Jesse Blayton, Sr., became the first black radio station owner and operator in the United States when he founded WERD-AM in Georgia on October 3, 1949.
WERD was purchased by Jesse B. Blayton Sr., Georgia’s first Black certified public accountant, in 1949 for $50,000. Blayton, who was also a bank president and professor at Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta University), then hired his son, Jesse B. Blayton Jr., to work as the station manager.
“One thing that’s not talked about a lot is, originally, WERD was not on Auburn Avenue. It was on Broad Street, and it was a white country music station,” says Marsha Washington George, president of the local chapter of the National Black Radio Hall of Fame and author of Black Radio . . . Winner Takes All. George’s uncle, Ken Knight, was the station’s first program director, and today George owns the rights to the call letters. When the Blaytons bought the station, its original building would not allow Black people to use the restrooms, so the Blaytons moved their operation to the second floor of Auburn Avenue’s Prince Hall Masonic Grand Lodge on October 3, 1949.
WERD quickly became a staple in Atlanta’s Black community after Blayton Jr. hired Jack Gibson, also known as Jack the Rapper, to be the station’s announcer. But the station didn’t just broadcast Black jazz and blues performers; it empowered Black Atlantans working to create change during the civil rights movement.
“During those times, we listened to folks that were discussing the issues going on, getting things for our future generations established, and in support of making our community better,” says George. Martin Luther King Jr., whose Southern Christian Leadership Conference offices were located in the same building, made public statements and announcements on WERD. The station also broadcast King’s Sunday sermons.