Hal Jackson

Harold Baron Jackson (born 3 November 1915) is an American disk jockey and radio personality who broke a number of color barriers in American radio broadcasting. Early years Jackson was born in Charleston, South Carolina and grew up in Washington, D.C. where he was educated at Howard University. [edit] Career Jackson began his broadcasting career as the first African-American radio sports announcer, broadcasting Howard’s home baseball games and local Negro league baseball games. In 1939, he became the first African American host at WINX/Washington with The Bronze Review, a nightly interview program. He later hosted talk show, a program of jazz and blues on WOOK-TV. Jackson moved to New York in 1954 and became the first radio personality to broadcast three daily shows on three different New York stations. Four million listeners tuned in nightly to hear Jackson’s mix of music and conversations with jazz and show business celebrities. In 1971, Jackson and Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, co-founded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC), which acquired WLIB -- becoming the first African-American owned and operated station in New York. The following year, ICBC acquired WLIB-FM, changing its call letters to WBLS ("the total BLack experience in Sound"). Today, ICBC -- of which Jackson is group chairman -- owns and operates stations in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Fort Lauderdale, Columbia, South Carolina, and Jackson, Mississippi. The nonagenarian continues to host Sunday Classics on WBLS each Sunday, although from noon to 4pm with DJ's Debi Jackson and Clay Berry. Jackson was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. He was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 2003. Jackson is the founder of the Hal Jackson Talented Teens Miss International Competition. The current winner is Amirah Garwood,a 15 year old contemporary dancer who resides in St. Peters, Missouri. For more information visit talentedteens.org Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Jackson