By Ralph Richardson

What is the baddest TV show of all time? What had the greatest influence of any TV show in history? What show had the hippest host with the smoothest voice?

The Soooouuuul Train!

Although The Soul Train ran through its last station when it stopped taping in 2006 (but still chugs along in syndication on cable channel TV One), it’s continues to be worth our salute as a timeless musical icon that will always haul nostalgia through every Chocolate City, with each passenger lucky enough to be on board feeling nothing but “love, peace, and soooouuuuul!”

Soul Train was created and hosted by Don Cornelius, the super-cool tall dude with the giant afro and the Barry White baritone. Cornelius also served as executive producer from 1971 to 2006. But Soul Train’s beginnings can be traced back to 1965, when WCIU-TV, an upstart UHF station in Chicago, began airing two youth-oriented dance programs: Kiddie-a-Go-Go, and Red Hot and Blues.

Cornelius started out as a news reader and backup disc jockey at Chicago radio station WVON, and then was hired by WCIU as a news and sports reporter. At that time, Don was heavy in the community, promoting and emceeing a touring series of concerts featuring local talent (sometimes called “record hops”) at Chicago-area high schools. That’s when he got the brilliant idea of calling his traveling caravan of shows The Soul Train. WCIU-TV noticed Cornelius’s sideline work, and in 1970, allowed him the opportunity to bring his road show to television.

Soul Train premiered on WCIU-TV on August 17, 1970 as a live show airing weekday afternoons. The first episode of the program featured “The Ice Man” Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, and the Emotions as guests with “Hot Potatoes,” by King Curtis, as the original theme song. Cornelius dubbed it “The hippiest trip in America.” And the rest, as they say, is history.

Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco were the first markets to buy the show, which began airing on a weekly basis on October 2, 1971. By the end of the first season, Soul Train was in another seventeen markets. What separated Soul Train from other shows was its focus on individual performers, in contrast to the ensemble dancing more common in dance programs. This unique presentation has been passed down to many music variety shows, such as American Bandstand, Club MTV, and Solid Gold.

Not only was Soul Train culturally significant, it was a giant beacon of soulful delight beaming right through our television sets. As a kid, every Saturday at noon, we were in front of the television, singing the words to the songs, dancing down the Soul Train Line, rearranging the letters on the Scramble board, and listening to Cornelius, who had the smoothest speaking voice this side of Nat King Cole.

This is where we and the rest of America got our new music, our new fashion, and our new dances. We did the Soul Train Line at barbeques at the “Plateau” in West Philly, to the house parties in West Oak Lane, and Mt. Airy, to my aunt’s wedding in Germantown. When the program moved into syndication, its home base was also shifted to Los Angeles, where it remained for the duration of its run. The LA-based Soul Train dancers let the rest of the country know what was hot.

This is where we learned how to walk, how to talk and how to dress with that radiating spirit of “Say it Loud. I’m Black and I’m Proud.” From Afro puffs and studded bell-bottom jeans to Izod shirts with matching socks, we got our style cues each week. Since we didn’t have many magazines that represented what was hot in our culture, Soul Train was our video magazine, our GQ and our Vogue all rapped into one hour of “stone cold jam” television.

Everyone wanted to become famous on Soul Train. And some people did. Jody Watley of Shalimar started out as a Soul Train Dancer, and so did Fred ”Re-Run” Berry before he made his dance moves a signature style on What’s Happening. Even Walter Payton, the Hall of Fame Chicago Bears running back, came on Soul Train to bust a move back in the day. Other Soul Train dancers who went on to acclaim include Rosie Perez, Carmen Electra, Nick Cannon, MC Hammer, Pebbles and Jermaine Stewart.

Every boy wanted to be the tall, skinny dancer with the cane, and wanted to date Jody Watley, and the Asian sister with the long hair. With dancers who were iconic even when they were anonymous boosting ratings, Soul Train holds the honor of being the longest, continuously-running first-run syndicated program. And it had to have been a gold mine to Afro Sheen, Ultra Sheen, and Ultra Sheen cosmetics.

In 1974, Cornelius was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Best Writing. In 1995, it won a Daytime Emmy for Best Lighting. A nomination for directing came in 2000. Cornelius won the Pop Culture Award from TV Land in 2005.

In 1987, Soul Train launched the  Soul Train Music Awards, which honors the top performances in R&B, hip-hop, and gospel music (and, in its earlier years, jazz music) from the previous year. Soul Train later created two additional annual specials: Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, first airing in 1995, which celebrated top achievements by female performers, and the Soul Train Christmas Starfest, which premiered in 1998 and featured holiday music performed by a variety of R&B and gospel artists. The Lady of Soul Awards and Christmas Starfest programs last aired in 2006.

According to Wikipedia,  “Production was suspended following the 2005-2006 season, with a rerun package (known as The Best of Soul Train) airing for two years after that. Despite this, in years on air, Soul Train will continue to hold the honor of the longest, continuously-running first-run syndicated program until at least 2016, if and when its nearest competitor, Entertainment Tonight, completes its 35th season.”

Ralph Richardson is a filmmaker who lives with his wife and son in Brooklyn, NY.