|
Disc Jockeys and Emcees played a role in the programs back then,
whether it be on the radio or at the live barn dances or jamborees or
even the travelling road shows or tent shows.
They set the tone by their way of speaking, their voices, the way
the audiences accepted them. Sometimes becoming as much a star as the
artists and groups they told us about. Back then when radio was king,
they became a part of the family as they would gather around to listen
to the shows.
We'd be willing to bet that even today, many of you would admit
to some way the radio and the music affected your life somewhere along
the way. We grew up listening to an old pocket sized transistor radio,
sometimes putting it underneath our pillow and tuning in late night
to WSM in Nashville where Ralph Emery was broadcasting instead of falling
asleep when school was the next morning. Even earlier, got to listen
to a local DJ named Uncle Len (Ellis) who was on WJOB in Hammond, Indiana
back then and later, in college, when he was on WLJE in Valparaiso, Indiana.
If my memory is okay, Uncle Len hosted quite a few 'package' shows back then
at the Hammond Civic Center that Hammond Tech and Hammond High Schools shared.
And began a lifelong fascination and love for this hillbilly music.
Wonder how many of these names you remember? Why not ask your parents
or grandparents? Listen to them... and watch them smile as they remember...
| 
