Soul Train

Soul Train is an American musical variety television program which aired in syndication from 1971 until 2006. Created by Don Cornelius, Soul Train was the longest-run nationally syndicated program in American television history with 1,117 episodes. In 2012, Lady Luck Productions, along with Magic Johnson Enterprises, led by basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson (who purchased the rights to Soul Train from MadVision in 2011), announced the revival of the series with R&B star Usher being named as it's host and executive producer. To accommodate Usher's schedule, the series was moved from Hollywood, California, to Usher's hometown of Atlanta, GA in a studio where Tyler Perry's House of Payne was taped. Also, unlike the previous version, the revived version records only 30 weeks, with the rest of the year being taken up by reruns.

Program elements
Keeping up with the classic elements of the series, within the structure of the program, there were two enduring elements. The first was the "Soul Train Scramble Board", where two dancers are given 60 seconds to unscramble a set of letters that form the name of that show's performer or a notable person in African American history. In describing the person's renown, the host concluded their description with the phrase "...whose name you should know".

There was also the popular "Soul Train Line", in which all the dancers form two lines with a space in the middle for dancers to strut down and dance in consecutive order. Originally, this consisted of a couple—with men on one side and women on the other. In later years, men and women had their own individual lineups. Sometimes, new dance styles or moves were featured or introduced by particular dancers.

Each guest usually performed twice on each program; after their first number, they were joined by the program host onstage for a brief interview. The show was also known for two popular catchphrases, referring to itself as the "hippest trip in America" at the beginning of the show and closing the program with "...and as always in parting, we wish you love, peace...and SOUL!"