The Chicago Defender Invented the Term Slow Jam

SUMMARY: The term “Slow Jam” was invented by The Chicago Defender, back in 1961. At least, that’s the term’s earliest recorded use. This debunks the myth that R&B Midnight Starr coined the phrase.

We thank our hundreds of affiliates around the world for helping R Dub! bring the term Slow Jam to mainstream radio, as Sunday Night Slow Jams™and Slow Jams™ air on over 250 radio stations in over 10 musical formats.

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Our historians went full deep-dive mode—think less Indiana Jones, more crate-digging in the back alleys of music history—and what they unearthed? The term “Slow Jam” wasn’t birthed in some glossy '80s R&B studio. Nope. It first showed up in The Chicago Defender in 1961. That’s the real origin story. Sorry, Midnight Starr—myth busted.

And now, thanks to an army of radio affiliates across the globe, R Dub! has taken that once-obscure phrase and turned it into a nightly ritual—broadcast in over 250 cities, cutting across more formats than a late-night diner menu. From coast to coast, and way beyond. Respect.



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