I was weaned on AM Top 40 Radio. I listened to WMCA "The Good Guys" in NY City for a good many years. They were one of the TOP AM stations in the golden age of Top 40. This situation would've remained unchanged but my brother being 2 years older began spinning the dial all the way to the high end of the Spectrum, there was found WWRL "Soul 1600 Radio". There you heard all the Motown all the Stax/Volt, all the Atlantic Records RnB and tons of independent Black labels that NEVER made it to mainsream AM radio. Back then they had the "first and only" rule on white stations. Unless a tune topped the "Race Music" charts (not my name for it blame Billboard Magazine) it was never played on white AM stations, that's just the way it was. In the 70's things changed with the introduction of WBLS FM and WLIB on the AM dial.

Franky Crocker, Vai Higgenson, "Happy Hal The Housewifes Pal", "The Gary Byrd Experience"... these folks were gods on our side of town. WMCA and WWRL are long gone or changed formats. WBLS is still goin strong.

Da Worfster