CULTURETECHLENSTHE OTHER SIDE · IN THE MOMENT
Soul Train Didn’t Start on TV
It started on TV — Chicago TV, in a little studio inside the Chicago Board of Trade building, on August 17, 1970. Next month, the train pulls back into the station.
On Thursday, November 5, 2026, the Soul Train Awards tape at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park — 1,525 seats, in the middle of the Loop, ten minutes from where Don Cornelius grew up in Bronzeville. On Friday, November 27, at 8 p.m. ET, the show airs on BET with a first-ever simulcast on CBS. Anthony Anderson hosts. It is the first ceremony since 2023.
Why here? Because Soul Train was always from here.
Fifty-six years ago, a former police officer turned WVON newsman named Don Cornelius pointed a black-and-white camera at Jerry Butler, the Chi-Lites, and the Emotions, and started the hippest trip in America. The budget was famously small — Cornelius reportedly put up $400 of his own money, Sears sponsored, and a local dancer named Clinton Ghent helped him run the floor. The show took its name from the record hops Cornelius had been emceeing in Chicago high schools. It premiered on WCIU-TV on August 17, 1970 — a local Chicago show, more than a year before national syndication followed on October 2, 1971. The Chicago local version ran on under Clinton Ghent until 1976.
BET’s president today is Louis Carr — a Chicago native. Announcing the return on September 3, he said it plainly: “As a Chicago native, I’m proud to bring the Soul Train Awards back to the city where it all originated.”
The record says: in the CTL 10 — Moments edition of the CultureTechLens Index, “Soul Train premieres on WCIU-TV (1970)” stands at #6 of the ten most resonant moments in the Black Chicago record, scored 33.5 — and the edition flags its own evidence on Soul Train as thin, printed openly, which is why CultureTechLens built the full record this fall: Soul Train Started Here.
In plain words
Soul Train began as a local Chicago TV show in 1970, made by Don Cornelius with very little money. It became a national institution, and its awards show now returns to Chicago — taping November 5, 2026, at the Harris Theater and airing November 27 on BET and CBS. The show is coming home because Chicago is where it started.
Read the full record: Soul Train Started Here → · Work with the record: book a briefing.
Sources
- BET / Paramount Press Express, “BET Names Anthony Anderson Host of Soul Train Awards 2026” (October 1, 2026) — host, taping, broadcast, first CBS simulcast.
- CultureTechLens, “Soul Train Started Here” (2026) — the Chicago origin record: WCIU premiere August 17, 1970; national syndication October 2, 1971; the local run under Clinton Ghent to 1976.
- CultureTechLens Index, CTL 10 — Moments (Edition 2026-11) — Soul Train premiere at #6, 33.5. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.23614304.
Cite as: CultureTechLens, “Soul Train Didn’t Start on TV,” October 26, 2026. Source: CultureTechLens · “Culture, Clearly Seen.”