WDAS (AM) - Civil Rights Era

Civil Rights Era

In 1951, Leon promoted his son-in-law, Bob Klein, to general manager. Klein saw an opportunity in the marketplace and quickly adopted programming geared toward the local African-American community. The music consisted of jazz and rhythm & blues. WDAS added a number of young personalities, including Georgie Woods, Jimmy Bishop, Carl Helm, Butterball Tamburro, Jocko Henderson and Hy Lit. The station also added black-oriented public affairs and news programs, and provided in-depth coverage of the unfolding civil rights movement, featuring award-winning and groundbreaking journalists Joe Rainey and Jim Klash,along with Walt Sanders, Carl Stubbs, Bill Adams, Dave Colman, Jimmy Carter and later, reporter Ed Bradley (later of TV's 60 Minutes). The station employed many blacks, in on-air, office and management positions. The station also took on an activist role in the movement. WDAS was commended by many in the industry and in the civil rights movement. Leon and Klein signed on a sister FM station, WDAS-FM, in 1959. By the early 1970s, the station would launch a groundbreaking and influential urban contemporary format still used today.

The station retained the R&B format throughout the 1960s, while adding gospel music with Louise Williams. Many people involved in the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, visited and were heard on the station. Following his return from Mecca, Malcolm X visited the station on December 29, 1964 where he was interviewed by Rainey under heavy armed police guard due to assassination threats.

Klein filed a class action lawsuit against the Arbitron rating service in 1972, on behalf of all black radio stations, protesting that black radio listenership was undercounted. Arbitron settled the suit after four days of testimony and amended its methodologies and policies.