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4 unusual facts about WDAS


Gil Saunders

The album garnered three Billboard R&B chart hits including "Today's Your Lucky Day," "Don't Give Me Up," and "I Really Love You." Saunders also co-lead with Harold on the track "What We Both Need (Is Love)" which was popular on local Philadelphia radio station WDAS-FM in Philadelphia.

WDAS-FM

The station playlist included R&B, soul and funk, playing what would become the classics of their genre and launching careers of national artists like Lou Rawls and "Philadelphia Sound" acts such as The O'Jays, The Stylistics, Patti LaBelle and the Blue Bells, and Teddy Pendergrass.

This short-lived period introduced much of the new voices of "progressive" FM radio including Michael Tearson and Ed Sciaky alongside a revitalized Hy Lit from WIBG, and later a popular nighttime show by owner Max Leon's son Steve, who called himself "My Father's Son" on the air.

By the end of the decade, WDAS introduced its listenership to the new genre of Rap by playing Sugarhill Gang and Kurtis Blow, and again showcasing local talent like Frankie Smith (of "Double Dutch Bus" fame).


Similar

WDAS-FM | WDAS (AM) |

Max Leon

On October 19, 1950, Leon bought WDAS-AM from William Goldman, moving the station from Ocean City, New Jersey to Philadelphia.


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