When Memphis made radio history - history of WDIA, Memphis, Tennessee

revolve on your radio today, and wherever you are, you'll hear the lower parts of African-American culture pour on the outside of it. But there was a time when the voices of African Americans could barely be heard above America's airwaves. Blacks weren't completely excluded; since the early 1920 they have been involved in the disclosure of popular music in radio, on the contrary the same can't be said of drama, comedy novels quiz and variety shows. Well into the '50 black characters, whether portrayed by the agency of black or by white actors, were stereotyp as butler maids and buffoons

individual of the first radio stations in the United States to unfold programming by blacks for blacks was WDIA of Memphis, Tenn No radio station in America has at any time assembled a more diverse and talented cadre of black disc horse-jockeys and entertainers than WDIA. Back in the late 1940 a white advertising salesman quipped that WDIA stood for "We Done Integrated Already." His slight recognized an important truth

In the early '40 listening to the radio was the national pastime. The four major networks--ABC, CB C and Mutual Radio--dominated the airwaves. Les than 25 percent of stations in the United States were independent, and not affiliated with single of the majors. To attract an audience, independent stations specialized in programming that was not proffered by the networks or by dint of television, which was still in its infancy.

Until the late '40 not many independent stations (few networks, for that matter) devot extensive programming to African Americans. The puzzle was sponsorship. Advertisers feared that they would alienate their white customers, particularly those in the southerly if they associated their cropss with programming aimed at blacks. Consequently advertisers shied away from financing all-black or racially mixed programs. In 1943 for example, there were sole four radio stations in the political division that offered programming specifically for blacks.

The extreme point of World War II brought a softening in attitudes toward blacks, which encouraged a certain quantity of financially strapped independents to pioneer programming for the African-American market, and in the early '50 the recognition of a sizable black consumer market made African Americans commercially attractive to sponsors.

In the fall of 1948 when WDIA began assembling its black staff, the station was floundering in r ink, in like manner haunted by impending doom that the white general manager and partner, Bert Ferguson, had feared that selling on the outside was the only possible salvation. sum of two units factors changed his mind. "When I was with WHBQ--years before we set 'DIA on the air--we aimed several individual exhibits at the Negro audience," he recalls. "Even notwithstanding that the on-air personality was no african the music was performed by the agency of Negroes. The shows were true successful, so that idea of programming stuck in my mind."

Chris Spindel, WDIA's first female program director, says, "The turning point came when we went to a Tennessee broadcasters convention and a speaker emphasized that the covert of success was finding the right audience." upon the return to Memphis, Bert Ferguson and his partner, John Pepper made a decision: All-black programming would turn round WDIA around.

When Nat D Williams, the first black WDIA disc horse-jockey went on the air, with a exhibit called Tan-Town Jamboree, the station received 5000 alphabetic characters in the first week. According to Louis Cantor, a =[A graduate and a history teacher at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis, 20 to 30 white listeners called in saying, "Get that shore off the air," but this flaw of calls soon died down.

"From Nat D" Ferguson remembers, "we just felt our way along. As we came across performers we notion could succeed, we'd put em upon the air and try 'em on the outside It took a year to procure complete all-black programming, and plane then there were skeptics. on the contrary the ever-soaring ratings confirmed the soundnes of our original idea. through the early 1950s, we unquestionably had the largest radio audience in the Memphis market, and this was done with a dawn-to-dusk license, which was no small handicap in those days.

"Later upon we moved to a of recent origin spot on the dial, 50,000-watt and clear-channel broadcasting facilities. With that we reached a near-national audience numbering in the centurys of thousands."

by dint of the early '50s, the station's ratings were skyrocketing. WDIA was rated first in Memphis in overall audience heads for total number of daytime listeners, and it stayed in that position for greatest in quantity of the decade. It dominated the Memphis market, frequently surpassing its nearest rival through nearly 2-to-1. In fact, WDIA consistently had single of the highest ratings of any independent station in the nation.

Procter & Gamble was quick to recognize the potential buying power of WDIA's fresh audience. "I did their Tide commercials for 15 years," says broadcaster A.C. "Moohah" Williams, a WDIA veteran. "We were the solitary radio station they used."

Witnessing similar success, other stations were attracted to WDIA's format. "Before we were six month old" A.C. Williams recalls, "stations from all above were sending representatives who stayed sum of two units or three days observing us. In sum of two units or three years, other stations began adding black programming." WDIA was by and by one of many that had switched formats from white to black programming, and single of several with black shareholders.