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Soul Train Legacy

50:17 recording · EN · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

Soul Train, created and owned by Don Cornelius, put Black culture on American television unapologetically.

  1. Cornelius owned the show outrightAlmost no creator owned their own TV show; his 400-dollar pilot kept WCIU from acquiring a legal claim.
  2. Representation was the whole pointCornelius said he had a burning desire to see Black people depicted on television in a positive light.
  3. The dancers became the cultureThe moonwalk, the robot and the Soul Train line spread from the show to living rooms and clubs nationwide.
Executive Summary AI
  • Josh argues Soul Train's real breakthrough was not the dance-party format, which American Bandstand had run since 1952, but presenting African-American teenagers and Black culture without apology, criticism or explanation for white viewers.4:27
  • Don Cornelius was host, creator and — unusually for the era — sole owner of the show, put alongside Desi Arnaz with I Love Lucy and Mike Douglas, and he told James Brown flatly that nobody was backing him.10:16
  • Cornelius came to broadcasting after pulling over WVON news director Roy Wood as a Chicago cop, quitting the force to take a three-month broadcasting course with a wife and two sons at home, and being hired as an announcer on the strength of his voice.13:34
  • He paid 400 bucks of his own money for the black-and-white WCIU pilot rather than let the station fund it, which preserved his claim to the show; it moved to Los Angeles in 1971 and became nationally syndicated, with Johnson Products' Afrosheen and Ultrasheen as early sponsors.17:45
  • Cornelius stepped down on May 10th, 1993 after falling out of step with hip-hop, the show ran to 2006 for 35 seasons as the longest-running syndicated show in TV history, and he later took his own life while suffering from Alzheimer's.44:06
Key Quote
“And there was a TV critic in 1973 who wrote, I believe for the New York Times, that comparing Soul Train to the old American bandstand is like comparing champagne to seltzer.”
— Josh Clark9:55
Key Quote
“This was a hundred percent Don Cornelius's jam.”
— Josh Clark10:57
Key Quote
“And very key, he went to his TV station, WCIU, and said, I want to shoot a pilot for this thing, baby.”
— Chuck Bryant17:22