Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame inductions set for Detroit

Welcome back. Next weekend in Detroit, right here, Motor City, the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame will induct several new members. It's an impressive list of Detroit music and broadcasting icons who will be honored. This includes Irma Franklin, the soul and R&B vocalist who was originally the original recording artist for the song Piece of My Heart back in 1987. She is the older sister of Aretha Franklin. Joining us to talk about This is Sabrina Franklin-Owens, the daughter of Irma Franklin and niece of Aretha, as well as David Washington, who's going to emcee the event. Thank you both for joining us. This is so special. This is the Motown community. We know our music. Let me start with you. How awesome is this? This is very awesome. I only wish that my mother were here to see it. She would be very happy. She worked long and hard and never quite received all the recognition that she deserves. So this is an opportunity for that to happen. So I'm really glad that this is happening for her. And, David, you'll be emceeing this. Talk about just the who's who of folks who will be inducted here. Oh, gee, we've got a nice lineup this year. We've got Ernie Durham, one of the greatest disc jockeys ever did Detroit. We've got the Reverend C.L. Franklin and, of course, Maxine Powell from Motown Records. Rudy Robinson, one of the greatest arrangers and pianists that ever come out of Detroit. We also have, of course, Irma Franklin, Ollie McLaughlin, who was the Barry Gordy before Barry Gordy with the record companies and got Barbara Lewis started, Dionne Jackson and so on. we also have um we're going to also honor the scene which was the dance parties of from WGPR back in 74 75 76 which was uh somewhat like Soul Train and we're going to honor them we're going to honor WGPR TV radio they were the first nationwide tv station to go 24 hours a day they're going to be honored and we're going to also honor Joe Von Battle he was the very first person to record Reverend C.L. Franklin and many other people in the early days. That's incredible. That's so cool. So much history there. Sabrina Franklin. Yes, please. We're also going to honor Judge Craig Strong and Mr. Lee, radio personality at WPON Radio and also Ron Johnson, radio disc jockey at WPON Radio. Very cool. That's awesome. It's a who's who. It really is broadcasting and on the music side, Sabrina Franklin Owens. I mean, talk about You know, there's a new generation coming up in R&B, of course. But, you know, moments like this, this will connect the veterans with the new artists. Don't you think it's multi-generational? I think it is. And a lot of the young people have not heard of my mother. I've heard a lot of people say on many occasions that they didn't even realize that my mother sang. And, of course, she was out there for many years, starting at five years old, worked in her father's choir and on the road herself. She sang with Lloyd Price, made two albums. I think I have about a total of 26 songs. So it's an opportunity for the younger generation to get to know my mother. And, you know, radio is such a big part of this, too, because it's the disc jockeys who had the audience and brought that music to the listeners, right? Absolutely, absolutely. The radio that we grew up on, it's like a dying art now, which AM radio is one that ruled the world as far as making hit records. And the business has changed entirely different now. Corporate radio and FM is different. So that's why we're going to reach out and honor these AM radio personalities that really, really paved the way for a lot of entertainers across the land. And what do you want for folks who, there's so many stories that people don't know. What would you tell folks watching right now who, they're aware of the history, but there's a lot of stories they don't know. Right. There's definitely a lot of stories that they don't know. I'm not sure how much they'll find out as an award ceremony, but maybe it's an opportunity for them to go back and sort of do some research on both my mother and my grandfather, if they don't know about him, the work that he did both in ministry and in civil rights here in the city of Detroit, and the work that my mother did as an entertainer and also serving the boys of Boysville of Michigan for many years after she stopped singing here in the city. And this is next weekend. Tell us, David, just the rundown of what people need to know. Well, the red carpet will start at 6 p.m. The show will start at 7 p.m. promptly, start the induction ceremony. After we go through the induction ceremony, we will have an old-time fashion dance party with Mr. Lee supplying the music. And we're going to have a couple of surprise guests from different entertainers walk in and thrill the crowd. All right. So it's going to be a very exciting evening. All right. Well, thank you both for joining us. Really appreciate you coming in. Thank you for inviting us. Absolutely. This will be a blast next weekend. Stephanie, I'm going to send it over to you.