Today, the Living Legends Foundation celebrates Upstate New York, paying tribute to the Black radio stations that helped define & elevate the culture.
Buffalo is widely known as a proving ground for major radio talent, launching the careers of figures such as Frankie Crocker, Gerry Bledsoe, and Gary Byrd. In Western and Upstate New York—regions more often associated with lake-effect snow than soul music—Black-formatted radio quietly took root and thrived.
In Buffalo, WBLK rose as the dominant FM urban station, delivering R&B, funk, and later hip hop to Black listeners across Western New York and into southern Ontario. Alongside it, WUFO, which signed on in the early 1960s, became the region’s essential Black-owned AM voice. Its programming blended gospel, R&B, news, and community talk aimed squarely at Black Buffalo. Over time, WUFO distinguished itself as one of the nation’s longest-running Black-owned—and woman-owned—radio stations, under the leadership of Sheila Brown.
Rochester’s WDKX represents a singular chapter in Black radio history. Signing on in 1974 under founder Andrew Langston, the station has remained in the same Black family ever since. Its call letters pay tribute to Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X, signaling its mission as much as its music. Broadcasting from an antenna atop the Xerox Tower, WDKX built a format that fused R&B, hip hop, gospel, and community affairs, anchoring Black life and civic engagement in Rochester.
Together, WBLK, WUFO, and WDKX demonstrate that Black radio flourished far beyond major coastal markets—sustaining culture, information, and Black ownership in Upstate New York for generations.
If you have memories of these or other stations in Upstate New York, please add them in the comments.
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