WDAS Philadelphia
Douglas “Jocko” Henderson (March 8, 1918 – July 15, 2000) was an American radio disc jockey, businessman, and hip hop music pioneer.
Henderson began his broadcast career in 1952 at Baltimore station WSID, and in 1953 began broadcasting in Philadelphia on WHAT. He hosted a show called Jocko’s Rocket Ship Show out of New York radio stations WOV and WADO and Philadelphia stations WHAT and WDAS from 1954 to 1964, which was an early conduit for rock & roll. He was known for a distinctive style of rhythmic patter in his radio voice, which he had learned from a Baltimore deejay, Maurice “Hot Rod” Hulbert. This fast-talking jive was exemplary of the style of Black Appeal Radio, which emerged in the early 1950s after black urban stations switched to playing bebop. With a heavy reliance on rapping and rhyming, the double entendres and street slang were a hit with audiences. Henderson continued on the stations WDAS and WHAT until 1974, deejaying in Philadelphia and New York as well as hosting concerts in both cities and a TV music program in New York. In addition to Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore, Henderson was also broadcast on stations in St. Louis, Detroit, Miami, and Boston.