nobles began the move, in 1946, to play what were considered at the time "race" records, a euphemism intended to deter supposedly respectable audiences. but he and the others reached large numbers of african-american listeners in places like the mississippi delta, the carolina lowcountry, louisiana, chicago, and detroit, people whom practically no other radio stations were serving. gradually phasing in artists like amos milburn, chuck berry, and fats domino in the early 1950s to supplement the big-band artists of the era such as tommy dorsey and glenn miller, the wlac announcers presided over the development of what became "rhythm and blues" music. they did this mainly to attract advertisers who serviced the african-american community, such as hair-care products like royal crown hair pomade or chicken hatcheries, which packaged baby scrub roosters and other undesirable stock in large quantities for sale. the disc jockeys developed a reputation for colorfully pitching those products on-air; some product slogans lent themselves to sexually suggestive double entendres, which only increased the announcers' popularity among teen listeners. the deejays conducted the advertising sales on a "per inquiry", or commission, basis, meaning that the station did not rely on traditional ratings to gauge the programs' successes.