's time for Dr. Daddy O's nightly show, Good Evening Mother. Hey, good evening, mother. How are you? Yes, how's the mall tonight? And how is the man? All right. And how are the folks next door? Save. It's been a hard day today. We hope to get together just for 55 minutes of gospel songs, spirituals and hymns dedicated to, well, the greatest little lady of all, Matt's mother. Sure, Dr. Daddy O says every day is Mother's Day. And right now we're going to start a little session off with, well, a gospel number that makes the burdens of the day seem like. Jiven with Jax ended its run in 1957 with Winslow departing Jax and Brewing Company on good terms. Thereafter, he continued working in advertising, received his masters of education from Tulane University in New Orleans, returned to teaching art at Dillard University and remained in broadcasting, mostly in gospel, but from time to time he reached back to his late 1940s and early 1950s roots, such as with Wavelength, a classic New Orleans R&B and rock and roll revival show. He hosted weekdays in 1987 from 4 to 6 p.m. on WYLD AM 940 in New Orleans at the age of 75. In his On the Air column for the Times pick you, Mark Lurando wrote quote, Some local music enthusiasts will tell you that rock and roll was born the night that Dr. Daddy O signed on for the first time. Though Alan Freed generally is credited with exposing rock music to mass audiences for the first time, Freed's New York radio show didn't start until three years after Dr. Daddy O spun the same kinds of black music records in New Orleans, end quote. It is a history that is both rich in lore and now tangible via primary sources and accessible archives, making Winslow someone who not only contributed to the legacy of broadcast and music history, but also to the preservation of his own legacy. I would like to acknowledge the sources used for my presentation, and not only thank those I've cited, but also thank my fellow colleagues who worked on making the Winslow collection accessible to the public. Jillian Cuellar, director of Tulane University Special Collections was the principal investigator of the Grammy Museum Grant and was assisted by Jennifer Waxman, head of collection management, and by former Tulane Library's employees, Lynn Abbott, Elena Abert, Sabrina Johnson and Dorothy McKendrick. I would also like to thank Sean Nolton, Riley Marsh, Alan Velazquez, and Maddie Wyand of the Digital Scholarship and Initiatives team of Tulane University Libraries for their work to ingest the digitized recordings into the Tulane University Digital Library for all to hear. Additionally, photo arts imaging professionals in Mississippi was contracted to do physical conservation on the discs and engineer the audio digitization. Assisting with today's presentation behind the scenes are Alan Velazquez of Digital Scholarship and Initiatives, Rachel Stein of the Libraries Professional Development Committee, and Raquel Horlick, who has coordinated the libraries series of workshops talks and trainings. Now, I'm going to stop sharing my screen. And I'll place in the chat, the links that you all will find beneficial to accessing these recordings and others. The full Vernon Dr. Daddio Winslow Broadcasting broadcast recordings as well as many other digital collections. And now I'll look in the Q&A section to answer any questions that you may have a question from Eddie Hughes and your selections you show that Winslow respected his religious obligation. Did he speak about the social atmosphere of the time, or was there space for that at any of the radio stations. In the recordings that are part of the digitized collection. I did not hear any sentiment about the social atmosphere, nor in the 1950s would that have been accepted at that time. It is definitely worth researching more to see if maybe he talked about it off the air and I do recommend Bala Baptiste's that I cited and and a great question. Thank you for that. But as far as as the 25 digitized recordings, there wasn't really anything that spoke to to that energy and given the time. I can understand why but there are more, there are more recordings actually because and I have to cite them. The Amasad Research Center holds a larger Winslow collection and it's among their, their finding aids. The Amasad Research Center which is also located on the campus of Tulane University. So, perhaps when those are digitized, we may have a fuller a fuller picture that can be answered. Thank you. And I see that Jennifer Waxman in the chat, my colleague here at Tusk mentioned that Tusk started with photo arts for digitizing. Oh, thank you. But the, but the work ended up using, but Tusk wound up using the Northeast Document Conservation Center to convert the lacquer disks to digital files. Thank you very much for that. I don't see any additional questions in Q&A. The one additional chat has popped in. Oh, I think that's for the highly damaged disks, they use this amazing amazing 3D imaging process, and Jennifer posted a link to that in the chat. Thank you so much Jennifer. If there are no more questions, I'd like to thank you so much for joining me today and wish you a happy archives month. Please feel free to share the recording and link to the collection with others as it comes out to you and it is posted on the YouTube page of Tulane University Libraries. Thanks again. Bye bye.