Amplifying Soul: The Media That Supported Twin Cities R&B

The following was excerpted from the liner notes of our Twin Cities Funk & Soul compilation. Writers: Will Gilbert, Eric D. Foss, Danny Sigelman.

KUXL RADIO
KUXL was THE R&B radio station in the Twin Cities during the sixties and seventies. A July 10, 1965 issue of Billboard leaves no doubt about it, as it reported KUXL had a 100% share of the R&B Radio Response Rate in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. KUXL went on the air in 1961, and had been purchased by Universal Broadcasting Corp by the end of 1964. Marvin Kosofsky was the chairman and his brother-in-law Howard Warshaw was the president. At that point, they already owned multiple stations and Marvin recalls, “I stayed in Minnesota to get the station started. I lived in Golden Valley at the Golden Valley Inn. The station was originally in the Inn...on Olson Memorial Highway.” Billboard issues from this time confirm the station was at 4820 Olson Hwy, Minneapolis, MN 55422. Once the station got on its feet, Marvin moved on to another station.

KUXL was a 1,000 watt, daytime-only station. The morning hours were filled with religious and ethnic programing, but during the afternoons it was the sole radio station with dedicated programing for the black community. Jeffrey Diamond, A.K.A. “Lord Jeffrey,” remembers that the preachers “always paid their bills on time. So that’s why the station ran those programs in the mornings.” This being the case, during the summer listeners could hear seven or eight hours a day of disc jockeys like Preacher Paul Anthony, Ray Moss, Daddy Soul, or Pharaoh Black. But in the winter, R&B only filled the airwaves for a handful of hours a day.

Of all the employees at KUXL, the most famous voice belonged to someone whose program did not air locally. Marvin Kosofsky states, “Robert W. Smith, A.K.A. ‘Wolfman Jack,’ was the manager and the rhythm and blues program was conducted by a disc jockey called ‘Preacher Paul.’” Though he was the station manager in the beginning years, Ralph Hull, A.K.A. “Preacher Paul Anthony,” only knows of one instance where Robert Smith appeared on air. “Smith did a commercial on KUXL once in his normal voice, not ‘Wolfman.’ A blind friend of mine named Gary, who I had been bringing in on off-hours to learn how to run the board, played it for me years later as one of his rare treasures of unique radio.” Other than that commercial, “Wolfman Jack” only appeared on air via the shows he would tape and mail down to border buster stations. Ralph explains how the system worked. “We had XEG in Monterrey, Mexico, a pure 100,000 watt AM station covering the Eastern US. XERF covered all of Mexico, Central US, and Canada and had a rating of 250,000 watts, but only operated at 80,000 at night and 1,000 during the day. Plus, XERB, rated at 50,000 watts, in Rancho Del Mar, 15 miles south of Tijuana, covered all of the Western US and Canada. With those three stations we had the entire North American continent covered. I say ‘we’ because Smith got Art Hoehn and myself to invest 20% each in B&L Advertising, B for Bob and L for his wife Lou, which conducted the programming on the Mexican stations. XERB really took off so I encouraged Smith and Hoehn to move to Los Angeles to operate XERB up close and personal.” Robert Smith lived in Golden Valley from January 1965 to July 1966, before him, Ralph “Preacher Paul Anthony” Hull, and Art “Fat Daddy Washington” Hoehn left for XERB in California. Later, a bartender turned DJ named Ray Moss from KUXL made the trek to XERB, too.

Ray Moss’s trip to California didn’t last long, though. According to an April 13, 1968 Billboard issue, “Ray Moss is back in Minneapolis with KUXL after a stint on XERB on the West Coast. In addition, Chess Records artist Jack Harris is now doing a show on the R&B station...” Jack Harris, the proprietor of Black & Proud records, remembers that Ray Moss’s brief separation from KUXL opened the door for him to come in and become “Daddy Soul,” and program director from 1968-1970. By this time, Jeffrey Diamond recalls the station had moved to the Southside Lumber Building on Highway 12 and was using a transmitter on Lilac Drive in Golden Valley, near Highway 100. “Lord Jeffrey,” a native of St. Paul, worked at KUXL between 1967-1970, alongside Jack, Ray Moss, and Dan Pothier. He started when he was about 15 years old and can vividly remember his father had to drive him, as he only had his learner’s permit. Ironically, the programs that inspired him to get into radio were “Wolfman Jack” on XERF out of Del Rio, TX, and Admiral Richard E. on KUXL.

Jackie Harris at KUXL

For much of its history, disc jockeys at KUXL promoted R&B shows. In the late 1960s, they were responsible for bringing in some of the biggest acts to perform in Minneapolis and St. Paul, including Ike & Tina Turner, The Four Tops, Syl Johnson, Al Green, and others. Ralph Hull had a lot of fun presenting shows, and a good amount of success. “I only lost money once, $20.00 in presenting Marv Johnson.” In addition, Jeffrey Diamond remembers he emceed a Wilson Pickett concert, and Jack Harris emceed a James Brown show at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Besides being disc jockeys, Jack and Jeffrey were involved as musicians in the local music scene. Jeffrey remembers playing some gigs on guitar with Dave Brady and The Stars and also working several shows with Jack Harris, Herman Jones, and The Exciters. One show in particular stands out for Jeffrey:

I’ll never forget playing with Herman Jones and The Exciters backing Jack Harris All of a sudden some guy came into the club and started shooting a gun, but we all kind of kept the thing going and we got down on the floor and continued playing. This guy was looking for his old lady... and then after a while he walked out of the club. It was the funniest thing because we kept playing. We just got on the ground and kept playing.”

Thankfully, Jack and Jeffrey escaped the show without a scratch and continued broadcasting until 1970. Once Jack left to run a station in Omaha, Ray Moss became program director again during the early 1970s. Starting on May 1, 1975, Thornton Jones, A.K.A. “Pharaoh Black,” working as a maverick broker, bought time on KUXL and began producing a show called “Pharaoh Black’s Soul ‘Til Sundown.” Pharaoh was a very popular DJ and his run at KUXL lasted until around 1979. He reflects, “I was spinning in different clubs almost every night. On Saturday nights I would rent a ballroom or gymnasium, whatever I could get. I had a thing called ‘Pharaoh Black’s Soul on the Roll Disco Rendezvous.’” Despite his popularity, by the end of the 1970s, the station expanded its religious programming to cover all hours of operation. As this change occurred, some familiar voices switched to KMOJ and helped keep the R&B grooves alive in the Twin Cities. In 1988, KUXL’s call letters changed to KYCR and now all that remains of the old KUXL are memories.

THE STORY OF PREACHER PAUL
Ralph Hull was born in Portland, Oregon and worked at 23 stations over a 17-year career in radio. Ralph proudly states, “I was fired nine times, seven times for playing the Blues and R&B. But I finally got to do it at KUXL.”

He came to Minnesota midway into his career, starting at KDWB. After being fired by KDWB for playing the blues, Ralph Hull got an interview with KUXL.

“Marvin Kosofsky heard about me because I was a white guy playing the blues and I was out of work in Minnesota in the wintertime. He came up in December 1964 and said, ‘Bring some records to the station and let me hear what you do,’ so I had a one-man audience... he was just sitting back in his chair listening to me... I brought my favorite records in to really lay it on him and I had him in the palm of my hands. I even brought tears to his eyes. He let me [audition] for two and a half hours!”

Needless to say, Ralph was offered the job and became “Preacher Paul Anthony,” a name he got because he was “preaching the blues!”

Before Ralph came to KUXL, he believes the station played religious music in the morning and jazz in the afternoons, a fact confirmed by a July 4, 1964 Billboard issue listing it as a jazz-formatted station.

Ralph recalls Robert Smith coming to the station in January 1965 as general manager. He also remembers that in July of 1966, Smith, Hoehn, and Hull moved out to Los Angeles to run XERB full-time.

Before leaving, Ralph helped KUXL establish stronger roots in the Black community by bringing in some of the station’s earliest African-American disc jockeys, Ron “the Rajah of Rhythm & Blues” Samuels and Billy “The Prime Minister of R&B” G.

KMOJ RADIO
In 1976 WMOJ started as a very low watt AM radio station serving North Minneapolis. “It was really designed to serve the public housing community between Glenwood Ave and Olson Highway,” remembers Thornton Jones A.K.A. “Pharaoh Black.” In 1978, WMOJ changed its frequency to 89.7 on the FM dial, expanded its power to about 10 Watts, and changed its name to KMOJ. It is still on the air today as “The People’s Station, changing its frequency once again to FM 89.9 and increasing its power to 1,000 Watts – the same as what KUXL was back in the day. The real contribution KMOJ makes to the Twin Cities R&B scene is that it picked up where KUXL left off.

CONNIE’S INSIDER MAGAZINE
During the sixties and seventies, Connie Hechter was a force on the Twin Cities’ music scene. He began as a percussionist in the 1950s, playing exotic Afro-Cuban music and Calypso in Dinkytown, Minneapolis. After finishing his studies at the University of Minnesota, he traveled throughout the country as a record promoter. Returning to Minnesota, Connie saw a void in the local music scene and was inspired to start a publication that served both fans AND musicians.

Initially, the publication went under the name T.M.C “Insider,” with T.M.C. standing for Trestman Music Center. Starting in the fall of 1966, Connie acted as publisher, editor, and reporter, with Trestman Music Center acting as a sponsor. In the summer of 1967, the magazine became independent and changed its name to Connie’s Insider. By the end of 1971, it was simply titled The Insider. As both distribution and per-issue content grew, Connie brought in a growing staff to tackle the added responsibilities. Connie’s roots at the University of Minnesota played an important role in this search as future editors like Tom Murtha and Peter Dwyer, photographers like Judy Olausen, Mike Barich, Jeff DeBevec, and others were all alums. One of the changes Tom Murtha remembers making as the first editor after Connie, was dropping Connie from the title and making The Insider more editorialized.

It started as a 4 page sheet distributed locally and kept growing with distribution eventually covering much of the Upper Midwest. The magazine was rather unique. It covered the same ground as other music magazines, doing features on artists and album reviews. But it was also a trade magazine for musicians. There were reviews of new equipment, musician want ads, profiles of studios and booking agencies, ads by instrument manufacturers and booking agents, and directories of local bands, clubs, A&R men, and more. One of Connie’s longstanding achievements was establishing the Connie Awards, a celebration of industry leaders and bands from Minnesota’s music scene. Years later it became The Minnesota Music Awards. Sadly, in 1978 Connie Hechter passed away and the publication briefly became the Musician’s Insider. By 1980, the Insider came to an end.

 

MINNEAPOLIS SPOKESMAN-RECORDER
The Minneapolis Spokesman is one of the oldest African-American owned newspapers in the United States. It was started in August 1934 by Cecil E. Newman and has remained in the family, with Tracey Williams-Dillard, granddaughter to Mr. Newman, still running the paper. During the early years of R&B, Soul, and Funk music in the Twin Cities, the Spokesman, and it’s sister newspaper the St. Paul Recorder, were the major printed voices dedicated to serving the black community. The newspaper combines coverage of national events as well as local stories and achievements in the black community. The Spokesman ran stories on the first Black & Proud 45, Wanda Davis, The Valdons’ televised performance on WCCO’s Moore on Tuesday, and many other musicians featured on the compilation. They also regularly ran ads for R&B concerts at King Solomon’s Mines, The Cozy, Peacock Alley, and other prominent venues in the black community. The Spokesman-Recorder is still available in both print and web formats.

INSIGHT NEWS
Al McFarlane started Insight News in 1974 to serve North Minneapolis’ Black community. It started life as a magazine and became a community newspaper in 1976.

Being free to the reader and supported by advertising revenue, its goal from the beginning has been to reach communities without easy access to daily newspapers.

The newspaper did numerous profiles of local R&B musicians, and Al McFarlane remembers, “The Twin Cities were a hotbed for jazz, R&B, soul, and funk... The music scene was so rich we were able to launch and sustain for several years an innovative tabloid called Al McFarlane’s Jazz Magazine, which celebrated the genius of Twin Cities artists and that of their colleagues and contemporaries from around the world who visited and performed for our community’s music aficionados. Prediction: The best is yet to come!”

Insight News continues today in both print and web formats.