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THE THREE FAMOUS MEN FROM WVON YOU SHOULD KNOW RIGHT NOW..........

And let's not forget Roy Wood, Ed Cook, Herbert Rogers Kent, Rodney Jones, Purvis Spann, Billl "Doc" lee, and Bernadine C Washington. All were major playes in the huge success of WVON back in the day. Joe, Sid, and Don were also big players in the rise of the infamous WVON>.
 
And from what I have been reading over the internet, WVON in its R&B heydays of the 1960's and 1970's was this 250 watt radio station mainly covering Southside Chicago. Yet they made it to the top 5 in the Chicago Radio Market and had a great battle going up against WGN and WLS. Now that was one mighty 250 watt radio station!
 
Indeed it was a 250 watt monster ... covered the west side also... mark Kedzie at I-55 and draw a 10 mile circle around that point and that's what you got. Other names that belong in the foregoing list ... Bill Butterball Crane, Wesley South, Richard Pegue, Lucky Cordell.

The lineup around 1968 was Cobb in am drive, ed cook 9-noon, butterball noon-3, E. Rodney Jones 3-7, The Cool Gent 7-11, Wesley South's hotline talk show 11-12, Pervis (correct spelling) the blues man mid-4am, Bill Doc Lee did gospel 4-6 am.
 
I associate the name sid mccoy with a late night jazz program on WCFL ... didn't know he did time at VON. When was this?
 
I thought he had worked at WVON when Don Cornelius started SOUL TRAIN with Joe Cobb screaming his trademark call of SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL TRAIN! But you are right about Sid McCoy as a radio personality over at WCFL. I think Sid McCoy worked at WCFL before they went Top 40 in 1965. But you can fill in the info here!
 
J Alex Bowab said:
Indeed it was a 250 watt monster ... covered the west side also... mark Kedzie at I-55 and draw a 10 mile circle around that point and that's what you got. Other names that belong in the foregoing list ... Bill Butterball Crane, Wesley South, Richard Pegue, Lucky Cordell.

The lineup around 1968 was Cobb in am drive, ed cook 9-noon, butterball noon-3, E. Rodney Jones 3-7, The Cool Gent 7-11, Wesley South's hotline talk show 11-12, Pervis (correct spelling) the blues man mid-4am, Bill Doc Lee did gospel 4-6 am.
Click to expand...

Wasn't WVON 1,000 watts days & 250 at night? In any event, the station was a tremendous ratings success with that signal going against the big Chicago powerhouses.
 
JonathanGabel said:
I thought he had worked at WVON when Don Cornelius started SOUL TRAIN with Joe Cobb screaming his trademark call of SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUL TRAIN! But you are right about Sid McCoy as a radio personality over at WCFL. I think Sid McCoy worked at WCFL before they went Top 40 in 1965. But you can fill in the info here!
Click to expand...

Sid McCoy stayed at WCFL after they went Top 40 because the contract with the beer company that sponsored his all night show didn't expire until early 1967. Yvonne Daniels also worked with Sid on that show.
In 1967 when the contract expired WCFL replaced McCoy on the all night show with a 26 year old kid who had been working in Seattle. The kids name--Larry Lujack.
 
All great names for a group of gentlemen who set the pace for all over "R&B" jocks to follow. WVON was a pioneer in "Black" radiio and opened many doors that had never been opened before. The first air line commercials for national carriers were aired on WVON, Jewel Foods (the Chicago supermarket) was the first major grocery chain to air on a "Black" radio station. Much of that could be credited to Bob Bell who was the GM and Sales Manager at the time. There were lots of "first" for WVON and none of it could have been accomplished without a staff of team players who didn't know your couldn't do something! Did any of you know that WVON had a sister station in Milwaukee known as WNOV? The double page ad in Broadcasting Magazine for that station listed all the great things WVON had done and simply stated and now there is a little station in Milwaukee that has copied everything we'd done! WVON was really way ahead of it's time and all of it due to the great staff and the vision of Leonard Chess.
 
WNOV was iindeed the sister station ... premiered about 1968... a 250 watt daytimer on 860, former call letters WFOX. Cecil Hale and some others jocked on NOV before being moved to VON later... to use the baseball analogy, NOV was the farm club minor league team where you did your time before moving up to the major league team.

And yes, VON was 1 kw day, 250 watts night back in this time frame ... class IV stations were allowed to up power to 1 kw day earlier in the 60s.

WNOV had a great signal... at the Great Lakes Navy Base in Waukegan it came in as well as any other Milwaukee station during the day.
 
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