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The Voice of the Black Community
THE WEEK OP IMECBIIBER 4-10, 2003
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Charlotto Mirkot
Dead air at
broadcast
institution
WGFV was first to
value black listeners
By Artellia Burch
artellia. burch® thecharloitepost.com
WGIV-AM is silent for good.
The gospel station’s closing this week is the
last chapter in what was once the only place
on the radio dial catering to African
Americans,
On Nov. 24, WGIYs staff was informed that
CBS-owned Infinity Broadcasting decided the
station would go silent Sunday at midnight.
“It just wasn’t viable,” said Tferri Aveiy, pro
gram manager at WGIV, WBAV and WPEG.
“The listening audience never grew according
to Arbitron (ratings). You need to make money
to run a business.
“Since the word got out I received about 20
phone calls. People are hurt. I think I’m hurt
more than anyone. There’s a lot of history con
nected to the legendary WGIV, People
throughout the industry know about the leg
endary WGIV That’s what hurts more than
anything else. The whole staff is sad not just
employees of WGIV. We’re offering our
churches airtime on WPEG and WBAV.”
- Francis Fitzgerald founded WGIV in 1951.
The call letters stood for “We are GI
Veterans.” WGIV was one of many indepen
dent stations that popped up after World War
;il to play records all day. At its inception most
broadcasters carried news and soap operas.
WGIV was the station of firsts. Not only was
it the first in this area to play music all day.,
it was also the first to openly appeal to African
Americans with what became Imown as Rock
& Roll. It later morphed into R&B and soul
before switching to gospel.
Fred Wellington Graham III, production
manager at WPEG and former program
director and morning drive personality at
WGIV, says with its closing, the black com-
Please see WITH WGIV’S/2A
PHOTO/CALVIN FERGUSON
Altheresa Goode-Howard packs CDs as operations wind down at WGIV. The sta
tion, which went on air in 1948, was the first to broadcast primarily for African
Americans In Charlotte. It went off the air Sunday.
When it signed on in 1948,
WGIV-AM became a force in
Charlotte broadcasting. The sta
tion had an integrated staff,
including its sales force (top left)
and hall of fame on-air talent
that included the late “Genial”
Gene Potts (above) and
“Chatty” Hattie Leeper, one of
the first women broadcasters in
the U.S. Leeper went on to start
her own broadcasting school in
Charlotte.
Study: Black women surpass men in winning offices
By Hazel Trice Edney
NATIONAL NEWSPAPER
PUBUSHERS ASSOCIATION
WASHINGTON - The rate of
black females being elected to
public office in America has
surpassed black males by 5-1
over the past 30 years, accord
ing to a study by the Joint
Center for Political and
Economic Studies.
“In sum, the trends have dra
matically changed from the
early 1970s when about 82
percent of newly elected black
elected officials were men. In
the post-1995 period, 85 per
cent of the growth in the num
ber of black elected officials
was from black women being
elected to office,” observes the
report, “Black Elected
Officials: A Statistical
Summary 2001.”
The report explains that dur
ing the first five years that the
Joint Center tracked the num
ber of black elected officials
nationwide, there were 4.5
black men elected to office for
every .black woman, (1,664 to
370). The trend continued but
slowed from 1975 to 1985, two
black men for every black
woman (1,724 to 829); then
even lower in the last half of
the ‘80s, with only 1.2 black
men to each female.
In the 1990s, the trend sud
denly changed with new black
elected officials becoming dis
proportionately women.
Between 1990 and 1995, there
were 1.9 new black women
elected to office for every new
man (687 to 362), and between
1995 and 2001, the ratio was
5.9 new women for every new
man (583 women to 99 men).
The news is exciting to C.
Please see WOMEN/7A
Graham
Goals next
for small
business
programP
Debate likely to focus
on when - or if - race-
specific targets needed
By Herbert L. White
hetb. white @ thecharlottepost. com
Charlotte City Council will tackle the issue of
race-specific goals in its small business program
by the start of 2004.
But there’s an issue: When is the time right - if
at all — to put them in place?
The council last month adopted
the findings of a disparity study
that found racial minorities had
fewer opportunities to win city
contracts a year after Charlotte’s
race-based vendor program was
scuttled. With the new council
sworn in Monday, the board can
start debate on whether - or how
much — race should factor into
how contracts are awarded.
‘We’re looking at options in
terms of putting goals in place,” said Malcolm
Graham, who has been instrumental in remaking
the small business program. “Certainly the one I
favor is putting goals in place with the Small
Business Opportunity program. It’ll be like the
program is the cake and the goals is the icing on
top.”
Committee assignments, the first‘step in the
debate, will be made by Mayor Pat McCrory this
month. The first meeting is scheduled for Jan. 5 —
nearly a year after Charlotte scrapped its
Minority and Women Business Development pro
gram.
MWBD was shuttered in the wake of a lawsuit
Please see APATHY/3A '
2 Charlotte artists
earn arena projects
By Herbert L. White
herb. white@thecharlottepost. com
Charlotte’s uptown arena will be adorned with
locally-produced art.
Tommie Robinson was one of six
artists commissioned by the Arts
& Science Council to work on the
project.
ASC’s board accepted the Public
Art Commission>’s recommenda
tion to approve the artists for pub-
hcly-fimded projects from a field of
217 responses to a national open
competition. The artists specialize
in mediums ranging from photo
graphic tile mosaics, granite sculp
ture and oil paintings.
“We are pleased to have these six capable artists
create dynamic and memorable work for the
enjoyment of residents and visitors alike - great
art will be a permanent part of this newest land
mark in our Center City," ASC board Chair Tim
Arnoult.said
Robinson, who has lived in Charlotte for more
than 30 years, has had work featured in national
magazines including Art News and Watercolor
Magazine. His public art commissions include the
West Boulevard Library, University Park
Performing Arts Elementary School and corpo-
Please see 2 LOCALV3A
Robinson
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