R&B from the 1980s is sometimes criticized in retrospect (and by some at the time) for being a little too polished and surface – too bougie, basically. People ironed out their clothes for the next day to the Quiet Storm.” Jeff Brown, the current DJ for WHUR’s Quiet Storm, has explained the music’s prevalence in day-to-day life, “Back in the day… people had dinner with the Quiet Storm. The Quiet Storm was and is multipurpose mood music perfect for everything from sexy-time to just general wind-down. Radio became a key part of daily routine. The format also helped stations boost their morning ratings since listeners would go to sleep with the slow jams and stay tuned in once they woke up. It’s geared towards people who are winding down as opposed to getting wound up…because (the Quiet Storm) is extremely targeted, it is very useful.” “If you’re buying time for durable goods, like automobiles, or goods aimed at mothers…these programs are a good buy. When we find out there’s a station with a ‘Quiet Storm’ format, we jump on board.”Ī media director at black-owned agency Burrell Advertising described the ad buying formula to Billboard. “These (listener demo) figures indicate that the format gives advertisers an affluent, sophisticated market. Doner & Company (now Doner Company) explained the appeal to the New York Times as the format reached its peak. But then, the 25-to-44-year-old black middle class – a new and still growing demo just a little over a decade after the Civil Rights Movement – was a draw. Today, brands and businesses chase young consumers. Black boomers were living well, and wanted mellow tunes to match their mellow life smooth jazz, the classics they grew up on, and velvet vocals over sensuous productions. If we hadn’t made it, we were close (so it seemed then). We were in the Cosby Show era black, white-collar professionals and academics were establishing lives in upscale neighborhoods, sending children to private schools, rubbing shoulders with the elite. Instrumentals also get burn jazz fusion is a favorite.īy the mid-80s, the Quiet Storm was a key part of not only black radio, but black culture. Songs can be current or decades old, deep cuts or singles, and are more likely to be a live version or extended length than a radio edit. While all stations followed the same formula – a multi-hour block of slow jams and mid-tempos with little interruption – some had their own names like “Mellow Melodies,” or in NYC, WBLS’ “Kissing After Dark.” BET (who hired format creator Lindsay for a short while before his death in 1992) developed a late-night video block of Quiet Storm cuts called “Midnight Love.”Īn urban alternative to soft rock or easy listening, Quiet Storm ignores most of the programming rules of commercial radio. Stations in major markets, then secondary markets began adapting the mood music format, most during select dayparts, a few for their overall programming. Competitive station WKYS and their director of black programming, Donnie Simpson, hired Lindsay away and duplicated the program, then they became the leading urban station in DC. She suggested Melvin name his show after Smokey’s title track, and use the song as an intro (“The Quiet Storm” is still used widely as a programming anthem for the format).Īfter a few months, WHUR moved the program from weekends to every weeknight and rose to the top spot among urban stations in DC. Cathy had been looking for a format that would distinctly target the upwardly mobile, single black women in DC – she’d found it. “I played a lot of old, slow songs.” And because he was inexperienced and uncomfortable behind the mic, he only took a couple of talking breaks an hour. Melvin filled his time with classic slow jam cuts, “WHUR was into jazz then, and I didn’t know a lot about jazz,” Lindsay later told the New York Times.
Smokey was unknowingly once again laying a foundation for a black soul era.Ī year following The Quiet Storm’s release, Cathy Hughes (founder of Radio One and TVOne), then director of Howard University’s radio station WHUR, tapped station intern Melvin Lindsay to step in last minute as substitute DJ for a Sunday night slot.
But Palmer also noted, “Robinson is moved neither by Marvin Gaye’s macho sensibilities nor by Stevie Wonder’s semimystical mental images, and he has more pop expertise than either.” This wasn’t music to inspire humanity, it was music to inspire the mood. “As the title tune progresses, the sensuality of its lyrics and the loose, improvisational feel of the backup suggest that the album is going to be Robinson’s What’s Going On or Innervisions, a formula-defying statement of both personal and social import,” remarked Rolling Stone writer Robert Palmer in his album review. Inspired and intrigued by What’s Going On, Robinson found his solo stride with his 1975 album, The Quiet Storm.
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