Humbard Family Radio Favorites

The first print reference I found to the Humbard family was in the Indianapolis Times, September 5th, 1949. The Humbard family was performing at 4:30 PM on 1260 WFBM. I didn't immediately connect them to the evangelist Rex Hubbard. I'll circle back to that in a moment. I had found a Humbard Family hymnal which was notably hefty compared to most radio hymnals, with 201 pages of mostly Stamps-Baxter hymns. A highly unusual book, the music is all in shapenote musical notation. It bore no date, but the individual hymns have copyright dates. The latest of these are from 1945.  I corroborated dates at Hymnary.org. (They need to update their SSL certificate)  Anyway, I'd put publication of the hymnal shortly thereafter, probably in 1946-ish. The interior of the cover states "features on ABC and Mutual networks." The NBC Blue Network became the ABC network in 1943 so that tracks.

Interestingly the Humbards didn't seem to publish much of their own music. They seemed to be primarily live performers. In the Radio Favorites hymnal there are zero originals. Most of the music is by Albert E. Brumley a prolific 20th century, shape note music composer. Almost every hymn in the book is under Virgil O. Stamps publishing.  Their earlier work, the 1939 hymnal,  Humbard Family Songs, only sports three originals (below). I have not found information on their 1942 hymnal, the Humbard Family Radio Book so there may be a few more originals out there.

• The Blood Done Sign My Name - Alpha Edward Humbard
• One Day While I Was Far Away - Martha Bell Humbard
• Better Than Gold - Martha Bell Humbard

The various members of the Humbard Family put out books, LPs, 78s, 8-tracks, and broadcast on radio and television. I even found a translucent red 10" record. They ran an inter-generational ministry which eventually collapsed in scandal and embezzlement in the 1970s. But I'm more interested in the early radio era than the quaaludes and nose-jobs era.  It is with thanks to the 2012 obituary of Maude Aimee Humbard in the Akron Beacon Journal that we can start to piece this together. 

Maude Aimee Humbard was born in 1922 in Dallas, TX. She married the Rev. Rex Humbard in 1942. Rev. Rex Humbard's actual name is Alpha Rex Emmanuel Humbard and he was born in 1919 in Little Rock, AR. They settled together in Akron, Ohio, in 1952. Their kids were, Don, Charles and both a Rex jr. and an Aimee Jr. 

The father of our Rev. Rex was Rex Alpha Edward Humbard and he was some kind of an itinerant evangelist. His mother was Martha Bell Humbard. Martha and Rex Sr. had 5 children including Rex jr., they were Branson Clement Edward, Anna Mary Esther, Martha Ruth (Davidson), Elizabeth Juanita (Banker), and Margaret Leona Belle. Rex Sr. actually ordained the younger Rex which is how we ended up with a family of traveling musical radio evangelists. This family tree does not even begin to address the husbands and wives, sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws with contributed to broadcasts and recordings like Wayne Jones who was on that red 10-inch. This family needs a flow chart. [LINK]  If they didn't recycle names every generation this would be easier. To quote Shupe Hadden (1988) 

"He included his whole family in the act - wife, children, and grand children. ...A  whole generation grew up with the Humbards, and, for may of them, the Humbard family was a part of their own..."

Branson Clement also became an itinerant musical radio evangelist. He and his wife Priscilla even performed in Canada at 630 CFCO. In 1964 they put out a self-released christian LP "Come Home, It's Suppertime" when they were based in Youngstown, OH. Their twin daughters Drusilla and Susanna handled most the lead vocals. But read the credits carefully, those list Leona Jones and Danny Koker. Leona is a Humbard by birth, Danny is Rex Sr's son-in-law. Leona and Danny had a son also named Danny Koker (Jr). He too is an ordained minister. He would therefore be Rev. Rex Jr's Humbard's nephew. That Danny Koker was the host of Counting Cars on the History Channel.

Anyway, getting back to the Humbards of the 1930s. Purportedly Rex Humbard's religious broadcasting career started on radio in 1932. [SOURCE] If that were true his radio career began at the age of 13 on 1040 KTHS-AM. This is corroborated by the Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music by W.K. McNeil which states:

"Their first and best-known child, the future televangelist Rex Humbard, was born in Little Rock, AR... Of their five later children, the oldest three (Ruth, Clement, and Leona) joined Rex in the first and best-known musical Humbard Family. During the late 1930s, they became radio regulars on  KTHS."

Some sources refer to this show as the Saturday Night Jamboree. In the late 1930s that's not possible, because by 1938, KTHS was airing the NBC syndicated National Barn Dance out of WLS on Saturday nights. [SOURCE] The show was picked up by NBC Radio in 1933, so this local jamboree window would have to be short.

There were a lot of Jamboree programs and they are often conflated. Excluding the ones on NBC-TV (1948-1948) and the one on WSAZ-TV (1953-1965) a Barnyard Jamboree and an Old Time Jamboree on WLS, there was also a Saturday Night Jamboree on KWEM in Memphis 140 miles east of Little Rock, and another on KCMO in St. Louis.  There was the Blue Monday Jamboree on KFRC, Tennessee Jamboree on WLAF, (1953 - 1978),  the Saturday Nite Jamboree on CBC Newfoundland (1963),  a Wheeling jamboree on WWVA,  the WNAX Hillbilly Jamboree, the Cornhusker Jamboree on KFAB, the KARK Dixie Jamboree, the Old King Jamboree on KVOO... the list goes on.

KTHS was only briefly a Mutual affiliate in 1938. But they were an NBC Blue affiliate starting in 1929 not switching to CBS until 1951. So it's no surprise to see them airing the WLS National Barn Dance.So If this program existed on KTHS, it had to be earlier. The signed on in 1926, so there is a lot of early to speak of.  But I pulled out a Indianapolis Times radio schedule January 23rd 1932 and lists a Barn Dance at 8:30 PM on Saturdays. Notably this is before the WLS program was syndicated. So that might be it.

Even the meticulously researched book Arkansas Airwaves by Roy Poindexter refers to the dubious Saturday Night Jamboree program. All print sources I have found which give attribution go back to his 1974 book as it's source material.  But even June and September Radio Movie Guides for 1940 thru 1942 [SOURCE] list the Humbards on only two radio stations: KLRA at 7:30 AM Saturday and at 12:45 on Sunday at KTHS. 

The Poindexter book clearly states that in 1940 "Humbard Family switched their religious radio  program from Hot Springs to KLRA."  But schedules in the Radio Movie Guide clearly show they were on both stations at at least into early 1942 intimating they had not fully relocated to Dallas yet. Kevin Keherberg's dissertation [SOURCE] corroborates some of the above. Additionally, Keherberg pointed out the Stamps/shapenote connection on page 186.

 "Brumley’s songs were frequently sung by all of Stamps-Baxter’s radio groups—especially after the composer joined the company’s staff in 1937—and KRLD was Stamps-Baxter’s home station."

Then in 1939 Virgil O. Stamps brought the family to Dallas to play at the state fair. In Dallas they impressed Pastor Albert Ott leader of the mega-church Assembly of God. The Humbards were so well received in Dallas that they relocated there, and stayed for 2 years. [SOURCE]  The church's website today claims that the Christ Ambassadors Full Gospel Hour” began on local radio station KRLD. But Mr. Ott also had another program, the Old Camp Meeting on 1310 WRR which dates back to at least 1937. Documents clearly indicate that the shows aired concurrently. Ott's program on Full Gospel Hour program aired on KRLD at 11:00 AM to noon on Sundays which is immediately after the WRR program ended. But even if the Humbards were playing all of Ott's programs I still only come up with three weekly shows, and not the 13 listed in the encyclopedia. In Billboard magazines 1967 The World of Gospel Music special. It claims that "In 1939 the family moved to Dallas and did 33 radio programs a week for the Bethel Temple, WRR, and the Stamps -Baxter Music Co., KRLD."   So Billboard says 33, the encyclopedia says 13, but I count only 3. You start to get the impression that they were prone to exaggeration.

Their resume isn't all bunk, but clearly there is some incongruity here. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas claims that in the early 1940s, rev. Rex (Jr.) began a daily radio program carried nationwide on Mutual Network and the NBC Blue Network.That Billboard special [SOURCE] goes on to claim they began syndication on Mutual in 1943 and their daily program was carried on 100 stations. In 1944 they were picked up by NBC Blue. There is very little documentation on that syndication. at all save for that single WFBM listing in 1949. But that single listing on 1230 WFBM is an anachronism, as WFBM was a CBS affiliate and they had been broadcasting the Humbards since 1942. Mutual did have 500+ affiliates but mostly either small stations in big markets or just stations in small markets. So airplay there may have been real but poorly documented.

The Humbards also claimed to have broadcast over the Mutual Network for more than 30 years. This is false, not even possible. Their radio career before Akron, OH was under 20 years ⁠—total (1932 - 1942). But there is an obvious doorway to the Mutual network on their resume. In 1940 WRR was already a Mutual network affiliate, and they remained one through the whole decade. But the Ypsilanti Daily Press managed to close the loop. Their Feb 14th, 1944 issue lists " Humbard Family" in their "Pick of the Air Today" column. No call letters are included. It lists them only as "BLU" which means the NBC Blue Network: WLW, CKLW, WJBK and WGN. A November 25th, 1943 issue of the same newspaper lists them under the Mutual Network.

Then came the move to Akron in 1952. First they broadcast on 1350 WADC-AM from 9:15 AM - 9:45 AM Saturday mornings and later they added WXEL in Toledo and then 640 WHLO-AM. Strangely the WADC 30-year anniversary booklet barely mentions them, and does not even list them in the 1955 schedule, leaving the impression they were still very much small potatoes. [SOURCE]

The Humbards made the jump to television via WAKR-TV Channel 49 and WJW-TV. The once itinerant evangelists became televangelists. In the 1970s the ministry started to unravel: internal disputes, lawsuits, financial problems, tax fraud, loans from Jimmy Hoffa, embezzlement, and the IRS was sniffing around. In 1983 Rev. Rex Humbard resigned as pastor. He retired from on-air preaching in the 1990s. In 1994 he sold off his Akron Cathedral and retired to Florida. He died on September 21st, 2007.

Blues for M.F.

The LP "Soul Battle" was released on Prestige records in 1961, matrix (7223). It lands on Track 2, Side A. It featured three tenor sax players King Curtis, Oliver Nelson, and Jimmy Forest, Roy Haynes pick up drum duties, Gene Casey and George Duvivier sound out the session on piano and bass respectively. The John Handy Quartet covered it in 1962 for Roulette records with a burning bebop infused solo, which is what first brought it to my attention. For years I had assumed that MF stood for motherfucker, but the original Soul Battle LP spells out in parentheses that the M.F. stands for Mort Fega. The back of the LP spends a mere 26 lines describing the song, So I'll quote a bit of that as it's relevant to our story here.

"Blues for M.F. is a tone poem with a fine set of altered blues changes which lend themselves to distinguished soloing by all three of the reed men. The tune certainly captures the intensity, the sincerity, and the quiet humor which have made Mort Fega one of the nations most popular jazz announcers..."

The song is an exploration of a blues scale replete with flatted thirds, but woth a very steady meter to provide a platform to hold all nine minutes and thirty seconds of soulful sax solos. Each is worldessly singing the praises of Mort Fega who was at the peak of his career at the time. Unusually this wasn't even the first Jazz tune dedicated to Mr. Fega. In 1959 The Red Garland Trio Plus Ray Baretto recorded Manteca for Prestige (7139). Donald Fagen testified in a 2006 obituary for the man that the song was played on Fega's show regularly

"I looked forward to Mort’s between-track commentary as much as to the music itself. With Red Garland’s “Mort’s Report” playing softly in the background, Mort, with the grace and enthusiasm that reveals itself only in the most bona-fide jazz lover, would carefully list every soloist and sideman."

It was the New York jazz scene that brought all these people together. Red Garland moved to New York from Dallas in 1946. Oliver Nelson went to College in St. Louis, but moved to New York in 1958 after graduating. King Curtis was from Ft. Worth and moved to New York to become a session musician in 1952, and both George Duvivier and Ray Barretto were a native New Yorkers. These jazzmen all undoubtedly listened to Faga and knew his as a mover in the jazz biz. You couldn't be a jazz head in in New York and not know 1330 WEVD-AM in the 1960s.

Mort Fega, was from New Rochelle, NY which is where he had his first show at 1460 WNRC-AM on Saturday afternoons. New Rochelle was New York City suburb, so it's signal reached parts of New York City. The popularity of that show grew such that in 1962 he was able to jump to WEVD and launch a  "Jazz Unlimited" which aired six nights a week simulcast on 97.9 WEVD-FM. His show aired opposite Symphony Sid Torin, but by the 1960s Sid was old hat. While he was a His hep cat jazz delivery was decades old.  Fega was all about modern jazz he pushed artists like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk alongside jazz classics.

Fega left WEVD in 1966, and continued broadcasting jazz from WBAI, WRFM, and WTFM in New York City. His departure from WEVD is a bit mysterious but he debuted on WRFM in June of 1965 while he was still on WEVD and Cue Magazine lists him in January of 1966 already hosting Jazz in Stereo on WTFM. In August of 1965 Billboard specifically spells out that on his new station that Fega beat out Sid for the top spot.  Then he showed up on WBAI in June of 1966 with a Friday night program.

The quick shuffling around the dial came to an end three years later when in 1969 Fega and his wife Muriel relocated to Phoenix where he quickly got a radio show on 1400 KXIV-AM named simply "Night." That program continued midnight to 4:00 AM six nights a week until at least 1974. He moved to Connecticut in 1976 and started a program that aired twice a week, one on Saturday afternoons and one Tuesday evenings on college radio station 91.3 WWUH. He then added on a program at 1230 WINF-AM in Manchester and in 1979 a Sunday morning program on 1550 WMLB-AM in West Hartford.

Then finally the workaholic jazz man retired to Delray Beach, FL in 1986.  But the itch came back and he picked up a weekly show on 90.7 WXEL-FM. It was only once a week but it was five hours long! He also taught a History of Jazz course at Palm Beach Community College and wrote a weekly column for the Palm Beach Post newspaper. Mort Fega died on Jan. 21st 2005 due to complications from a recent back surgery. He was 83.

DJ Skeets McDonald

In 1959 Skeets McDonald recorded the tune "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes."  It was written by Slim Willet in 1952. At least half a dozen other country singers tried to do it justice, but McDonald did it better. Skeets performed it live on an early TV program, Town Hall Party, on KTTV-TV in Compton, CA. If any single of his could be classed as a hit this was it... and looking back it wasn't much. But today it and many of his other ballads are considered rockabilly classics. His profile on Hillbilly-music.com is woefully slim.

He was a regular on Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree on KXLA-AM in Pasadena and in addition to KTTV he also appeared on the Ozark Jubilee at KWTO-TV on the ABC network. He had several minor hits on the Billboard country chart, including "This Old Heart" in 1960, "Call Me Mr. Brown" in 1963, "Big Chief Buffalo Nickel in 1966, and "Mabel" in 1967. Then he died of a heart attack in 1968.  He was only 53. It cut short his career. A country artist still having hits of any kind in his fifties was a clearly stayer.

Born in Arkansas,  his music career actually began in Michigan. It was not exactly the epicenter of rockabilly cool.  His brother moved to Detroit and he followed along. Nick Tosches summed up the beginning "With the help of several other displaced rednecks, which were plentiful in that land, Skeets formed his own Hillbilly boogie band, the Lonesome Cowboys."  The man has a way with words. Their first regular paying gig started up in 1937 in a slot on 1340 WEXL-AM in Royal Oak. The band moved to 910 WFDF-AM in Flint, then to 1100 WCAR-AM in Pontiac. (Tosches gets the WEXL calls wrong. Try to look past it, he's a writer not a radio geek.)

In 1953 I found a record of Skeets performing on Rhythm Roundup on KUGN in Eugene, OR.  In 1956 he showed up on KBOX in Modesto with a festival of country heavy hitters: Ferlin Husky, Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, Cowboy Copas and others. McDonald signed with Columbia records in 1959 and added guitar rocker Eddie Cochran to the studio line up. That when that string of singles began. 

WEXL first went on air in 1925 though some versions start it in 1924. The station began as WAGM but was sold to Rev. Jacob B. Spark in about 1929 who changed the calls and flipped it to block programming mixing gospel and country music. The station expanded its country music programming to a 24-hour format in 1963 becoming the big country outlet in the Detroit metro for a time. But Skeets had already moved on to other pastures. The station flipped to religious talk in 1974. Thankfully Skeets wasn't around to see it.