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WBLS
107.5 FM
NEW YORK'S MOST SUCCESSFUL BLACK-OWNED BUSINESS

[[image]]
[[caption]] PIERRE (Pepe) SUTTON, PRESIDENT [[/caption]]

THE WORLD'S BEST LoKING SOUND WENT WEST when Inner City Broadcasting Group (WLIB-AM and WBLS-FM) bought station KRE-FM, San-Francisco and KKTT and KUTE, Los Angeles.

Those wonderful sounds for which WBLS-FM in New York became famous lit up the western airways with Frankie (Hollywood) Crocker returning to his duties as program director for the Inner City Broadcasting chain.

WLIB: First Black all-news station in nation
By Morrison Cabot
Special to the Amsterdam News

Gladys Kngipt and the Pips may have had to "hear it through the grapevine" to catch their news, but New Yorkers only have to dial WLIB-AM (1190) for daily information about what's happening in the big Apple.

In fact, from Mondays to Fridays, sunrise to sunset, WLIB has launched a format that makes it the first all-news Black station in the nation and will include Gladys and other musicmakers only if they are also making news.

Even the Calypsonians or Reggae regulars like Lord Invader, Sparrow or Bob Marley, despite their topical lyrics that pulse with issues as heavily as the Carib beat that held sway in WLIB programming must step aside for the news until the weekend.

Pierre (Pepe) Sutton, president and general manager of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation which owns WLIB, said, it was necessary to move in this direction with WLIB given the swing to the political right on the national and local level to guard against the assault on our Black communities. This is an attempt to service a larger Black community with news and information . . . with a view toward raising their level of consciousness of the world around them.

More and better
"There are some two million Blacks in the metropolitan area and the new move is to provide a base for more information and a better quality of life."

Not only will WLIB carry the same basic news as all of the other all-news stations in the area, but it will also air news from home - Africa and the Caribbean - which has not been currently available on local metropolitan airways.

"Available?" asked one Brooklynite, "It was as though the Invisible Man was commuting to the West Indies and Africa. The homeland became just as invisible as he is - until voting time or violence erupts. Now I can keep up with the positive things our people are doing every day."

John Barner, who has lived in Harlem most of his life, said, "This should be a key factor in pulling us closer together. with WLIB giving us the daily highlights and our weekly publications filling the details of the big stories, we should become better informed about the the things that directly affect us all over the world."

Time slots
With David Lampel, Inner City Broadcasting news director, and Ken Williams as the key figures in the new format, the time allotment is scheduled thusly:

When you reach for your morning coffee, if you're an early riser, you can also reach for your radio dial and tune in the fast-breaking news - what happened last night and what has been cropping up as the dawn greets the new day. From sunup to 10 a.m., Wayne Gilman and Carl Ferguson will bring you the hard news as you rub the sleep from your eyes. Following them, a young lady who was formerly with WPIX-TV, Phyllis Haynes, will be entertaining and informing her listeners from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with interviews of interesting personalities and a folksy-type show of news and special features plus United Nations reports.

A men's magazine format takes over at 2 p.m. and Pueblo Urubu Goosman brings you interviews and news.

Two hours later, "Your Total Information Station," as WLIB is now called, returns to the wire services, more UN special reports, news from the National Black Network, Sheridan Broadcasting Network, and exciting, unique features.

Pat Atwell is on tap at 6 p.m. with sports roundup and commentaries.

Carib weekend
The weekend is full Saturdays and Sundays when the format accents Caribbean-oriented programs complete with music and news. Gene Fitzimons appears Sundays with a different and distinactive gospel program, "Creole."

WLIB's President Sutton admits, "I am very, very excited about the new format. there is a thrust for greater information and the eleectronic medium is easier for Blacks to get this information than in the print media. We cannot force feed information, but we must make it more palatable."

WLIB-AM was purchased in 1971 by a group headed by Percy E. Sutton, Pierre Sutton's father. It had an option to purchase WBLS-FM and in 1 1/2 years this option was acted on.

for the 63 original Black shareholders, their greatest expectations were satisfied and they have created a powerful impact by Blacks in the electronic media.

Owns seven
Inner City Broadcasting with Percy E. Sutton, chairman of the Board, now owns seven radio stations: WLIB-AM, ABLS-FM, covering the Detroit area, and KUTE-FM and KGFJ-AM, covering the Los Angeles area.

At 34, Pierre M. (Pepe) Sutton stands as the youngest executive to head a major broadcasting company. Solidly schooled in

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