WERD (Atlanta)
WERD was the first
WERD in Atlanta was the first radio station owned and operated by African-Americans. (WDIA in Memphis was on the air in 1948 doing black—or Negro as it was then called—programming, but the owners were not African American). Jesse B. Blayton Sr., an accountant, bank president, and Atlanta University professor, purchased WERD in 1949 for $50,000. He changed the station format to "black appeal" and hired his son Jesse Jr. as station manager.[2] "Jockey" Jack Gibson was hired and by 1951 he was the most popular DJ in Atlanta. Ken Knight from Daytona Beach, Florida was also hired to come in as the station's first Program Director.
The station is still housed in the Prince Hall Masonic Temple building on Auburn Avenue,[3] then one of the wealthiest black neighborhoods in the United States. Located in that same building was the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, formed in 1957, led by Martin Luther King Jr., and staffed by Ella Baker.[4][5] According to Gibson, King would tap the ceiling of SCLC office (just below WERD) with a broomstick to signal he had an announcement to make. Gibson would then lower a microphone from the studio window to King at the window below.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "National Black Radio Hall of Fame". National Black Radio Hall of Fame. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
- ^ "Blayton, Jesse B., Sr. (1879-1977)". BlackPast.org. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
- ^ "Sweet Auburn Avenue: The Buildings Tell Their Story".
- ^ "Jesse B. Blayton, Sr". Radio Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
- ISBN 9780688047948.
- ISBN 9781566396677.
- ^ Tom Opdyke, "Retro Scope - Life As It Used to Be - WERD Is a Word in Black History," The Atlanta Constitution, October 31, 1994.
- ^ "Jesse B. Blayton Jr., Headed Radio Station WERD for 20 Years," The Atlanta Constitution, November 8, 1986.
External links
- Etling, Laurence W. (2006-04-12). "WERD". New Georgia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
- Barlow, William (1999). Voice Over: The Making of Black Radio. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-56639-667-7.
- WERD Radio – Atlanta[dead link]
- FCC History Cards for WAEC (Facility ID: 22132) (covers WERD from 1947 until January 2, 1972, plus later history as WXAP (1972-1978), and 1978-1980 as WAEC)