Black-Focused Radio and the Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans

Abstract

This study examines the broadcast content of the first black air personalities in New Orleans leading up to and during to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The black broadcasters worked in concert with civil rights leaders, offering them opportunities to be interviewed on air, but did not get extensively involved such as using their radio shows to recruit foot soldier. O.C.W. Taylor integrated radio in 1946 at WNOE. His talk show portrayed industrious blacks in a positive light. In 1948, Vernon "Dr. Daddy-O" Winslow became the city's first black DJ working at WJMR. Winslow mostly played rhythm and blues and hip New Orleans music aimed at blacks, but he did reassure worried listeners that the young people participating in sit-ins were not physically harmed. Larry McKinley gave rise to radio news coverage of the Movement. He arrived at WMRY as an 18-year-old in 1953. Later, in the early 1960s at WYLD, McKinley and broadcaster George "Tex" Stevens, as well as Taylor at WNOE, interviewed activists concerning their push to get Coca Cola to hire black truck drivers. The leaders discussed the successful end of a two-year boycott of more than 30 downtown stores. They also talked of their experiences during the Freedom Riders campaign, sit-ins, and other demonstrations. While the broadcasters did not on-air recruit African Americans to join Movement activities, they announced the times and locations of meetings which were often held at the black churches.