Collection ID: SC 39
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Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Webb, Jacqueline Gales and Smithsonian Productions
Abstract:
Production materials documenting Smithsonian's thirteen-part program on the role of radio in transforming the African American community in the twentieth century. The program was produced in 1996 by Jacquie Gales Webb for Smithsonian Productions, with assistance from the AAAMC. The collection contains over 400 hours of interviews and historical aircheck tapes in addition to articles, research files, program scripts, and transcripts. The audio interviews feature conversations with over 150 well-known disc jockeys, radio professionals, record company executives, journalists, and scholars. The historical airchecks include station identifications and jingles, radio interviews with prominent Black figures, coverage of historical events, and programs highlighting or influenced by the contributions of Black performers, disc jockeys, and other important persons in radio.
Extent:
10 document cases (4 linear feet), 297 Audiocassettes (DAT : digital, stereo), 168 Audiocassettes (analog), 9 8mm data cartridge, 7 Audio Discs (CD-R), and 3 data discs (1.44 MB floppies)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was, SC 39, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

"Smithsonian Productions was a division of the Smithsonian Institution that created and managed electronic media. It was dedicated to sharing the vast world of the Smithsonian with millions in the United States and abroad through quality television documentaries, radio programming, home video, and educational media products. Smithsonian Productions collaborated with major national and international organizations, private corporations, and broadcast networks. These partnerships brought additional resources to each production and, together with successful marketing strategies, enable Smithsonian programming to be viewed on television, heard on radio, purchased in museum and other retail shops, and seen on the World Wide Web"--from the Smithsonian Institution website.

Scope and Content:

Black Radio : Telling It Like It Was is a thirteen-part documentary radio program by Smithsonian Productions exploring the role of radio in transforming the African American community in the twentieth century and the contributions of Black disc jockeys, producers, station executives, and others to the history and development of broadcast radio.

Black Radio was put together by the Smithsonian's Office of Telecommunications with the help of grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the James Smithson Society. The program was produced for Smithsonian Productions in 1996 by Jacquie Gale Webb, winner of six local EMMY awards for public affairs programming (among others), and narrated by four-time Grammy Award winner Lou Rawls. The AAAMC assisted as a consultant and co-researcher throughout the project.

The program was distributed by Public Radio International to radio stations around the United States. Airing on over 200 public radio stations, the program ranked among the world's leading radio productions, receiving a George Foster Peabody Award from the University of Georgia and an Alfred I. DuPont Silver Baton from Columbia University.

The collection contains over 400 hours of interviews and historical aircheck tapes in addition to articles, research files, and transcripts. The audio interviews feature conversations with over 150 well-known disc jockeys, radio professionals, record company executives, journalists, and scholars such as Ewart Abner, Peggy Mitchell Beckwith, Dorothy Brunson, James Brown, Ed Castleberry, Lucky Cordell, Frankie Crocker, Lavada "Hepcat" Durst, Nelson George, Jack Gibson, "Jocko" Henderson, Vy Higginsen, Maurice "Hot Rod" Hulbert, "Doctor" Mable John, E. Rodney Jones, Tom Joyner, Herb Kent, Hattie Leeper, Sid McCoy, Sidney Miller, Eddie O'Jay, Reverend Del Shields, Donnie Simpson, Novella "Dizzy Lizzy" Smith, Richard Stamz, Shelley Stewart, Percy Sutton, Martha Jean "The Queen" Steinberg, Rufus Thomas, Ike Turner, and Roy Wood.

The historical airchecks include station identifications and jingles, radio interviews with prominent Black figures, coverage of historical events, and programs highlighting or influenced by the contributions of Black performers, disk jockeys, and other important persons in radio.

Acquisition information:
Papers in the Production Materials Series were acquired as part of the Indiana University Archives of African American Music and Culture's involvement in the production process as a consultant and co-researcher. Copies of the interviews, interview transcripts, and historical airchecks were deposited at the AAAMC by the producer, Jacquie Gales Webb (Smithsonian Productions) in 1996.
Processing information:

Processed by AAAMC staff. Completed in 2010.

Arrangement:

Arranged in five series, in either alphabetical or chronological order:

Series 1: Production Materials
--- Subseries 1.1: Production Files
--- Subseries 1.2: Subject Files
--- Subseries 1.3: Clippings
--- Subseries 1.4: Publicity & Program Transcripts
Series 2&3: Interview Recordings, Transcripts, & Releases
Series 4: Dubs of Commercial Recordings for Use in Series
Series 5: Historical Radio Airchecks
Series 6: Production and Promotional Recordings
Series 7: Radio Program Audio Cassettes
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

Use of time-based media materials (audio and video) may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Access to streaming audio, moving image, and full resolution digital image materials may currently be restricted to researchers who can authenticate with an IU account or who are physically present on campus. Remote streaming to individual researchers may be allowed with the completion of applicable forms.

For further information about access to online audiovisual materials, contact AAAMC staff at aaamc@indiana.edu.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, including but not limited to the Indiana Public Records Act (5-14-3-2 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Indiana University assumes no responsibility.

Copyright is retained by the creators/authors of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. All requests for copying and publishing materials must be submitted in writing to the Archives of African American Music and Culture, and may require the written permission of the creator(s)/author(s) or donor(s).

Permission required from the Smithsonian Institution to duplicate or publish any material from interviews; individual permission/release forms on file and may vary for each participant.

The provenance and intellectual property rights for the historical airchecks are unclear. Materials may be used in-house at the AAAMC; permission to duplicate must be secured in writing from the rights holders.

Contact AAAMC staff for further details.

PREFERRED CITATION:

Black Radio: Telling It Like It Was, SC 39, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
Smith Research Center, Rooms 180-181
2805 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47408-2601, United States
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
812-855-8547
aaamc@iu.edu