Black-appeal stations
As 1952 drew to a close, the world of broadcasting was a maelstrom of probes, experiments, deals, and adjustments. Everything was in flux due to losing audience and programs to television. Radio stations faced a disaster as ratings plunged and major sponsors were ready and eager for the switch. The comedian Fred Allen put it bluntly when he said they were ready to abandon radio like the bones at a barbeque. The nation began to flock to television with shows like Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's weekly series against Milton Berle and his Texaco program. Information Please transitioned itself from radio into the realm of television while Walter Winchell shouted out news insights with a gravelly voice. Edward R. Murrow and a young collaborator named Fred W. Friendly transformed their documentary radio series Hear It Now into See It Now. Stations that had remained independent needed a new way to attract an audience after comedy, variety, and drama shifted toward television.
WDIA Memphis claims to be the first black format radio station during this turbulent period. Blues great B.B. King started his career as a disk jockey on the station programmed by Nat D. Williams with a rhythm and blues sound. The station also featured discussion of race issues as experienced and viewed by black announcers. Before this development, Jack Cooper, a black DJ with a big band audience in Chicago refused to play R&B as it was considered low life music. Critics claimed R&B had suggestive lyrics that were somewhat sexual due to double entendres. The cultural connotations suggested it was music your mother didn't let you listen to. The music of black appeal stations gained a popular and mostly black audience in juke joints, jukeboxes, and record stores instead of traditional radio formats. Some people thought radio should become the medium of intellectuals with one-time radio greats like Eddie Cantor and Paul Whitemer being disk-jockeys.
The format was successful and quickly spread to other stations in Birmingham, New Orleans, Nashville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C., among others. In 1949 only four stations aired a black appeal format. By 1952 there were around 200 such stations and by 1956 there were 400. Most of these early Negro Stations were owned by whites but aimed at the African American market with various kinds of Negro music. This strategy of marketing radio broadcasting became clear and successful through the developments and maturation of early Black Appeal Stations. Many other radio stations soon began to employ the Top 40 radio format after seeing this success. Stations making a decision to target a niche in the listening audience rather than trying to appeal to everyone as they had done since the beginning found their ratings rise from the bottom to top of markets. Several different stations could engage in format radio that included songs that appealed to various niche audiences within a community.
Stations that had remained independent had been familiar with the answer for several years before the mid-1940s. That answer was found in the newly permitted freedom to play recorded music. Technology for the recording industry advanced to the point that recorded music was equal to or better than live performances on radio during this period. Therefore, radio stations were airing fewer and fewer live performers through the decade with more airtime being devoted to records. Network affiliates had to fill more and more airtime on their own and they too began to turn to recorded music. The shift allowed disc jockeys to replace live performances with recorded music without losing quality. This technological advancement enabled stations to experiment with new sounds that would eventually define the genre.
In the 1950s these new sounds from the recording industry began to find prominent airtime on the radio. This influence was in large part to Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed who developed a new term for the upbeat music. He called it Rock and Roll after combining elements of rhythm and blues, gospel, and country. This popular new music through the tremendous aid of Negro Stations or Black Appeal Stations soon was being played on numerous jukeboxes in young adult and teen hangouts. Black Appeal Stations helped keep radio alive by playing a specific group of songs aimed specifically at the young African American demographic. The format reinvigorated radio before the development of the Top 40 format was born. These stations created a foundation for future musical genres while serving communities that had been ignored by mainstream broadcasting.
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Common questions
What was the first black appeal station and who programmed it?
WDIA Memphis claims to be the first black format radio station during this turbulent period. The station was programmed by Nat D. Williams with a rhythm and blues sound.
When did the number of black appeal stations grow from four to 400?
In 1949 only four stations aired a black appeal format. By 1952 there were around 200 such stations and by 1956 there were 400.
How did Black Appeal Stations help keep radio alive after television took over audiences?
Black Appeal Stations helped keep radio alive by playing a specific group of songs aimed specifically at the young African American demographic. The format reinvigorated radio before the development of the Top 40 format was born.
Who developed the term Rock and Roll for music played on Black Appeal Stations?
Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed developed a new term for the upbeat music in the 1950s. He called it Rock and Roll after combining elements of rhythm and blues, gospel, and country.
Why did independent radio stations adopt the black appeal format in the early 1950s?
Stations that had remained independent needed a new way to attract an audience after comedy, variety, and drama shifted toward television. This strategy of marketing radio broadcasting became clear and successful through the developments and maturation of early Black Appeal Stations.