/uploads/2012/10/whitehead-180×300.jpg” alt=”" width=”180″ height=”300″ /> Pioneering black radio broadcaster Don Whitehead goes through tapes, photos and other memorabilia at his Coweta County home. He will be honored by the Broadcast Education Association Oct. 6 at TSU’s Avon Williams campus.
NASHVILLE (TSU News Service) – Don Whitehead, the first black radio news broadcaster in Nashville, Tenn., will be honored in a ceremony hosted by the Broadcast Education Association, the Tennessee State University Department of Communications faculty, and Clear Channel Communications officials at the Avon Williams Campus Saturday, Oct. 6 beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Deciding against a life of theatre on Broadway in the Big Apple, Whitehead instead chose to use his unconventional voice in the heart of Music City. In 1963, Whitehead traveled to Nashville to study theatre and drama specifically under the instruction of Dr. Thomas E. Poag at Tennessee State A & I, as Tennessee State University was then known. Whitehead went on to become a noted broadcaster at WLAC-AM radio in the late 1960s and 1970s during times of social and political unrest.
Two weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Mr. James Ward, the general manager of WLAC’s radio station, approached Dr. McDonald Williams, the Arts and Science department head, and was asked if he knew of anyone that would be able to take on the task of becoming the station’s news broadcaster. Dr. Williams referred Ward to Dr. Poag.
While completing his thesis, Whitehead was presented with the opportunity to be WLAC’s radio newscaster by Dr. Poag, who urged him to meet with James Ward, the station’s president and general manager.
Whitehead said he reluctantly visited the station three times before accepting the position. A press conference arranged by WLAC station management shortly after he accepted heralding the news that Whitehead was first African American radio news broadcaster in Nashville.
He joined John R. Richbourg, Gene Nobles and Bill “Hossman” Allen, a staff that over time massed a national audience that covered 17 states with more than 18 million listeners. Whitehead was also very active in the Nashville African American community. He served as a board member of the Urban League, Luton Mental Health Center, NAACP, Upward Bound Program and also traveled to numerous Historically Black Colleges and Universities to recruit and promote higher education.
After serving 12 years at WLAC radio, Whitehead switched to WLAC-television, where he was an account executive in the sales department.
Whitehead now lives in Newnan, Ga., where he is writing his memoirs.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university and is a comprehensive, urban, coeducational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top Universities in the county by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912 Tennessee State University celebrates 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu
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Pioneering black radio broadcaster Don Whitehead goes through tapes, photos and other memorabilia at his Coweta County home. He will be honored by the Broadcast Education Association Oct. 6 at TSU’s Avon Williams campus.NASHVILLE (TSU News Service) – Don Whitehead, the first black radio news broadcaster in Nashville, Tenn., will be honored in a ceremony hosted by the Broadcast Education Association, the Tennessee State University Department of Communications faculty, and Clear Channel Communications officials at the Avon Williams Campus Saturday, Oct. 6 beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Deciding against a life of theatre on Broadway in the Big Apple, Whitehead instead chose to use his unconventional voice in the heart of Music City. In 1963, Whitehead traveled to Nashville to study theatre and drama specifically under the instruction of Dr. Thomas E. Poag at Tennessee State A & I, as Tennessee State University was then known. Whitehead went on to become a noted broadcaster at WLAC-AM radio in the late 1960s and 1970s during times of social and political unrest.
Two weeks after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Mr. James Ward, the general manager of WLAC’s radio station, approached Dr. McDonald Williams, the Arts and Science department head, and was asked if he knew of anyone that would be able to take on the task of becoming the station’s news broadcaster. Dr. Williams referred Ward to Dr. Poag.
While completing his thesis, Whitehead was presented with the opportunity to be WLAC’s radio newscaster by Dr. Poag, who urged him to meet with James Ward, the station’s president and general manager.
Whitehead said he reluctantly visited the station three times before accepting the position. A press conference arranged by WLAC station management shortly after he accepted heralding the news that Whitehead was first African American radio news broadcaster in Nashville.
He joined John R. Richbourg, Gene Nobles and Bill “Hossman” Allen, a staff that over time massed a national audience that covered 17 states with more than 18 million listeners. Whitehead was also very active in the Nashville African American community. He served as a board member of the Urban League, Luton Mental Health Center, NAACP, Upward Bound Program and also traveled to numerous Historically Black Colleges and Universities to recruit and promote higher education.
After serving 12 years at WLAC radio, Whitehead switched to WLAC-television, where he was an account executive in the sales department.
Whitehead now lives in Newnan, Ga., where he is writing his memoirs.
Department of Media Relations
Tennessee State University
3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37209
615.963.5331
About Tennessee State University
With more than 9,000 students, Tennessee State University is Nashville’s only public university and is a comprehensive, urban, coeducational, land-grant university offering 38 undergraduate, 22 graduate and seven doctoral programs. TSU has earned a top 20 ranking for Historically Black Colleges and Universities according to U.S. News and World Report, and rated as one of the top Universities in the county by Washington Monthly for social mobility, research and community service. Founded in 1912 Tennessee State University celebrates 100 years in Nashville during 2012. Visit the University online at tnstate.edu
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