WHER – Where Women Ruled the World (and the Airwaves)

A sultry female voice reads the call letters for “WHER – a thousand beautiful watts” on October 9, 1955 in Memphis Tennessee.  This marks the start of something unique – the beginning of “all-girl” radio, opening doors for women-centered radio programs, stations, and collectives of today. The station, which was broadcast on AM frequency 1430, was the brain child of Sam Phillips. Phillips was a record producer with a sharp ear, responsible most notably for the discovery of Johnny Cash and Elvis. When Phillips, owner of Sun Recording Studios, sold Elvis’ recording contract to RCA, he had enough leverage to launch the radio station.  According to Sam: “… I’d wanted a radio station all my life. Radio to me, it’s a living thing…” Women didn’t just set their voices free over the airwaves, they ran almost every aspect of the station including marketing, programming, and running the control board. The music mainly consisted of jazz selections highlighting Sinatra, Fitzgerald, and other greats. Phillips felt jazz suited the feel of the station and filled an empty niche in Memphis, Tennessee’s existing radio play.

The studio space was tiny but was designed to be lighthearted and play up the theme of an all female staff. Rooms were painted bright colors reminiscent of a doll house and  in the same vein, was referred to as the doll’s den.

By many of today’s standards, the ideas of women and feminism promoted by the station would be considered restrictive and perhaps even the slightest bit misogynistic, but at the time the idea was groundbreaking and progressive. Assistant Manager and Program Director Dorothy Abbott was quoted as saying: “We are not trying to prove the we can get along in a world without men. We are simply trying to prove that when a group of women make up their collective minds that they are going to do something successfully, no force on earth can keep them from it.”

But all goods things come to an end and WHER was no exception. The station was recast as WWEE in 1971 and sported a mixed-gender staff.

The WHER story has been recently documented by the Kitchen Sisters,  a powerhouse and award-winning storytelling duo consisting of Davia Nelson and Nikki Silva. They have created and produced more than 200 radio pieces including numerous segments for NPR in the past.  They are currently working on a piece about girls around the world.

NPR has hosted the special on several programs, including most recently the eclectic show “Hearing Voices”. The 52 minute long segment can be heard currently on the Hearing Voices website. All the music in the piece was culled from WHER’s own library. Music credits can be found here.

For more:

http://www.cmshowcase.org/jimmuseum/wher_radio_station.htm

The Kitchen Sisters

NPR’s Lost and Found Sound WHER page

Historian Jacquelyn Hall’s commentary on women’s roles and WHER

Carolina Chocolate Drops – A Whole Lotta Sweet (and Hell Yeahs!)

A whole episode of National Public Radio’s show Fresh Air was dedicated to the Carolina Chocolate Drops, undoubtedly because they are so fascinating. The group is an all-black string band, embracing components of old-timey style and instrumentation with banjo, fiddle, jug, bones, and even kazoo, while fusing it with newer elements of  pop and hip-hop. The mix doesn’t just work, it transcends.

During the episode,Terry Gross not only speaks to musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons, and Justin Robinson about their influences and backstory, but also persuades them to play around with their instruments and break down exactly what’s happening in their songs – a musical show and tell.

Yes, you’ll hear songs that sound like they nestle in well with the classic string-band style, often because they are in fact older songs with strong tradition tied into their histories. Songs like “Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine”,a song attributed to Papa Charlie Jackson, a New Orlean’s banjo player from the early 1900’s:

They are equally able to rock the modern tunes as well as evidenced by their version of Blue Cantrall’s Hit Em Up Style:

Check out the band’s official website for tour dates, more videos, and pictures.

Patrick Watson Makes Some Noise For NPR

I decided to check out Patrick Watson when I read a little of an interview with him on cnn.com.

I am not admittingly won over yet, but my interest is somewhat piqued.  I so far have found his voice too pacified and sedate for my tastes but I found the mix of sounds he and his band introduce during his performances pretty intriguing. The first song in the NPR/WNYC video is “Bejing”. Watson sings the line “it was the sound of the city” repetitiously while his band bangs out rhythms on everything from pots and pans to synthesizers. I’m not sure it really works but the concept is cool. I also like the megaphone start and banjo accompaniment on  his last song of the set, “Wooden Arms”.

I could definitely find his style great  for mood setting and contented relaxing at home, and this is totally the kind of music that fuels some good creative writing. Who knows, I could be convinced….