soul train

Soul Train, the first black-oriented music variety show ever offered on American television, is one of the most successful weekly programs marketed in first run syndication and one of the longest running syndicated programs in American television history. The program first aired in syndication on 2 October 1971 and was an immediate success in a limited market of seven cities: Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Initially, syndicators had difficulty achieving their 25 city goal. However, Soul Train's reputation as a "well produced" and "very entertaining" program gradually captured station directors' attention. By May of 1972, the show was aired in 25 markets, many of them major cities.

The Soul Train format includes guest musical performers, hosts, and performances by The Soul Train dancers. Set in a dance club environment, the show's hosts are black entertainers from music, television and the film industries. The dancers are young women and men, fashionably dressed, who dance to the most popular songs on the Rhythm and Blues, Soul, and Rap charts. The show includes a game called "The Soul Train Scramble" in which the dancers compete for prizes. The program's focus on individual performers, in contrast to the ensemble dancing more common in televisual presentation, has been passed down to many music variety shows such as American Bandstand, Club MTV, and Solid Gold.