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WDIA: Black Music Mother Station
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WDIA: Black Music Mother Station

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Written by
Ben Fong-Torres
Consulting editor, Gavin Magazine, San Francisco. Author of Hickory Wind: The Life and Times of Gram Parsons and The Hits Just Keep on Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio.
Ben Fong-Torres
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Article History

When WDIA went on the air in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948, its white owners, Bert Ferguson and John R. Pepper, were anything but blues aficionados; however, deejay Nat D. Williams was. A former high-school history teacher and journalist, Williams brought his own records and his familiarity with Memphis’s blues hotbed Beale Street with him. But rather than aspiring to be a hipster, Williams acted as a cultural historian and gatekeeper, watching for lyrics that might be deemed offensive to WDIA’s audience. The popularity of his show helped open WDIA to more black performers. B.B. King deejayed and sang commercial jingles ...(100 of 175 words)

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