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The O'Jays Want The World To Catch Up To The Love Train

With huge hits like "Love Train" and "Back Stabbers," the formidable bandThe O'Jays brought the sound of Philadelphia soul to the airwaves back in the early '70s, along with messages of love and unity.

Original founding members Eddie Levert and Walter Williams, along with band member Eric Nolan Grant and some pretty amazing musicians came in to treat us to a couple classic hits and some new songs from the group's latest album, The Last Word. It came out in April and, as the title implies, they've said it will be the last O'Jays studio album.

I talked to Levert and Williams about making hits with the legendary Philadelphia production team Gamble and Huff and how they went from childhood friends to bandmates. They shared why we still need to hear the message of "Love Train" in 2019, and showed off their incredible sense of humor that's been one of the keys to their success and longevity.

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Talia Schlanger hosts World Cafe, which is distributed by NPR and produced by WXPN, the public radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. She got her start in broadcasting at the CBC, Canada's national public broadcaster. She hosted CBC Radio 2 Weekend Mornings on radio and was the on-camera host for two seasons of the television series CBC Music: Backstage, as well as several prime-time music TV specials for CBC, including the Quietest Concert Ever: On Fundy's Ocean Floor. Schlanger also guest hosted various flagship shows on CBC Radio One, including As It Happens, Day 6 and Because News. Schlanger also won a Canadian Screen Award as a producer for CBC Music Presents: The Beetle Roadtrip Sessions, a cross-country rock 'n' roll road trip.
World Cafe senior producer Kimberly Junod has been a part of the World Cafe team since 2001, when she started as the show's first line producer. In 2011 Kimberly launched (and continues to helm) World Cafe's Sense of Place series that includes social media, broadcast and video elements to take listeners across the U.S. and abroad with an intimate look at local music scenes. She was thrilled to be part of the team that received the 2006 ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award for excellence in music programming. In the time she has spent at World Cafe, Kimberly has produced and edited thousands of interviews and recorded several hundred bands for the program, as well as supervised the show's production staff. She has also taught sound to young women (at Girl's Rock Philly) and adults (as an "Ask an Engineer" at WYNC's Werk It! Women's Podcast Festival).