Another vendor that booked advertising with KAAY was Stan's Record Shop at 728 Texas Street in Shreveport, LA. Due to KAAY's long-reaching signal, there were numerous customers outside Little Rock and the state of Arkansas who advertised with the station; this is one that immediately comes to mind, I'll have to try and research more.
There are several Internet references to Stan's Record Shop and several 50,000-watt stations carried his advertising. He was the distributor for Chess Records of Chicago, IL, as well, and with KAAY, Little Rock, AR, KWKH, Shreveport, LA and WLAC-AM, Nashville, TN, he blanketed the South and became the largest independent record distributor in the region. He also advertised on XERF, Del Rio, TX. Stan Lewis also had an independent record label, but finally sold out while retaining the control of his music publishing companies.
I thought it quite interesting that, as a kid, Stan Lewis sold news papers to buy several jukeboxes and bought the records for them at a record store in Shreveport. Later, when he found that the record store was for sale, he and his wife bought it in 1948, and Stan's Record Shop began in a little 8' x 12' space. From humble beginnings came an empire!
Here are a few links you may want to follow...some have slightly differeng stories, but all tell the story:
http://www.recordsbymail.com/stan_lewis.php
http://www.answers.com/topic/stan-lewis
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:o-NFCnXVbBUJ:www.bsnpubs.com/gulfcoast/jewel-paulastory.html+Stan%27s+Record+Shop&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
One last link, with some really nice pictures and story of Stan in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame:
http://louisianamusichalloffame.org/content/view/108/127/
If anyone remembers buying or mail-ordering from Stan's Record Shop, please give us some coments- I'll bet his service was superb!
Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)
I first heard about Stan's Record Shop on KAAY. When I wanted to purchase an oldie, I would write to Stan's and ask them to send the records C.O.D. Stan's never let me down; I would have the records I desired in about ten days.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Vietnam, I wrote to my parents and asked them to telephone Stan's to order two 45's for me. Stan's didn't wait for my parents to send the money. The records were mailed directly to me in Vietnam about ten days after I wrote the letter to my parents I'll never forget that act of kindness.
Gary Wegner and I were both drafted on the same day; consequently, we were both released about the same time in September, 1968. We decided it would be fun to visit our friend who was stationed at the air force base in Alexandria, LA. Our friend had requested a leave, so we asked him to checkout and drive to New Orleans with us. Gary asked me if I would like to make a little detour to Stan's Record Shop on the way home. He could tell by the smile on my face what my answer would be.
When we arrived at Stan's the next day, I looked all over for the large stock of oldies which were supposed to be there. "Apache 65," for example, was a record I wanted to buy. The shelves were full of only the latest records, so I was disappointed. Something shiny on the wall caught my attention. It was the gold record for "I'm leaving It up to You" by Dale and Grace. It was on the Montel label which did not belong to Stan. That is the only gold record I have ever seen. My friend Ronnie Allen notified me he was doing a radio interview with Dale and Grace, so I asked him to find out the story behind the gold record. They told him they didn't remember it being there.
Just before we left Stan's, I spotted drawers below the shelves. Eureka! That is where all of the older records were stored. We had planned to stay the night in Little Rock, and it was getting late. I only took a few minutes to browse those drawers, but I still spent a wad of money before we departed.
We listened to WNOE all of the way to Little Rock; then we turned to KAAY. The next day we listened to KAAY for about the first 300 miles during the last day of our trip back to Chicago. Wow, what a signal! It was a trip to remember.
Stan's Record Shop! There will never be another place like it.
Ron Henselman W9FT
I forgot to comment about a ham radio conversation I had. I was in Northwestern, Wisconsin, and I was playing with my ham radio. It was the mid-ninties, and I contacted a gentleman named Ship in Shreveport. When I mentioned Stan's, Ship informed me Stan and he had been friends for many years. Ship said he was sorry to inform me stan's was no longer there due to the poor economy of the area at that time.
ReplyDeleteRon
I remember walking down Texas street to Stan's Record Shop "back in the day". We drove into Shreveport, being the biggest shopping area for school clothes, etc. in the 50's . It was a huge treat to go in Stan's and browse the records, and listen to the latest hits. It was the thing to do back then.
ReplyDeleteSmall town girl walking down memory lane,
Carolyn
I grew up in Shreveport (born 1942) and frequented Stan's quite often. His brother Ace also opened a record store, in the late 1960s or early 1970s if I remember correctly, and I bought many LPs from him. When I finally donated my vinyl collection to Tulane University (a big mistake) in 1998, I had quite a collection. I remember well Stan's advertising on KWKH; I listened to the station often late at night, the primary advertising hours for Stan's Record Shop. I see no way there can ever again be such a record store, one that provided me and thousands of others many hours of happiness.
ReplyDeleteMy parents owned the Crawford Priest Music Shop at 2010 Portland Avenue back in the 40's - 60's. Stan was their distributor. My parents had me go to Stan;s many times to pick up their record order. I still remember how he was always very courteous to me, a simple delivery boy. Those were truly great times that provide wonderful memories.
ReplyDeleteIn the early 50's in the winter time I could get Stands Record Review on the radio due to no interference---I lived in Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, the records played where NOT played on ourr radio stations in Wpg. having been told "we don't play music llike that" Strangly enough my parents encouraged me to llisten to R&B and gospel, this station formed my life long musical tastes
ReplyDeleteI listened to KAAY (Tiger 1090!) in the early 60's from here in Chicago I ordered a lot of oldies through Stan's.
ReplyDeleteAn oldies store opened up here locally and that was that. I wonder if I still have Stan's catalog buried here in the house
I worked at Stan’s! Most fun job I ever had because I love music so much. Hated to leave but was forced to move to Texas suddenly. ~Great memories~
ReplyDeleteI recall Stan's from the mid-50s. Northern Wisconsin at nite. I could pick up KTHS from little Rock on my 5-tube Wards Airline radio. Cool music. Ordered several 45 RPM packages. Nostalgia.
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