Soul Train Pulls into New Depot

The New York Times ran a story on the historic sale of Soul Train in its June 17 edition to MadVision, made up of Kenard Gibbs, group publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, Anthony Maddox, a former NBC producer, and Peter Griffith, formerly of Vibe magazine.

The franchise, owned by its creator and host Don Cornelius for 38 years, began in national syndication in 1971 after airing in Chicago as a local program the year before. The urban music and dance show had strong similarities to American Bandstand, which had either no or only a token minority presence at the time.
The three promised not only to revive and update the Soul Train show, but also make the old shows available on DVD and the internet, which immediately got many fans of the old show excited.

"This is a great move because people for years have been crying for the release of the old Soul Train episodes," said Jarrell Mason, a senior at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and creator of "The Time Machine" talk show on WUAG-FM. "When I interviewed Tony Cornelius (Don Cornelius' son) on my show, he was still up in the air about Soul Train producing new shows because Paramount had converted (the show's) studio into a movie lot. They were looking for a new home."

Some expressed surprise that Cornelius actually sold the franchise, which he molded and staunchly protected from rip-offs and piracy over the years. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to the New York Times.

Soul Train proved to be a huge success from its very beginnings. Nearly all of the top African-American artists were drawn to the program because there were limited avenues to show their work at the time.

Hip Hop News said Soul Train then introduced its audience to early rap performances of the Sugar Hill Gang, The Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Run DMC, The Beastie Boys, Kool Moe Dee and Salt-N-Pepa.

The real stars, though, proved to be the regular young dancers who displayed the latest urban styles and latest dance moves.
It took only one or two airings on Soul Train before teenagers and young adults, regardless of race, across the country were trying out what they saw on the show, many people who grew up with the show said.

The late Fred "Rerun" Berry was discovered on Soul Train before he went on to star in the popular 1970s sitcom "What's Happening!!" Grammy-award winning singer Jody Whatley was also found on the Soul Train dance floor before she starting singing with the group Shalamar and then launching her solo career.
The "Soul Train Line," where dancers would form two lines side-by-side and show off their favorite dance moves in pairs, became one of the signature events on the program and has become a cultural icon. The Soul Train line has shown up in recent motion pictures like "Hitch" with Will Smith and "This Christmas" with Chris Brown and Loretta Devine.

Even though, according to the New York Times article, Soul Train had not produced a new show since 2006, it had never been canceled. The show has produced some 1,100 episodes and "The Best of Soul Train" is now running in national syndication, the article said.

Other parts of the franchise, such as the Soul Train Music Awards, have aged well through the years, embracing young and emerging urban talent. This year's award show, though, was canceled because of the Writers Guild of America strike in Hollywood.