Friday, July 8, 2011

THE EASTSIDE SOUND HITS THE RADIO WAVES - HUNTER HANCOCK



We have looked at early Los Angeles disc jockeys Chico Sesma and Johnny Otis who influenced what the young Chicano audience was listening to in the early 1950's.
  Enter a man who would become a true legend of the radio waves. Hunter Hancock was born in Uvalde, Texas in 1916 and raised 90 miles away in San Antonio. He was a white American disc jockey regarded as the first in the Western United States to play rhythm & blues records on the radio, and among the first to broadcast rock & roll. After moving to Los Angeles in the early 1940s he entered radio and was heard on a number of stations from 1943 to 1968. Inspired by a local black record store owner, John Dolphin he called himself "Ol' H.H." He hosted several shows on different stations, often at the same time, including Harlem Holiday, Harlematinee, Huntin' With Hunter and the gospel show Songs of Soul and Spirit.
  In 1949 Big Jay McNeely importalized Hunter in song.






Hunter's Radio Career:

KFVD, 1947-51
KFOX, 1951-54
KFVD/KPOP, 1954-57
KGFJ, 1957-66.


A recreated example of Mr. Hancock's program on Los Angeles' former R&B radio station KGFJ can be found on Ron Jacobs' "Cruisin' 1959" (Increase Records INCR 5-2004).





SIDE ONE (23:17):
Hunter Hancock Theme
(Baby) Hully Gully - The Olympics (2:03)
Jordan High School Record Hop
There Is Something On Your Mind - Big Jay McNeely (3:10)
Chuck Berry Bit
Almost Grown - Chuck Berry (2:16)
Saturday Evening Post Commercial
What A Difference A Day Makes - Dinah Washington (2:35)
Champion Spark Plug Commercial
Say Man - Bo Diddley (3:04)
KGFJ Station I.D.

SIDE TWO (20:35):
Sixteen Candles - The Crests (2:50)
Personality - Lloyd Price (2:35)
Dolphin's of Hollywood Commercial
It's Just A Matter Of Time - Brook Benton (2:26)
Sea Of Love - Phil Phillips (2:30)
Robert Hall Commercial
Kansas City - Wilbert Harrison (2:18)
Hunter Hancock Theme

You may listen to Cruisin' 1959 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv6e2S8cgnU

2 comments:

  1. ~ Thanks for the dynamite education Guy.....great history here on this killer site of yours! Appreciate the lesson on Hunter! ~

    ~ 65 Impala Man ~

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for the kind comment 65 Impala Man. Much more on the history of the Eastside Sound to come.

    ReplyDelete