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Playlist: Black History Month

Compiled By: Rodell Reddix

Caption: PRX default Playlist image
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Hour One: "In the Beginning" and "Pride & Enlightenment"

From PRX | Part of the "Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was" 25th Anniversary Edition (Six-Hour Series) series | 51:59

The series opens by traveling to the 1920s to hear how Black Americans fought for space on radio airwaves. Then, we hear about programs in the 1940s that dramatized issues and concerns in the Black community.

Blackradio_25thann_logo-03_small The series opens by traveling to the 1920s to hear how Black Americans fought for space on radio airwaves. Then, we hear about programs in the 1940s that dramatized issues and concerns in the Black community.

Hour Two: "Jack Cooper & Al Beson" and "WDIA, The Goodwill Station"

From PRX | Part of the "Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was" 25th Anniversary Edition (Six-Hour Series) series | 52:00

Jack Cooper's popular program in Chicago debuted in 1929; he helped pioneer the DJ format and was the first to air news and sports coverage for Black audiences. Al Benson came to Chicago from Mississippi in the '30s, and gave voice to the culture of the street. In the second part of the hour, we head to Memphis, Tennessee, where WDIA's earliest announcers included B.B. King. WDIA was the first station to have all-Black on-air talent.

Blackradio_25thann_logo-03_small Jack Cooper's popular program in Chicago debuted in 1929; he helped pioneer the DJ format and was the first to air news and sports coverage for Black audiences. Al Benson came to Chicago from Mississippi in the '30s, and gave voice to the culture of the street. In the second part of the hour, we head to Memphis, Tennessee, where WDIA's earliest announcers included B.B. King. WDIA was the first station to have all-Black on-air talent.