Ed "Johnny Jive" McClure, Oral History
Files
Title
Ed "Johnny Jive" McClure, Oral History
Description
Edward McClure (EM) (b. Jun 23, 1923, d. Sep 17, 2009) music jock and school teacher known on the air as “Johnny Jive” beginning his career at WBCO, Bessemer in 1952, at WENN for a short time in the late 50’s and then, WJLD until 1969. A master of platter parties and creator of the Platter Queen contests.
Creator
Edward McClure
Bob Friedman
Publisher
Birmingham Black Radio Museum
Date
December 22, 1992
Contributor
Joe Wright
Emily Bibb
Format
JPG
MP3
PDF
Language
English
Identifier
McClureOH
Interviewer
Bob Friedman
Gary Richardson
Interviewee
Ed "Johnny Jive" McClure
Transcription
Transcript of audio snippet:
Ed McClure: ...I had my third radio anniversary there at the Madison Night Spot..
Bob Friedman: Uh huh
EM: And B.B. King was my guest and that was the largest crowd they ever had
BF: Isn’t that something must be 1955?
EM: Must have been yeah. Round 55. Yeah, the anniversary.. And at 11 o’clock there was a line outside the door about a half block long.
BF: Uh huh.
EM: And when I tried to get in about 9 o’clock. It was so crowded for the first and only time in my life, that I was off my feet for a few seconds for the crowd was so thick..
BF: Picked you up, brought you in...
EM: Yeah I was just...no...just as I tried to move my feet off the floor for a minute or split second or two and that was at the Madison Night Spot in ’53 (should have been 55). He said they had made more money at another engagement but this was the largest crowd he had, an assessment, probably had a couple thousand people there that night.
BF: It must have been wild. Dewey Monroe!
EM: Dewey Monroe, Irene is still living...
BF: Yep.These are pictures of tickets from the Madison Night Spot back in 1950.
EM: Oh how about , that yeah.Well I’ll be doggone.
BF: These are they have these at the..
EM: I didn’t know Cab Calloway was there... when was he there?
BF: It’s all 1950
EM: Uh huh ok.
BF: Yeah.
EM: How about that?
BF: These are the contracts too. Ivory Joe Hunter, 1950..
EM: Yeah well Monroe would have somebody about every six weeks...
BF: Must have been a great place. I had heard that the..
EM: Make money sometimes, lose money, just kept going...
BF: You remember Bob Umbach going there.
EM:No
BF: That’s what I’m told that he would hang out there.
EM: No. Now you know I know you know Roy Wood was there
BF: He worked at the Madison Night Spot?
EM: he did remotes from the Madison but he worked at WJLD
BF: Oh yeah
Ed McClure: ...I had my third radio anniversary there at the Madison Night Spot..
Bob Friedman: Uh huh
EM: And B.B. King was my guest and that was the largest crowd they ever had
BF: Isn’t that something must be 1955?
EM: Must have been yeah. Round 55. Yeah, the anniversary.. And at 11 o’clock there was a line outside the door about a half block long.
BF: Uh huh.
EM: And when I tried to get in about 9 o’clock. It was so crowded for the first and only time in my life, that I was off my feet for a few seconds for the crowd was so thick..
BF: Picked you up, brought you in...
EM: Yeah I was just...no...just as I tried to move my feet off the floor for a minute or split second or two and that was at the Madison Night Spot in ’53 (should have been 55). He said they had made more money at another engagement but this was the largest crowd he had, an assessment, probably had a couple thousand people there that night.
BF: It must have been wild. Dewey Monroe!
EM: Dewey Monroe, Irene is still living...
BF: Yep.These are pictures of tickets from the Madison Night Spot back in 1950.
EM: Oh how about , that yeah.Well I’ll be doggone.
BF: These are they have these at the..
EM: I didn’t know Cab Calloway was there... when was he there?
BF: It’s all 1950
EM: Uh huh ok.
BF: Yeah.
EM: How about that?
BF: These are the contracts too. Ivory Joe Hunter, 1950..
EM: Yeah well Monroe would have somebody about every six weeks...
BF: Must have been a great place. I had heard that the..
EM: Make money sometimes, lose money, just kept going...
BF: You remember Bob Umbach going there.
EM:No
BF: That’s what I’m told that he would hang out there.
EM: No. Now you know I know you know Roy Wood was there
BF: He worked at the Madison Night Spot?
EM: he did remotes from the Madison but he worked at WJLD
BF: Oh yeah
Duration
Full interview: 58 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Audio snippet: 2 minutes
Collection
Citation
Edward McClure and Bob Friedman, “Ed "Johnny Jive" McClure, Oral History,” The Birmingham Black Radio Museum, accessed July 3, 2022, https://thebbrm.org/item/67.
Item Relations
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