HBCU Radio Project (2025)

10/07/2025

Prairie View A&M University + Oral History and Preservation work = success ✨

The team convened in Houston to train our summer intern and provide workshop sessions on conducting an oral history interview. During this trip, we visited Prairie View A&M University to interview Tony Clomax, the Assistant Professor and Faculty Advisor for KPVU-TV , and Marquis Lofton, the Program Director for KPVU 91.3 FM Kayla, the summer intern, had the chance to interview Marquis Lofton for her first ever oral history. Through our collaboration with the Margaret Walker Center , both oral histories will be made publicly available. Additionally, Lofton provided our field archivist with a box of station materials for our partners to begin the process of digitizing, preserving, and archiving those resources for the station’s and PVAMU community’s use! 💜

08/07/2025

Oral History is Preservation! 🎙️

As our team is currently on the campus of Prairie View A&M University () for a preservation and oral history visit at the KPVU 91.3 FM radio station, this is the best time to highlight the oral history operations of our project. 📣

Oral history offers a firsthand account of the past accessed through individual memories. It gives voice to perspectives that are often missing from the record and teaches us about ourselves and shared humanity. The goal for us is to be useful to people, so that they can make better sense of themselves, their communities, and the worlds they inhabit. ✨

25/06/2025

Does this Wednesday remind you of anything? It should…today’s the day for a new episode of the HBCU Radio Preservation Project!

Fisk University alumnus and Starkville, MS, native Dr. Lucius T. Outlaw remembers a socially complex environment during his youth. Counting himself as part of the “Emmett Till Generation,” he reflects on the tense social environment brought on by segregation and racial violence; though not every in*******al interaction was negative, he remembers having to be aware of which people and areas were safe to interact with. His extended family followed routes of the Great Migration, with many members settling in Chicago or St. Louis. Along with cultural pride, education was highly valued in his family, and Dr. Outlaw knew he wanted to attend school out-of-state, leading him to Fisk.

In Nashville, WLAC was a 100,000-watt radio station, whose radio waves could at times even be picked up in the Caribbean. In the evenings, the music switched to genres like R&B, and Dr. Outlaw recalls listen to the station frequently while growing up. Through his church, he would sometimes be featured on the radio as part of youth-group initiatives. Once in college, a variety of experiences characterized Dr. Outlaw’s time at Fisk: pledging Alpha Phi Alpha, deciding to pursue philosophy, traveling abroad, becoming president of the student government, hearing Dr. King speak, and witnessing the ongoing civil rights movement all informed his journey. Along the way, Dr. Outlaw decided to pursue teaching. He saw it as a valuable way to inspire students and give back to the community, and many of his students became involved in radio, from interns to disc jockeys.

📻 Listen now: https://youtu.be/z5ikVSHL3ZM?si=H7Nnl8T_qVXO4dL8

📻 Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

25/06/2025

Take a break from the static of the work week and listen to this week’s edition of the HBCU Radio Preservation Project!

Interested in jazz? Then you’ll want to hear from Xuam Lawson, program director for WFSK’s Jazzy 88 at Fisk. Xuam grew up in Brooklyn, New York, as the oldest of four. Today, the rest of his siblings live in Georgia, where his family relocated when he was about 15. At the time, he aspired to pursue a career in basketball and reflects that as a result, his studies fell by the wayside. His early memories of being involved in the community arise from his mother’s work as the first president of their block association in New York. His involvement with civil rights activism began when his father encouraged him to join a march in Forsyth County, Georgia, organized by the NAACP. Xuam marched close to Coretta Scott King.

After high school, Xuam went into the military. Upon leaving, he spent some time trying to find a new direction, all the while listening to the radio during his commute. Feeling moved one day, he began to look for a school for radio broadcasting. Xuam had grown up in a “musical household,” and though his favorite genres included old country and hip hop, he was exposed to a wide variety. His mom, Hattie Lawson, currently has her own radio show on Wednesdays at the WXAG station in Athens, Georgia. While at the junior college, Xuam got an internship at WQQK in Nashville. He got his first official job before he even graduated, though now he laughs as he remembers how “horrible” his first air check was. Throughout his career, he’s held a variety of positions in the radio industry, allowing him to develop an impressive range of skills and memorable experiences.

📻 Listen now: https://youtu.be/rlh7k8ZbA-g?si=yMWqOQxGhZDH6ns2

📻 Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

25/06/2025

There’s music in the air…well, actually, it’s this week’s edition of the HBCU Radio Preservation Project, which is just as nice to hear!

When it comes to WCSU, John Garland started out as a student listening to the station. He would later become president of Central State University in Ohio and was dedicated to supporting the station that he continued to enjoy. Born in New York City, New York, John grew up within a diverse community in East Harlem. John and his older sisters were raised by their mother, with help from members of their large family. He fondly recalls spending his summers with family on James Island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. He also remembers them having to utilize the Green Book, with routes planned that included safe places to stop. Music was also present in his childhood, from the radio playing in the house to the impactful choir singing in church. John’s mother would also take him to the Apollo Theater.

Though he stayed out of trouble, John was not a serious student, and eventually he decided to join the Marine Corps. During that time, he was deployed five times, and he credits his experiences for teaching him lessons like discipline and self-reliance. After suffering wounds from a mine detonation, John spent some time in Los Angeles, where he remembers being very moved by a radio station that interspersed poems and readings between music segments. John began doing community work with the Black Panthers in New York, but COINTELPRO activity compelled him to move out of state to attend college. At Central State, John was able to hear many powerful speakers such as Muhammad Ali and Amiri Baraka. For John, the radio was also a “lifeline” to what was happening on campus. When he eventually became president of the university, John would not only continue to support the station, but he would also march with students and faculty in civil rights initiatives.

📻 Listen now: https://youtu.be/1UaptMpqmko?si=CHjCLrzsKd63l-ZX

📻 Subscribe to our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/

24/06/2025

Join us for Black Radio: Where Resistance, Resilience & Restoration Meet

https://events.zoom.us/ej/Atu1ot7qIeSYMgtgH2FK2OUBSLfrVXP0vYOdQ_2X6TzG2_H9Aqiz~A-EYL4CAw172I869-IPziu-ohTCj5zqPo-nzTNnr4jIFAL_wg9-8IYioq9Ltw

Join from a Room:
Meeting ID: 96765345051
Passcode: 813128

Join by Phone:
One tap mobile:
US: +1 301 715 8592,,96765345051 #,,,,*813128 # or +1 646 876 9923,,96765345051 #,,,,*813128 #
Or dial(For higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 646 931 3860 or +1 305 224 1968 or +1 309 205 3325 or +1 689 278 1000 or +1 719 359 4580 or +1 253 205 0468 or +1 360 209 5623 or +1 386 347 5053 or +1 507 473 4847 or +1 564 217 2000 or +1 669 444 9171 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 646 876 9923 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 408 638 0968
More international numbers: https://zoom.us/u/aeCz9fb65R
Meeting ID: 96765345051
Passcode: 813128

17/06/2025

📍Last stop— Morgan State University. Our visit was nothing short of amazing and a great way to end off our Mid-Atlantic Tour ✨

The day began with a team meeting with the insightful Dean of the School of Global Journalism & Communication, Jaqueline Jones. Jaqueline has previously worked with partners of the HBCU Radio Preservation Project for research and panel discussions. From there, we toured the facilities, met staff members and current interns, as well as took a look at their storage closet with an extensive collection of audio materials.

We ended our tour with a visit to the grand Earl S. Richardson library, where we had the pleasure of meeting and learning from Dr. Ida Jones, the Associate Director of Special Collections & the University Archivist. Her extensive institutional knowledge and excitement for connecting devoted MSU alumni to the HBCU RPP motivates us to continue seeking out community stories that have cultural and historical value to their universities and stations. 💙🧡

15/06/2025

📍📍Day 4 we arrived on the campus of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and were greeted with all smiles by the staff— Interim General Manager, Judy Diaz, Chief Content Director, Bryan Russo, and their Business Office and Bookeepings Specialist, Daphne Chatham .

We explored the studios and viewed their extensive CD & vinyl collection, as well as the transmitter room which included a supply closet filled with materials including some digital audio tapes! We also met on air personality, Clifton Henry Dennis, Jr, host of the Morning Jazz Unlimited show (featured on last post).

We made our way to the Fredrick Douglass Library where we met Kathy Griffin, the Special Collections Librarian & Archivist who discovered a box of valuable archived materials from the WESM radio station including broadcast guides, schedules, and programs dating back to 1986 (slide 15). We toured the library’s special collections and archive, then learned that Kathy and her graduate student assistant are in the process of digitizing over one hundred years worth of university materials. There is no greater value than HBCU libraries and museums , and the HBCU Radio Preservation Project cherishes these institutions for being the storytellers and protectors that they remain to be. 🤍

13/06/2025

Wnsb

📍Day 3 of our Mid-Atlantic Tour, Norfolk State University’s WNSB Hot 91.1 FM team welcomed us with open arms as we toured their studio facility, spoke with their dynamic team and took a journey across campus to their amazing library 📻

Speaking with Station Manager, Maynard Scales, we learned that upon his arrival to the station, he found no archival materials or record of their whereabouts. But after one conversation with Director Jocelyn Robinson about the importance of preservation, he took action—demonstrating a system he discovered and sharing plans to continue preserving station history with support from resources like the HBCU Radio Preservation Project.

Lastly, we took a campus tour learning about renovations to the court yard where their Lyman Beecher Brooks Library sits. Although we didn’t have the chance to browse their extensive archival collection, our field archivists were thoroughly impressed with the caliber of the facility. There is no greater value than HBCU libraries, and the HBCU Radio Preservation Project cherishes these institutions for being the storytellers and protectors that they remain to be. 💚

12/06/2025

📍Day 2, up next .. Hampton U!

The team had a great time touring the WHOV Smooth 88.1 FM station thanks to Chad Potter, the stations Broadcast Engineer. From their podcast studios to both the radio and television stations, Potter has made efforts to continuously renovate the spaces so that the students of the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications are ready and able to go out into the world of media to take over the world one story at a time.

We traveled the campus to the William R. & Norma B. Harvey Library to view their collections as well as the Hampton University Museum. The museum featured exhibits from many prominent artists, including Dr. John T. Biggers, an african-American muralist who was also commissioned to create the two pieces seen in the video of the entrance to the library. There is no greater value than HBCU libraries and museums , and the HBCU Radio Preservation Project cherishes these institutions for being the storytellers and protectors that they remain to be. 💙

10/06/2025

📍 On our first stop of the Mid-Atlantic Tour, the team had the pleasure of meeting the WVST Team during our first visit to Virginia State University!

We were able to absorb the passion and dedication for the purpose and legacy of HBCU radio through our conversations with Station Manager Willie Harris, who shared his personal background and journey with VSU, and Program Director Jennifer Williamson, who shared insightful information about her own efforts to preserve and protect the station’s materials as best she can since the beginning of Covid. Our field archivists applaud Mrs. Williamson for her “one-woman-efforts” and have gifted her pile of valuable materials a new title, “Mount Treasure-More” ✨

At the end of our visit, we had an opportunity to visit the Johnston Memorial Library to talk with Tessa Perry, the dean of the library. We spoke with her about the status of the university’s archives and how fortunate it was to have been able to protect their materials from unstable weather conditions. There is no greater value than HBCU libraries, and the HBCU Radio Preservation Project cherishes these institutions for being the storytellers and protectors that they remain to be 💙

HBCU Radio Project

10/07/2025

08/07/2025

25/06/2025

25/06/2025

25/06/2025

24/06/2025

17/06/2025

15/06/2025

13/06/2025

12/06/2025

10/06/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share