Lost Black History
By Don Valentine
Pittsburgh is home of the world’s first commercial radio station, KDKA, which began broadcasting in 1920. Twenty nine years later the first Black owned radio station went on the air. Atlanta is the home of WERD, a completely Black owned and operated station. In 1949, bank president, professor and civil rights activist Jesse B. Blayton purchased the 1,000 watt radio station. It had to be purchased by proxy of a White businessman. The station’s owner refused to do business with a Black entrepreneur. Blanton bought WERD for $50,000. That would equate to about $620,685 in today’s economy.
An article by blackhistory.com details the station’s ties with Dr. King, “The station was also famously housed in the same building as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and naturally became a platform for SCLC founder and civil rights leader Dr. King, an arrangement was made wherein Dr. King would strike the first-floor ceiling with a broomstick when he wished to make an announcement over the airwaves. This was the sign for the on-air host to lower a microphone through a window from the second floor to one below, which would be used to broadcast the message.”
Urban radio became a visceral connection for our Black community. We are 13% of the general population and we own a slim portion of the nation’s radio stations. Blacks own 168 of 10,315 commercial AM and FM radio stations in the United States. That equals about 1.6% of all the stations. They are mostly located in the southern region of the country and are distributed among 30 states. Forbes has reported Urban radio got its name from DJ Frankie Crocker who described his music as “what’s happening in the city,” or urban. Today some 335 urban radio stations broadcast across the U.S. They broadcast a variety of programming from news/talk to musical formats which may include hip-hop, rhythm & blues, reggae, soul and gospel. Interestingly, Forbes reports “Of the 10 largest urban radio groups, only two, Urban One and Perry Publishing & Broadcasting, were founded by African-Americans.” It should be noted that Urban One is the largest African-American-owned broadcaster in the United States. Their founder Cathy Hughes was the first Black woman to helm a public company.
Black radio was an effective communication tool during the civil rights movement. The movement would have had a more tenuous path without it. The Black DJs encouraged a sense of common identity, pride and purpose. They also passed along strategies on how to combat racial discrimination. They would issue urban slang hints on how to defeat police roadblocks. Brian Ward, a UF history professor, explores these themes for the first time in his book “Radio and the Struggle for Civil Rights in the South.” The book exposes slang terms and other surreptitious hints used by the jocks to diffuse counter disinformation from authorities. That is part of the
Black history not being taught in our schools.
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