NEW YORK — Now that the payola crises has abated, many displaced deejays have relocated — and at least one — Tom Clay of Detroit — is aggressively rooting for the old days when a disk jockey was king and could make or break a record.
In a letter to the trade, Clay (fired from WJBK, Detroit, last November on payola charges and now spinning records at WQTE, Detroit) lamented, “What’s happening to the day when we were really deejays and we would really make rounds of distribs for new records, get exited and predicted overnight smashes, make the charts instead of following them, play a record seven times in a row, and get people to buy the record the same day? So we had a little trouble in our biz. Are we going to crawl up in a shell and sit on our fat fannies and let the deejay die?”
Famed controversial Detroit deejay Tom Clay, pictured here in 1964.
Clay addressed special pleas to top jocks like Bill Randle, WERE, Cleveland; Howard Miller, WIND, Chicago; and Frank Ward, Atlanta. “You could tie the city in knots again,” he told Randle, “Forget teaching school. Teach the Cleveland deejays what real deejays are.” To Miller he said, “Remember when you got kicks doing shows? Are you getting too much rich making what you are doing now?”
Addressing the trio as a whole, he added, “Let’s swing again — a bunch of deejays that made their mark going out on a limb, predicting records. Now wait for it to show up on a chart… Forget your pretty voices and prestige — let’s get some excitement back in radio.”
Clay, who apparently evinces no sensitivity over his payola-headline days, concluded his letter to the trade (headed “Detroit’s No. 1 Deejay Has His Say”) with the following line: if you have any records you’d like auditioned send them. Remember, I too, was a “record consultant.”“Am I being funny? No.”
Although WQTE had said it was taking programming out of the hands of the deejays when it launched it’s new “Fabulous 56” format this June, Clay claims he is programming his own show. At any rate, he said he played Tommy Leonetti’s Atlantic waxing of “Without Love” for “45 minutes straight,” and predicted it would be “a smash hit.”
Clay exudes complete confidence in his ability to predict hits, undaunted by the fact that in a recent newsletter he informed Colonel Tom Parker that Elvis Presley’s second post-GI single was a complete bomb. The disk in questioned — released three weeks ago — is now No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Meanwhile, other displaced deejays have also relocated, but are somewhat more reticent about the whole thing. Alan Freed and Mel Leeds, ex-WINS, New York program directors, are at KDAY, Los Angeles. Chuck Young, ex-KYW Cleveland music librarian, is presently working for Cosnat Distributors in Cleveland.
Stan Richards, ex-WORL, Boston, is at WINS in New York. Joe Smith, another ex-WORL spinner, is sales promotion manager for Hart Distributors in Los Angeles. Joe Finan, ex-KYW, Cleveland, is rumored to be returning to that city at WHK. Peter Tripp, ex-WMGM, New York, is reportedly set to go to KFWB in Hollywood. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 8, 1960)
Former ‘Payola’ Jock Abruptly Leaves Detroit Station
Tom Clay on a WQTE remote broadcast in Detroit, 1960
Detroit — Deejay Tom Clay, who figured prominently in the payola fracas last year, has left WQTE here. “It was a question of who was going to run the radio station,” explained WQTE owner-manager Ross Mulholland.“He didn’t fit in with station policy.”
However, Mullholland said he regretted Clay’s leaving because he was “probably the hardest working man in the business I’ve ever known” and rating on his 3 – 6 p.m. show had risen rapidly since Clay joined WQTE in June. The executive emphasized that “there was no hint of payola” behind Clay’s departure.
Station’s policy calls for management to program all disks, whereas Clay wanted to pick his own disk lineup, according to Mullholland. There was also a conflict over policy on record hops and remotes, Mullholland says, which Clay conducted recently on an extended basis. Clay’s time slot on WQTE has been taken over by Harv Morgan immediately upon Clay’s departure here. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; September 26, 1960)
Addendum (UPDATED; April 11, 2014): Tom Clay’s departure from WQTE, as this Billboard, September 26, 1960 article implied, was found to be in error. Tom Clay was actually still at WQTE through June, 1961, as was evident in a brief note found in the July 10, 1961 issue of Billboard —
‘ T O M C L A Y L E A V E S W Q T E ‘
DETROIT — Apologies to Tom Clay for our story of three months ago which he said he had left WQTE, Detroit. Clay, a good sport about the whole thing, writes, “You guys jumped the gun in your story. I didn’t leave three months ago.” However, he adds, he is leaving WQTE now. In a “swan song” newsletter to the trade — tagged “My Side Of The Story” — Clay has some fascinating info to report about his adventures with WQTE management, record hops, promotions, etc.
At any rate, the official story is that WQTE is switching to a “good music policy” and “name” deejays (Clay) that don’t fit into the picture. Clay is currently open to offers again, and free-lance record programmer Bill Gavin rumored in his newsletter last week that the jock may move into Alan Freed’s vacated 1-4 p.m. time slot at KDAY, Los Angeles. END
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(– Billboard; July 10, 1961)
ALSO — MORE ON TOM CLAY (Billboard; September, 1960)
‘ C L A Y O P E N S O N P A Y O L A ‘
DETROIT — Tom Clay, (WQTE) Detroit, gives his views on payola in his recent newsletter and the results make for some fascinating reading. For example — referring to a recent Billboard story about payola –Clay opines: “So no they’re (record distributors and manufacturers) complaining they have to wine and dine and romance deejays — get them tickets to shows, etc. Don’t we even deserve this? Is this also forbidden? If taking a deejay to dinner is romancing us than they have a lot to learn about love.”
In another paragraph he (Clay) notes: “How do we actually stop money payments to jocks? You don’t. As long as you’re stupid enough to give it to them you’ll have takers. Why don’t you use your head instead of your money? Instead of complaining jocks are still on the take — do something. Put out more good records and fewer pieces of junk. Start promoting cleverly. Use every legit gimmick in the book. Get back some excitement.”END
NEW YORK — Mary Wells, known worldwide as the “Queen of Motown” for her million-selling hits “My Guy” and “You Beat Me To The Punch,” died of cancer July 26 in Los Angeles. She was 49.
Wells had been suffering with throat problems for several years and was diagnosed with throat-cancer of the larynx in 1990. She underwent surgery for the condition in August 1990, and received chemotherapy and experimental drug treatment through 1991. According to a close friend, Joyce McRae, the singer’s physical condition worsened earlier this year and she was hospitalized for several months at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Center at the University of Southern California, where she died.
Says Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, “Mary’s recording of Smokey Robinson’s ‘My Guy’ became her signature song, marking the beginning of a new era in the world of Motown and music. She holds a special place in the hearts of millions and a very special place in mine.”
Wells, born May 13, 1943 in Detroit, was a 17 year-old graduate of Northwestern High School when she auditioned for Gordy with a tune she’d written when she was 15. As a result, she became the first artist to be released on the Motown label. (Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and Little Stevie Wonder had their hits on the Gordy-Tamla imprint.
‘First Lady of Song’
“Mary Wells, our first lady of song, came to me with a song she had written for Jackie Wilson called ‘Bye, Bye Baby,” recalls Gordy, who signed the young songwriter on the spot. “I insisted she become a singer. It became her first hit.”
“Bye, Bye Baby” reached No. 8 and No. 45 on the R&B and pop charts, respectively.
“That song got her on Dick Clark’s ‘American Bandstand,'” remembers Esther Gordy Edwards, Berry’s eldest sister and a former Motown VP. “She was our first artist to go on ‘Bandstand’ in Philadelphia, and that was a first big step for us.”
Mary Wells toured with the Beatles in the U.K. in 1965. (Click on image for larger view).
Wells three top-ten pop hits in 1962, all penned by Smokey Robinson: “The One Who Really Loves You,” “You Beat Me To The Punch,” and “Two Lovers.” In 1963, “My Guy,” another Robinson composition, landed in the No. 1 pop position, becoming Motown’s first No. 1 song. Wells also recorded several duets with Marvin Gaye, including “What’s The Matter With You Baby,” b/w “Once Upon A Time,” which were top-20 hits on the pop charts. As the label’s premier artist, she was the first of the Motown acts to tour the U.K., as an opener for the Beatles.
Post-Motown Years
At the age of 21, after a string of successful singles, Wells left Motown and signed a four-year, $500,000 contract with 20th Century Fox and moved to Los Angeles. According to Edwards, Motown sued for breach of contract, and the suit was settled when her new label bought out her contract.
“She was really riding the crest of the wave,” say Edwards, “She was really getting a lot of other offers. She wanted out and she was probably encouraged by others. We hated to lose her… I think she would have been a super, superstar if she would have stayed with Motown because the nurturing and organization she had here was conducive to a great career.”
Wells, who was at the time married to vocalist Herman Griffin, recorded a few albums for 20th Century Fox and continued to release singles, but none reached the same level of success during her earlier Motown hits. A 1965 move to Atco yielded one top-ten hit, “Dear Lover.”
In 1966, Wells married fellow performer Cecil Womack, brother of singer Bobby Womack. (Cecil now performs with his current wife, Linda, as Womack and Womack). In 1967, Wells gave birth to Cecil Jr., the first of four children the couple would have together.
Mary Wellscirca 1970.
By 1968, Wells was recording for the independent Jubilee label, and then took a break from the recording business in the 1970s to raise her children. In 1978, she began performing again, recording briefly for Warner/Reprise and then Epic, where she had her last major hit in 1982 with the club anthem, “Gogolo.” In 1983, she appeared on the well-acclaimed “Motown 25” television special.
Financial Crisis
Like many R&B artists of the ’50s and ’60s, Wells did not have the business savvy to secure her dues insofar royalty rights, and thus had to perform frequently to keep the bills paid, says Maye James, a childhood friend who served as Well’s secretary and unofficial road manager during her Motown years.
Her lack of financial security became a crisis in 1990, when Wells, a heavy smoker, was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. With no medical insurance, Wells was unable to pay rent on her Los Angeles home and was evicted.
Doctors told Wells they could save her by removing her vocal cords, an option she rejected. “I miss my voice, you know, but hopefully it will come back,” she once said on an Entertainment Tonight feature the year before she died. “I’ve been singing all my life, I don’t know of any other trade.”
Word of the artist’s plight circulated throughout the music industry and the world. The Washington, D.C. based Rhythm and Blues Foundation, an organization founded to aid financially distressed R&B recording pioneers, came to Wells’ aid with a fund drive that raised $125,000. Berry Gordy made a special cash gift (reportedly $25,000) through the foundation to cover her housing needs. Diana Ross contributed $15,000, Rod Steward and Bruce Springsteen gave $10,000 apiece, and the Temptations gave $5,000. Aretha Franklin skirted the foundation and gave $15,000 directly to Mary Wells.
“Over the two years (since she was diagnosed), we provided the assistance,” says Susan Jenkins, executive director of the foundation, who says fans from around the world sent money to help Wells. “We worked with her family to make sure she got whatever she needed and worked with AFTRA to get her medical insurance reinstated… It speaks a lot to the power of music that we got contributions from all over the world, from people who couldn’t even speak English, for whom the power of Mary’s music impacted their lives.”
Wells was buried July 30 at Forest Lawn Cemetery. A candle-light vigil was scheduled for July 31 in Detroit outside the original Motown offices, known as Hitsville, where the Motown Historical Museum is located. According to Edwards, director of the museum, the vigil was conceived by Smokey Robinson guitarist Marv Johnson and Martha Reeves.
“She was loved,” says Edwards. “Everybody loved everybody, and once a part of that Motown family in the ’60s, you remain a part of it forever.”
Wells, who is divorced from Womack, is survived by two daughters, Stacy and Sugar, and two sons, Cecil Jr. and Harry. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 8, 1992)
From the desk of Hal B. Cook, Publisher; Billboard
The superb Supremes, Diana, Florence and Mary, brought joy to New York’s Copacabana Club, July 29, just last week. Opening night Thursday brought an overflow audience which included Sammy Davis, Jr., Don Murray, Jack Cassidy, Marty Allen, Ed Sullivan, Bill Randall and Hal Jackson, radio personalities; Jim Schartz, Washington record distributor; Neil Keating and Bill Bell, Columbia Record Club executives, and a host of fans from other record labels.
The lovely Supremes shook up the entire block with their performance.
Berry Gordy, Barney Ales, Phil Jones, Harry Ascola and the entire Motown-Tamla organization can be proud that it was one of their groups who brought excitement to what in the summer in New York could be a pretty dull room.
A top-notch act will usually bring along enough extra musicians to get their sound. In the case of the Supremes, only two stand-in extra musicians were needed. Their attentive conductor, Gil Ashey, brought the Supremes’ own bass man Joe Mack and drummer Bob Cuosar, who proceeded to whip the Copa band at a frantic pace giving superb backing to the girls.
Choreography by Charlie Aiken created a visual impact perfectly matched to the powerful Supremes musical arrangements.
A wind-up tribute to Sam Cooke and his music developed into a standing ovation from the audience for the girls. Their attempt to retreat with only one encore proved hopeless.
This group has had fabulous success on records. We have heard of their great “in person” ability. Now we have seen it firsthand. If you get the chance, catch the Supremes in person.
Hal B. Cook, PUBLISHER
(Information and news source: Billboard; August 7, 1965).
COPA PROVING GROUND, AN ACT FOR ALL AGES; SUPREMES BLOSSOM OUT IN NYC
NEW YORK — Any doubts that the Supremes will be around for a long time as a top adult act were erased at the Copacabana on Thursday night, as the three Detroit girls put on a performance the likes of which the famed bistro has seldom experienced.
The Motown beat was polished, refined and arranged to a fare-thee-well, particularly in “Come See About Me,” the female group’s first chart topper.
Motown Supremes in 1965. (Click on image for larger view).
But more important, Diana, the lead singer, emerged as a solo talent to be reckoned with, and the trio’s treatment of pop material like “Queen Of The House” demonstrated that the girls have a sharp comic sense and a reportorial range worthy that of a veteran group having been in the business for some time.
The first opening number in their Copa act was a sprightly “From This Moment On,” followed by a song generally more associated with the group — “Baby Love.” Another of the Supremes stand-bys — “Stop In The Name Of Love,” — was delivered in typical Motown style.
“The Girl From Ipanema” was delivered in a cool, subdued style and provided a suitable change of pace after the two beat numbers.
“Make Somebody Happy” was the showcase act for Diana’s solo potential. Her distinctive phrasing and amazing vocal range in every song confirms that she truly is one of the best in the business.
The girls proved also that they can handle the old music hall song-and-dance routine. On “Rockabye Your Rockabye Baby” they came prepared sporting straw hats and stage canes as they performed in the vaudeville tradition before the rousing, standing-room only crowd.
A bit of nostalgia was introduced with selections from their “We Remember Sam Cooke” album, delivered with taste and sentimental class.
The closing number was “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You,” with Diana Ross delivering the lead vocals well into the song’s lyrics, as Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were cutting in with appropriate asides on cue.
The Supremes’ stellar act was evident in every aspect of their stage presence on Thursday night. The event was electrified by the crowd’s numerous standing ovations throughout the evening as they performed.
While the Supremes will probably keep their teenage following for some time, there appears little question that the act will last a lot longer as an adult-generated “class act” as well, and not too dependent on chart positions of their latest chart hit.
They have all their able resources well in place — poise, polish and glamorous stage appeal — and evidently everyone who was present would unanimously agree, all were working flawlessly on stage at the Copacabana last Thursday night. END
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(Information and news source: Billboard; August 7, 1965)
NEW CALL LETTERS SOUGHT: WJR-FM Getting Joseph, ‘Hot Hits’
NEW YORK — When consultant Mike Joseph arrives in Detroit the first week in July, he’ll be taking his “Hot Hits” format to WJR-FM, which petitioned the FCC for a call-letter change to WHYT-FM on June 8.
Joseph confirmed Thursday that he would “monitor and research” the Motor City market for WJR, but it’s premature for him to commit to a new station sound. The Capitol Cities property is now a beautiful music outlet in the Detroit market.
WHYT-FM studios situated on the 21st floor of the Fisher Building in 1986.(Click on image for larger view; photo courtesy Gary Berkowitz).
Joseph normally lives in the market he’s consulting for a six-month period. But he says the length of his stay in Detroit will be “open ended.” The consultant last worked on the city scene in 1963, when he engineered a one-book turnaround for WKNR-FM, which simulcast the Top 40 sound he instituted for WKNR-AM during that time.
WJR-FM general manager Roger J. Longwell was in Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio on Wednesday, and was unavailable for comments on Joseph’s hiring. But WJR-FM sales manager Roger G. Sisson confirmed that the station had petitioned the FCC for new call letters and that other Motor City stations have been notified.
WHYT airstaff in 1986: Capt. Rick Jagger; Mark Jackson; Mike Benson; Jennifer Stevens; Bob Shuman; Dirk Hunt; Bobby Mitchell; J.J. Walker; Michael Waite and Bob Stuart. Kneeling: Hal Buttermore and Gary Berkowitz. (Click on image for larger view; photo courtesy Gary Berkowitz).
Joseph’s arrival “proves again that Detroit is the most volatile market in the country,” according to Elaine R. Baker, vice-president and general manager of WOMC-FM (104.3), an adult contemporary Metromedia outlet in Detroit. “I suspect the stations in the market will take a wait-and-see attitude.”
Baker says she doesn’t anticipate a format change at WOMC at present, although she notes that “aggressive management always look at new possibilities. But we’re adult contemporary and that’s where we are today.” Asked about any possibility for change “tomorrow” at WOMC-FM, the station executive replied, “I don’t have a crystal ball.” END
(Information and news source: Billboard; July 3, 1982).
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas Rock (and Soul) It to ‘Em; Wows ‘Em in the Big Apple
NEW YORK — Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, three sparkling ambassadors from Motown country in Detroit, delivered soul music downtown to the Copacabana on Thursday, June 20, to weather a spell on prom-happy students and other scholars of the soul sound.
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas circa 1968 (click on image for larger view).
Martha Reeves, the tall beauty who delivers the major sock in the group’s soul, marshaled the Vandellas through an opening-night traffic jam of steps, fancy hand symbols and harmonies. They sang “Ready For Love,”“Come And Get These Memories” and “Heatwave,” a medley of the trio’s golden goodies, then jumped into “Nowhere To Run” and “Honey Chile,” a booming gospel chorus punched through and through with that Motown magic.
The Copa debut of the Gordy artists touched off an in-person sit-in by Motown dignitaries and artists who loyally ringed the first-level stage. Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross of the Supremes and Berry Gordy presided over a crowd that also included Arthur Prysock and local deejay Hal Jackson. The Vandellas sand “I Can’t Help Myself,” originally by the Four Tops several years back, another stellar Motown act.
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas excited the Rhythm and Blues buffs with three encores with such materials as “Dancing In The Streets,” one of their best sellers, and “I Promise To Wait My Love,” their latest release off the Gordy label.
Miss Reeves, smooth and stylish on with her soulful renditions throughout the evening on stage, also sang a cover of the Ruby & The Romantics hit, “Our Day Will Come,” while accompanied by famed soul guitarist David T. Walker. The solo, which Miss Reeves strung along with vocal agility, suddenly turned into a rock revival as the Vandellas chipped in with the echo/reverb machine on, while drummer Melvin Jones turned up the beat laced with rapid rhythmic brushes and strokes.
“Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen” and “He Love Me, He Needs Me” also delighted the crowd into frenzied rippling applause and spontaneous standing ovations. END
(Information and news source: Billboard; June 22, 1968)
From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1960
