WDIA: Black Music Mother Station

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 at the station, and Rufus Thomas, a former student of Williams, joined the on-air staff in 1950. Together the three transformed WDIA into the South’s first African-American-oriented radio station, soon to be known throughout the region as the “Mother Station of the Negroes.” Moreover, the station owners established several other successful rhythm-and-blues outlets, including KDIA in Oakland, California. Williams continued on the air until his health failed in the early 1970s. He died in 1983.