WCHB Detroit - First Black Radio Station "Built from the Ground Up"

Story by Ken Coleman

FIRST BLACK RADIO STATION IN NATION ‘BUILT FROM GROUND UP’
www.onthisdaydetroit.com

Dr. Wendell Cox and Dr. Haley Bell on November 7, 1956 launched WCHB 1440-AM— the nation’s first black-owned and operated radio station from the ground up.

Located at Ecorse Road and Henry Ruff Road in Inkster, the station call letters came from the men’s initials (Wendell Cox, Haley Bell).

Its program director was Larry Dean (Faulkner). One of its first popular radio personalities was Joltin' Joe Howard who is recruited to Detroit.

Other founding voices included Trudy Haynes, a Howard University-trained fashion model, and Bill Matney, a popular sports and news columnist at the Michigan Chronicle.

WCHB became known for playing some of the best R&B music during the 1960s and '70s. It featured popular radio personalities Bill Williams, Butterball Jr. (Wade Briggs), Jay Butler, Fred Goree, Martha Jean"The Queen" Steinberg and John R. Arnold.

In “Radio Station WCHB Makes Auspicious Debut” the Michigan Chronicle editorialized on November 24, 1956:

“The opening of radio station WCHB marks another milestone in the growth and progress of Negro-owned and operated businesses in Michigan.”

“The very act of conceiving and carrying through such a project must be a source of pride to those who did so and is most surely a source of pride to the entire community,” the Chronicle concluded.

In 1960, WCHB’s parent company, Bell Broadcasting, launched WCHD-FM 105.9. It will showcase radio personalities like Jerry Blocker and Ed Love as well as Bill Johnson and Rosetta Hines-Loving who played the area’s best jazz music. It later became WJZZ 105.9 FM.

By 1966, “Soul Radio” celebrated 10 years on air. It operated 24 hours a day with a staff of more than 40 “highly trained professionals whose combined experience in broadcasting total over 250 years.”

When asked why the station had been so successful, Dr. Bell replied: “The secret of success is giving others an opportunity to develop and apply their talents and skills. We believe this is the reason for the success of Radio Station WCHB.”

The station changed frequency on the radio dial, from 1440 AM to 1200 AM, in 1990.

Dr. Bell joined the ancestors in 1973; Dr. Cox joined him in 2007. Mary Bell, Haley’s wife, was an executive with the company until her death in 1995.