He started this practice before early rock-and-roll jockeys such as Alan Freed and before his fellow WLAC announcers "John R." Richbourg, Bill "Hoss" Allen, and Herman Grizzard.
Nobles is credited with introducing artists such as Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, and Little Richard, to a wider audience.
Before Nobles' breakthrough programming, R&B artists were usually only heard by African-Americans, who attended their performances at nightclubs on the so-called Chitlin' Circuit and purchased their records in black-owned stores.
[2] In the early 1960s, Nobles drew complaints by listeners and FCC officials over a suggestive reference made while he read a commercial for White Rose Petroleum Jelly.
Nobles was married to Eleanor Broadwater, who received a writing credit for the Dale Hawkins song "Susie Q", made popular in 1968 by Creedence Clearwater Revival.