Live broadcasts, interviews, and radio segments from the late 1940s and early ’50s by Vernon “Dr. Daddy-O” Winslow for “Jivin’ with Jax” on WWEZ AM New Orleans are now available online via the Tulane University Digital Library. This digitization project, administered by Tulane University Special Collections, was funded in part by a grant from the Grammy Museum, awarded in 2019.
Originally airing between 1949 and 1958, these recordings represent the emergence of Black radio in New Orleans, while featuring Winslow’s work as the first African American radio disc jockey on the city’s airwaves. “Jivin’ with Jax,” sponsored by New Orleans’ Jackson Brewing Company, would become the first full-length radio program in New Orleans to feature a Black DJ and specifically cater to and develop a Black listenership.
The recordings selected for digitization are part of the Vernon “Dr. Daddy-O” Winslow collection of the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, a division of Tulane University Special Collections. They are among more than 3,000 78 RPM records of commercially released music and recorded broadcasts that Winslow played on WWEZ.
“Though just a small representation of the Winslow collection, we selected these discs for digitization due to their extremely fragile and unique nature. We are thrilled that the Grammy Museum’s support enabled us to preserve these recordings so that we can share them worldwide,” says Jillian Cuellar, director of Tulane University Special Collections and principal investigator of the grant.
The digitized sound recordings include Winslow’s hosting of remote broadcasts, and his personalized advertisements and endorsements for New Orleans bars, music clubs, Jax Beer, and J&M Recording Studio, among others. Also included are Dr. Daddy-O’s conversations with internationally renowned Black celebrities, including such music luminaries Roy Brown, Savannah Churchill, Duke Ellington, Avery “Kid” Howard, Ivory Joe Hunter, Louis Jordan, Big Maceo Merriweather, Little Esther Phillips, Professor Longhair, and Roosevelt Sykes. Also included are professional baseball legends Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe and local figures such as Roland Brown, the 1951 king of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. Non-commercially issued music is also included, featuring performances by the Dave Bartholomew Orchestra, and by the Golden Chain Jubileers, a New Orleans-based gospel warhorse quartet.
“These rare recordings reveal and, to some, remind us of Winslow’s brilliance and importance as a broadcaster, both locally and nationally,” says Melissa A. Weber, curator of the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz. “They provide a welcomed addition to the stories of Black radio history, the desegregation of New Orleans airwaves, the roles of sales and advertising in radio broadcasting, and the birth of rock and roll music.”
For more information, contact Melissa A. Weber, curator of the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz, at [email protected] or (504) 247-1807. To learn more about Tulane University Special Collections, visit the TUSC website or email [email protected], and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.
