Soul Train Clips...The Hippest Trip In America!!

[Old School]

IMDB (Series Info) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0161194/


Wikipedia (Series Info) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Train


Soul Train YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/soultrain


Soul Train

Soul Train is an American music-dance television program which aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 27, 2006. In its 35-year history, the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, dance/pop, and hip hop artists, although funk, jazz, disco, and gospel artists also appeared. The series was created by Don Cornelius, who also served as its first host and executive producer.

Production was suspended following the 2005–2006 season, with a rerun package (known as The Best of Soul Train) airing for two years subsequently. As a nod to Soul Train's longevity, the show's opening sequence during later seasons contained a claim that it was the "longest-running first-run, nationally syndicated program in American television history," with over 1,100 episodes produced from the show's debut through the 2005–2006 season. Despite the production hiatus, Soul Train held that superlative until 2016, when Entertainment Tonight surpassed it completing its 35th season. Among non-news programs, Wheel of Fortune surpassed that mark in 2018.


Chicago Origins

The origins of Soul Train can be traced to 1965 when WCIU-TV, an upstart UHF station in Chicago, began airing two youth-oriented dance programs: Kiddie-a-Go-Go and Red Hot and Blues. These programs—specifically the latter, which featured a predominantly African Americans group of in-studio dancers—would set the stage for what was to come to the station several years later. Don Cornelius, a news reader and backup disc jockey at Chicago radio station WVON, was hired by WCIU in 1967 as a news and sports reporter. Cornelius also was promoting and emceeing a touring series of concerts featuring local talent (sometimes called "record hops") at Chicago-area high schools, calling his traveling caravan of shows "The Soul Train". WCIU-TV took notice of Cornelius's outside work and in 1970, allowed him the opportunity to bring his road show to television.

After securing a sponsorship deal with the Chicago-based retailer Sears, Roebuck and Company, Soul Train premiered on WCIU-TV on August 17, 1970, as a live show airing weekday afternoons. Beginning as a low-budget affair, in black and white, the first episode of the program featured Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, and the Emotions as guests. Cornelius was assisted by Clinton Ghent, a local professional dancer who appeared on early episodes before moving behind the scenes as a producer and secondary host.


Move To Syndication

The program's immediate success attracted the attention of another locally based firm—the Johnson Products Company (manufacturers of the Afro Sheen line of hair-care products)—and they later agreed to co-sponsor the program's expansion into broadcast syndication. Cornelius and Soul Train's syndicator targeted 25 markets outside of Chicago to carry the show, but stations in only seven other cities—Atlanta; Birmingham; Cleveland; Detroit; Houston; Los Angeles; and Philadelphia—purchased the program, which began airing on a weekly basis on October 2, 1971. By the end of the first season, Soul Train was on in the other eighteen markets. At the time, there were no other commercial television programs being produced by black people for a black audience; the only nationally available show by blacks for blacks at the time was the public television series Soul! When the program moved into syndication, its home base was also shifted to Los Angeles, where it remained for the duration of its run. Soul Train was part of a national trend toward syndicated music-oriented programs targeted at niche audiences; two other network series (Hee Haw for country music, and The Lawrence Welk Show for traditional music) also entered syndication in 1971 and would go on to have long runs.

Though Don Cornelius moved his operations west, a local version of Soul Train continued in Chicago; Cornelius hosted both the local Chicago and Los Angeles–based national programs simultaneously but soon focused his attention solely on the national edition. He continued to oversee production in Chicago, where Clinton Ghent hosted episodes on WCIU-TV until 1976, followed by three years of once-weekly reruns. The syndicated version was picked up in the Chicago market by CBS-owned WBBM-TV at its launch; the program moved to WGN-TV in 1977 and remained there for the rest of its Chicago run.

Don Cornelius hosted every national episode of Soul Train during this era except for one: comedian Richard Pryor guest hosted the final episode of the 1974-75 season.

In 1985, Chicago-based Tribune Entertainment (WGN's syndication wing) took over Soul Train's syndication contract; the series would continue distribution through Tribune for the rest of its original run.




Video Description: Classic show clips from...

01. That Lady (Part 1)—The Isley Brothers
02. Live It Up Part 1—The Isley Brothers
03. Summer Breeze (Part 1)—The Isley Brothers
04. Release Yourself—Graham Central Station Soul Train Dancers
05. Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe—Barry White
06. Love’s Theme—Love Unlimited Orchestra
07. What Am I Gonna Do with You—Barry White
08. You’re the First, the Last, My Everything—Barry White
09. Come Get to This—Marvin Gaye
10. Distant Lover—Marvin Gaye
11. Let’s Get It On—Marvin Gaye
12. I Want to Take You Higher—Sly & the Family Stone
13. Mighty Mighty—Earth, Wind & Fire Soul Train Dancers
14. Dance to the Music—Sly & the Family Stone
15. I Heard It through the Grapevine—Gladys Knight & the Pips
16. Back Stabbers—The O’Jays
17. Respect—Aretha Franklin Soul Train Dancers
18. Rock Steady—Aretha Franklin

[Old School]

Video Description: More classic Soul Train clips...

[Old School]

Video Description: More classic Soul Train clips...

[Old School]

Video Description: More classic Soul Train clips...

[Old School]

Video Description: From the days of Motown to the birth of hip hop, the "Soul Train" dancers look back at their time on the show and reflect on how their experiences transformed black culture.