Status Updates From We Are the Culture: Black C...

“But when we think about Chicago’s influence—that Chicago sound—even here in Chicago, many of us don’t know our own impact. “We don’t know how influential and impactful we have been on a global scope until somebody outside the marketplace has either incorporated [Chicago work] into their own creative piece or they have stolen it”

-Mary Datcher

“Very rarely did you see white record reps walk into a black radio station in Chicago. Because they felt like this: if you want our Black radio stations to continue to break your music, make this money for your white operated companies, then you need to have Black representation come into our Black radio stations. This was Chicago.”

-Mary Datcher

“Radio is an intimate medium. When listeners hear a person‘s voice, they connect to them. It can feel as close as a phone conversation with a good friend. So racism and discrimination also play a huge role in what Black people in radio are up against…What Herb Kent faced is a sound similar to what Black people in radio still face today—whether those biases are explicit or implicit.”