Later rock music disc jockeys, such as Alan Freed and Wolfman Jack, mimicked Richbourg's practice of using speech that simulated African-American street language of the mid-twentieth century.
Richbourg's highly stylized approach to on-air presentation of both music and advertising earned him popularity, but it also created identity confusion.
Richbourg followed Nobles' lead in playing artists such as Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson, artists primarily heard on specialty jukeboxes and in mostly Southern markets after hours, if at all, on radio, men who performed what Richbourg later termed "cornfield" blues music.
Although some white listeners protested against the music, black audiences responded with enthusiasm and began to write fan letters to Richbourg.
Richbourg became an influential figure in the fledgling black music trade by featuring ground-breaking R&B and early rock performers like Chuck Berry and Fats Domino on his program.
Richbourg sold exotic or unusual products, such as baby chicks from a Pennsylvania hatchery, family Bibles, hot-rod mufflers, and so on.
[citation needed] According to Wes Smith's book, The Pied Pipers of Rock 'n' Roll: Radio Deejays of the 50s and 60s (Longstreet Press, 1989), many such products turned out to be defective and/or scams, but few irate customers ever sought legal action against the station or manufacturers.
Despite the popularity of newer white performers such as Elvis Presley and The Beatles, Richbourg continued to play chiefly African-American artists.
Beginning in the early 1950s, and with the station's permission and approval, Richbourg began recording gospel and blues acts using WLAC facilities.
Although nothing released on Rich Records became anything more than a regional hit, during this era Richbourg developed and produced several artists who would go on to have substantial careers in soul music, notably Bobby Hebb.
Rich Records ceased operations by 1960, but Richbourg continued to develop, manage and produce R&B talent, leasing his productions to a variety of labels.
Various compilations of Richbourg-produced material have been issued in recent years, much of it concentrating on the discs he produced for the Rich and Sound Stage 7 labels.
His wife, Margaret, and singer Jackey Beavers, a longtime associate, organized a benefit concert to help pay the announcer's steep medical bills.
The March 26, 1985 show, held at Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House, included numerous artists who were featured in John R.'s broadcasts: James Brown, B.
King, the Neville Brothers, Rufus Thomas, The Tams, The Coasters, gospel singer Bobby Jones (who then hosted a local TV program), and Beavers himself.
At his funeral, Ella Washington, a favorite artist of John R., sang gospel numbers, in a tribute to a man who shaped that genre and its secular cousins.
In 2004 the Country Music Hall of Fame released a two-volume set titled Night Train to Nashville-Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970.