Lucky Cordell discusses Chicago radio pioneers Jack L. Cooper and Al Benson

Well, Jack L. Cooper was a classier kind of guy. Benson was a lot of flash. You know, I mean he wore the loud suits, and the flashy jewelry, and the big cars. And Jack L. was a more subdued kind of personality. That of course was his downfall, because he refused to play what he referred to as "gut bucket blues." He wouldn't play the Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolfs, Little Walters, and the like. The closest he would come to that would be somebody like a Joe Williams, who sings like a blues ballad kind of thing. But most of his stuff was jazz. And that's how Benson beat him out. There was a need. Jack L. was first on the scene, but he didn't fill it. Benson was shrewd enough to see that there was this need, and filled it.