WDIAFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

WDIA

City of

license

Memphis, Tennessee

Broadcast

area

Memphis, Tennessee

Branding AM 1070 WDIA

Slogan The Heart and Soul of Memphis

Frequency 1070 kHz

KJMS 101.1 FM HD-2 (simulcast)

First air date June 7, 1947

Format Urban Oldies/Classic Soul

Power 50,000 watts daytime

5,000 watts nighttime

Class B

Facility ID 69569

Callsign

meaning

DIAne, name of original owner's daughter

We Did It Again (when owners also launched similar

station in Jackson, Mississippi, after World War II)

Owner iHeartMedia, Inc.

Sister

stations

KJMS, WEGR, WHAL-FM, WHRK,WREC

Under LMA: KWAM

Webcast Listen Live

Website http://www.mywdia.com/main.html

WDIA is a radio station based in Memphis, Tennessee. Active since 1947, it soon became the first radio station in America that was programmed entirely for African Americans.[1] It featured black radio personalities; its success in building an audience attracted radio advertisers suddenly aware of a "new" market among black listeners. The station had a strong influence on music, hiring musicians early in their careers, and playing their music to an audience that reached through the Mississippi Delta to the Gulf Coast.

The station started the WDIA Goodwill Fund to help and empower black communities. Owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., the station's studios are located in Southeast Memphis, and the transmitter site is in North Memphis.

Contents

  [hide] 

1 History 2 References 3 Further reading 4 External links

History[edit]

WDIA went on the air June 7, 1947,[2] from studios on Union Avenue. The owners, John Pepper and Dick Ferguson, were both white, and the format was a mix of country and western and light pop. The station did not do well.[3]

Nat D. Williams, a syndicated columnist and high-school teacher, started Tan Town Jubilee in October 1948. This was the first radio program in the United States to appeal to black listeners, and WDIA soon became the number-2 station in Memphis. After a switch to all-black programming, WDIA became the city's top station.[4] In June 1954 WDIA was licensed to increase its power to 50,000 watts. Its powerful signal reached the Mississippi Delta’s dense African-American population and was heard from the Missouri Bootheel to the Gulf Coast. WDIA reached 10% of the African-American population in United States.[3][5]

Future WJLB strong jock, Martha Jean “The Queen” Steinberg became known as "Princess Premium Stuff." Ernest Brazzell gave crop advice, and Robert Thomas became a DJ named “Honeyboy” after he won a city-wide amateur competition. Among other notable personalities were Maurice "Hot Rod" Hulbert, Theo "Bless My Bones" Wade, and Ford Nelson, who continued as of 2013 as an active gospel DJ on WDIA.[3]

WDIA is known for its community efforts throughout the years. A.C. Williams, a former disc jockey for the station, helped create the Goodwill Fund in 1954. Originally, the fund provided transportation to school for disabled black children. Later the fund expanded to include college scholarships, establish boy clubs, provide 125 Little League Teams to Memphis and neighboring communities, and help provide low cost supplemental housing (Wilson). "We have raised over $900,000 over the years," A.C. Williams says.[6]

Many music legends got their start by working at WDIA, including B.B. King and Rufus Thomas.[7] Elvis Presley was greatly influenced by the station. B.B. King joined WDIA in early 1949. He had a daily 15-minute show, promoting first a patent medicine called Pep-Ti-Kon, and laterLucky Strike cigarettes, the first major advertiser for the station. The next year he took a DJ position on an afternoon show previously hosted by Maurice "Hot Rod" Hulbert.[8] King credits his days on the station for building his audience and launching his career, describing the station as providing a sense of freedom.[7]

Williams ended his show in 1972 following a stroke. Thomas continued to work at WDIA until he died in 2001. Bobby O'Jay became a popular host. The station's management had been mostly white. In 1972 Chuck Scruggs became its first black general manager and vice president, serving for 12 years. Scruggs played a major role in organizing the foundation and raising money to preserve the Lorraine Motel and found the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.[9] In addition, he contributed to the redevelopment of Beale Street and Soulsville, USA.[citation needed]-->

In the 1970s and 1980s the owners of WDIA also owned KDIA, a similarly formatted station in the San Francisco Bay Area. This callsign, however, is now assigned to an unrelated Christian-programmed station. In 1996 Clear Channel Communications bought WDIA.

References[edit]

1. Jump up^ "WDIA". Africana: the encyclopedia of the African and African American experience. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 9780195170559.

2. Jump up^ "WDIA, Sixth Memphis Station, Is Launched" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 16, 1947. Retrieved 28 September 2014.

3. ^ Jump up to:a b c "Celebrating 65 Years of Goodwill & Good Times. The History of WDIA". mywdia.com. Retrieved 2013-03-13.

4. Jump up^ Radio Center: A Landmark of American Music. 2008. Retrieved on 2009/03/12.

5. Jump up^ Cantor, Louis. Wheelin' on Beale: How WDIA-Memphis Became the Nation's First All-Black Radio Station and Created the Sound that Changed America, Pharos Books, 1992, 264 pages, ISBN 0-88687-633-8, ISBN 978-0-88687-633-3.

6. Jump up^ "Celebrating 65 Years of Goodwill & Good Times." 1070 WDIA, N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2013

7. ^ Jump up to:a b Fisher, Marc. Something in the Air. Random House. p. 44. ISBN 978-0-375-50907-0.

8. Jump up^ Kostelanetz, Richard, ed. (2005). The B.B. King Reader: 6 Decades of Commentary. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 5–6. ISBN 9780634099274.

9. Jump up^ "TV host 'Mr Chuck' Scruggs Passes Away". Memphis: WHBQ-TV/Fox 13. 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2013-13-13. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)

Further reading[edit]

Cantor, Louis (1992). Wheelin' on Beale: How WDIA-Memphis Became the Nation's First All-Black Radio Station and Created the Sound that Changed America. Pharos Books. ISBN 978-0-88687-633-3.

Gordon, Robert (1996). It Came from Memphis. Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 9780571198818.. Reprint 2001, ISBN 9780743410458.

External links[edit]

WDIA's official website. Sound Documentary on WDIA Query the FCC's AM station database for WDIA Radio-Locator Information on WDIA Query Nielsen Audio's AM station database for WDIA

[hide]

V

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Radio stations in the Memphis, Tennessee market

By FM frequency 87.7

88.1

88.1

88.5

89.3

89.9

90.5

91.1

91.7

92.5

92.7

92.9

93.5

93.9

94.1

94.7

94.9

95.3

95.7

96.1

96.3

97.1

97.7

98.1

98.9

99.3

99.7

101.1

101.9

102.7

103.5

103.9

104.5

105.3

105.5

105.9

107.1

107.3

107.3

107.5

By AM frequency 560

600

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830

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950

990

1030

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1180

1210

1240

1250

1340

1380

1430

1480

1600

NOAA Weather Radio

frequency162.475

By callsign K213CN

W257CY

KAKJ

KAMJ

KARH

KCJF

KERL

KHLS

KJMS

KLCN

KLJK

KOSE

KQPN

KQXF

KWAM

KWNW

KWYN-FM

KXHT

KXJK

WAVN

WBBP

WCRV

WDIA

WEBL

WEGR

WEVL

WGKX

WGSF

WGUE

WHAL-FM

WHBQ

WHBQ-FM

WHRK

WIVG

WKBL

WKBQ

WKIM

WKNO-FM

WKRA-FM

WKVF

WLFP

WLOK

WLRM

WMC

WMC-FM

WMFS

WMFS-FM

WMPS

WMQM

WOWW

WPGF-LP

WQOX

WRBO

WREC

WRVR

WUMR

WUMY

WURC

WXK49

WXMX

WYPL

Defunct WSTN 1410 AM

Tennessee radio markets

Chattanooga

Jackson

Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol

Knoxville

Memphis

Nashville

Other Tennessee radio regions

Clarksville

Cookeville

Mississippi radio markets

Biloxi-Gulfport-Pascagoula

Jackson

Laurel-Hattiesburg

Memphis, TN

Meridian

New Orleans, LA

Oxford

Tupelo

Other Mississippi radio regions

Clarksdale

Columbus-Starkville-West Point

McComb-Brookhaven

Natchez

Vicksburg

Yazoo City

Arkansas radio markets

El Dorado

Fayetteville

Ft. Smith

Hot Springs

Jonesboro

Little Rock

Memphis, TN

Texarkana

Other Arkansas radio regions

Arkadelphia

See also

List of radio stations in Tennessee

List of radio stations in Mississippi

List of radio stations in Arkansas

Coordinates:  35°16′05″N 90°01′03″WCategories: 

Radio stations in Memphis, Tennessee

Urban oldies radio stations

IHeartMedia radio stations

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