Today, the Living Legends Foundation celebrates Atlanta, paying tribute to the Black radio stations that helped define & elevate the culture.
Atlanta currently holds the distinction of having the most Black stations in any market in the U.S. Atlanta’s Black-formatted radio history begins with WERD, the first Black-owned radio station in the U.S. Purchased in 1949 by accountant Jesse B. Blayton Sr. for roughly $50,000, WERD broadcast from the Prince Hall Masonic building, sharing space with offices tied to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The station’s announcers famously lowered a microphone out the studio window so King could address crowds gathered below, making WERD a live extension of the civil rights movement itself. “Jockey Jack” Gibson, a/k/a Jack the Rapper, emerged as one of the first widely recognized Black DJs. Programmer Ken Knight helped shape the station’s sound during its peak years.
As WERD faded from prominence, white-owned stations WAOK & WIGO dominated Black music listening. WAOK’s mix of R&B & gospel reached both Black & white audiences, while WIGO branded itself as the “Pulse of the City,” creating a two-station ecosystem that left Black listeners largely flipping between the two. That dynamic shifted in the mid ‘70s when FM became central to Black radio & WVEE/ V-103, flipped from country to urban contemporary in 1976, targeting Black Atlanta’s expanding middle class, led by Scotty Andrews & Mike Roberts.
WCLK, launched in 1974 from Clark College at just 54 watts, restored Black institutional ownership through jazz & community-focused programming tied to the Atlanta University Center. Ken Badie’s “Hot Ice” show fused Jazz & Funk creating a new sound. That legacy was later expanded through a variety of shows like Jamal Ahmad’s “The S.O.U.L. of Jazz,” which connects local culture, national artists & the educational mission under one Black controlled signal which today covers the Greater Atlanta Metro area.
Atlanta currently boasts stations owned by 2 Black-owned broadcast companies, Core Communications and Urban One.
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