From my 2001 doctoral dissertation. The references have not been updated. Any mistakes–grammatical or ideological–are mine, not the University of Maryland’s.

“He stood at the mic like a lighthouse, unblinking in the storm. A voice for the people, a spine for the truth. Fearless in witness, relentless in love for his community. An icon — not because he sought it, but because he earned it.”

– New York City radio broadcaster Rennie Bishop, from an email upon hearing about Law’s transition into the Realm of the Ancestors

BOB LAW, TO MY surprise, was not born with a radio microphone in or near his mouth; once upon an early-’70s raised fist, he was a hell-raising New York City civil rights activist. In the previous decade, he had worked with the radical Brooklyn branch of the Congress for Racial Equality,  a national civil rights organization. He also worked in the 1960s with the Northern Student Movement and as an East Coast organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He had attended Pratt  Institute, a New York City arts college. Law studied graphic design and communications arts.  Law said one of his greatest influences in the 1960s  was Malcolm X, whom he called “…the great educator.  The great teacher.  He raised questions about what we were doing in the movement. He raised questions about street life. And he was a primary influence in the lives of a great many people, particularly the group of young people that I was a part  of.” 

Law led a group called IMPAC–the Independent  Movement for Political Action.  Law appeared on Bernie McCain’s WWRL-AM Sunday afternoon show. “Tell It Like  It Is.” to talk about his organization’s campaign against the use of the drug  Ritalin, a drug that counteracts hyperactivity,  in  New  York City’s public schools. Law and other activists believed the drug was disproportionately being used on  Black schoolchildren.  Law said  McCain was a pioneer of “activist radio,” where a host would actually campaign–and get his listeners organized–against an injustice. When McCain became program director at  KDIA-AM in Oakland, California, Law became WWRL’s public affairs director and host of a show called “Black Dialogue.” 

In 1981, the same year WLIB, a rival AM Black-formatted station, began Black news-talk programming, “Night Talk” premiered on the National Black Network, originating on WWRL. Its host was Law.  (The all-night slot had been held by Law’s friend Gary Byrd, who soon moved his “Gary Byrd Experience” show down the dial to WLIB; more on his story here.) Law had moved, as the expression went at the time, from the streets to the suites: the man who had been a guest on Bernie McCain’s WWRL Sunday afternoon talk show “Tell  It  Like  It  Is”  in the 1970s had worked his way up the WWRL ladder to become the station’s program director.  “Night Talk” with Bob Law was the first national Black radio talk show.  It ran weeknights, from midnight to 5 a.m.,  Monday through Friday mornings. It was a national forum for Black issues in the news and Black politics. One scholar said  it “quickly became the  most popular Black talk radio show in the country.”

Law said the value of the national show was that  Blacks struggling for social justice in one area “learn that their situation is not isolated.  And  [they]  are  even encouraged by [other] people  who  struggle against that  oppression.”  Using his ’60s swagger, Law used the forum  not just to inform, but also to prepare his  listeners  to spring into action.   Early in its history, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Sr. was Law’s “Night Talk” Tuesday co-host, using his visibility to prepare for his 1984 Presidential campaign. Law invited activists and scholars, such as John Henrik Clarke and Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan, on a regular basis to discuss their specialties.

The wee-hours host used his late-night pulpit to run many campaigns and crusades. When I began listening to the show in 1987,  a major focus was fundraising for the New York chapter of the Black United Fund, a self-help philanthropy group.  Named New York Coordinator for  1995’s Million Man March, “Night Talk” pushed hard for a large national turnout. In his book, Law lists some of “Night Talk'” s crusades, with  special  emphasis on one campaign in particular:

And there are many examples of NIGHTTALK’s influence on a national level: We helped raise  $100,000  for a  Kansas City teenager,  we financed a summer softball league for children on behalf of  [Law’s]  Respect  Yourself Youth  Foundation, and  we helped  [in  1982]  to save the Lorraine Motel,  the  site of Martin  Luther King· s assassination [from an auction] …[Local businessmen]  wanted to convert the hotel into a Martin  Luther King museum, which  I agreed  would  be much  more fitting  than the stone marker and plastic flowers that had been placed at the  door  of Dr.  King’s room.  The  plan was  to prevent the  auction  by paying off the debt owed by the motel. and then raise the money to build the Martin Luther King Museum.

I agreed  to make the appeal  and organize various  fundraising events in local communities around the country,  in  conjunction  with   my  on-air   activity.  I wanted the museum to make one adjustment [,]  however.  I wanted the museum to be dedicated to the entire   Civil   Rights   Movement,  with  Dr.  King   as  its centerpiece. The group agreed, and we launched a national radio campaign on NIGHTIALK…  The   NIGHTIALK   audience also responded by calling the Judge who was to rule  on the auction, to assure him that they were donating to the memorial fund  and  that  the  money  was indeed  on the way.  On the strength of those phone calls and the renewed and expanded enthusiasm for the  project, the Judge  delayed  the auction, giving  the Memorial Foundation a few more days to receive  contributions from  its new supporters throughout the country.

We were successful!    The    Martin    Luther   King    Memphis Memorial Foundation  was  able  to  buy  the  motel  and  the  time  they  needed   to  raise  the additional funds  to  build  the  excellent museum of the  Civil  Rights  Movement that currently  exists at  the  site  of the  old  Lorraine  Motel.  Strangely  enough. there  is  no  mention   of the  NIGHTTALK campaign  in  any  of the  museum· s literature, nor was a promised plaque  installed in the museum’s entrance to acknowledge  the  donations of African   Americans around the  country.  These donations did in fact make  the Civil  Rights  Museum possible.

IN 1989, LAW’s FRIEND and former WWRL co-worker, now calling himself Imhotep Gary Byrd, was on a roll so he decided to talk about a role. His “GBE” was now renamed the “Global Black Experience.” On WLIB, the self-styled call-in radio magazine grew so popular that it began broadcasting live from the Apollo Theater. So he took full advantage of that, devoting a week to big-upping his Black-oriented media peers. From Monday through Thursday during a late-August week, the new, dashiked ”GBE” hosted a tribute to New York City’s “Pioneers in Broadcasting.” With a packed studio audience, he honored the late Alma John, whose WWRL show was a ’60s Black radio staple and whose New York era-community was still remembered. Byrd also honored New York radio legend Hal Jackson, who was celebrating his 50th year in broadcasting.  In addition, Byrd honored two of his peers: WABC-TV’s Gil Noble, producer and host of the award-winning Black public affairs television program “Like It Is,” and Law. (More on Noble and his show here.)

Noble, onstage at the Apollo, spoke with Byrd about his career and professional philosophy (his professional journey began in the 1960s as a WLIB newscaster). He recalled how he learned from Pan-Africanist Queen Mother Moore that, as a displaced African in America, he didn’t even know his true  [African] name. She “made me understand the severity of my condition … I didn’t even know my name.”  That perspective, according to Noble, helped him to “ward off the intoxication” of becoming successful in a white-dominated industry. He said that he always remembers it was the Civil Rights Movement, particularly the 1967 Black insurrections in Newark and elsewhere, that got him his job at WABC-TV “..and  that’s why I’ve spent my career trying to give back.” The program, he explained, was important for Blacks and whites because “White people need to learn the truth about themselves, too.” The predominantly Black audience laughed and applauded. He blamed America’s Eurocentric educational systems as the reason why Blacks who enter journalism all too often consider themselves journalists first and  African-Americans second.  He thanked Byrd for honoring him, noting that he was glad Byrd had such a public forum to be praised by callers and members of the studio audience, the latter of whom began moving to microphones near the Apollo stage to join the conversation.  A Black woman identifying herself as 83-year-old Beatrice Johnson from Queens said she never missed “Like It Is” when it was broadcast on early Sunday afternoons. “I don’t miss it. That’s like church to me,” she said. One Black man asked Noble why he didn’t try to go after the anchor chair.  “I am constantly reminded of the condition of our people,” responded Noble. “And that it is severe and grave.  And that is my focus. And  I don’t believe  I can make a [similar]  contribution anchoring the news as [I do with]  ‘Like It Is,” since he said it was the only program on New York television controlled and conceptualized by people of African descent. “I think  it is important for  ‘Like  It Is’  to  stay  alive  because   it  allows   people  to  see  the  world through the eyes of the majority of the people in the world instead of the minority.”

The  next  day  on  the “GBE,”  Law was  honored on the Apollo stage for his work on WWRL and on “Night Talk.” He talked to Byrd about his activist history in  New York City prior to becoming a broadcaster–particularly the  influence Malcolm had  on him. He mentioned that Hal Jackson, whom Byrd had honored earlier that week, was the host of “Community Forum” on WLIB.  where Law,  as a young activist, would appear as a guest in the late 1960s. He said that the future of radio,  especially AM radio, was talk and information, and that format was  “…absolutely  necessary in  the  African-American community,” since  radio  “is  the  only  thing  on in the  Black  community 24 hours  a day.”  A  65-year-old Black woman from the studio audience confirmed this. saying that she had gotten a thorough education from her “daytime man” Byrd and her nighttime “husband” Law.  The audience applauded and cheered, and both broadcasters quietly and humbly thanked her for her statement.

“LIKE IT IS,” WWRL-AM AND  WLIB-AM are textbook examples of the multiple roles of Black media.   The three forums have attempted to present an  African-centered worldview using mass media.  The hosts of these programs discussed here argue that their shows are antidotes to white mainstream media programming,  which, due to its disproportionate control by whites,  collectively present a white view of the world as mainstream.  These forums allow African-Americans in the New York tri-state area and, in the case of WWRL’s “Night Talk” nationally, to see and hear themselves from the varied historical and cultural perspectives of  Africans and African-Americans. They also allow a counter-narrative from the culturally white and politically right-wing views of white mainstream talk radio in New York City. Because the distinct roles they play are well within the concept of Black media function. The mass communication products of Noble, Law and Byrd exemplify the Two-Pronged Black Critique of White  Media  Hegemony:  l) the critique of white media supremacy and 2) the Black counter-narrative.

Noble, Law and Byrd share common professional and personal characteristics. All are tall,  charismatic men who are more than  50 years old.  The Civil Rights and Black Power movements forged all three ideologically, but as those movements developed in the    North–specifically in New York City, the headquarters of the movements of Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. They did not formally study journalism,  although Law was trained in communications at Pratt Institute,  an arts college. All started their careers in  Black radio during turbulent years in  American society.  The three work as communicators who say they attempt to use their craft for the improvement of African-Americans. All three are artists. Noble, a piano player, led the Gil Noble Trio, a jazz band, in the  1950s;  Byrd is a performance poet, songwriter and entertainer; Law is a graphics artist.

There are some slight differences.  Law  is  the only  one  of the  trio  with  a college  degree.  Noble was the only of the three not known to have been an athlete as a youth, unlike Byrd (football) and Law (baseball).  Noble is the only one of the three working in white mainstream media.  Law is the only one with a background in community organizing.

All three broadcasting forums are strongly focused from a Black worldview. For more than 15 years, the “Like It Is” title sequence has started with drums and a visual collage of the  African-American experience, ranging from drawings of Africans being enslaved through pictures of the abolitionist period and the  Civil Rights  Movement to “Like It Is” interview clips from the  1970s to,  finally,  a still picture of a baby being born.    After the collage,   a red,  black and green flag–the universally accepted symbol of  Black Nationalism–is created onscreen,  with the title of the show appearing in front of the flag shortly afterward. Law’s radio  show started   with  an  announcer saying   “Night  Talk” was “for  people   who  live  in  the Black   community   and   whose    actions   affect   the   Black   community.”  That description could easily apply to all three programs.

The shows sound different. Noble’s on-air demeanor,  if not his line of questioning,  is very calm and “objective;” he does not blatantly express his opinion on the air.  Law and  Byrd, on the other hand, have been open  advocates  on-air whose  opinions on  most  topics  are  clearly  known.  Unlike  Law and  Byrd.  Noble does  not use music during the show;  the show’s transitions to commercials and closing credits are  done  in silence. Noble is  “Like  It Is”s’  only interviewer,  while Law and Byrd  took calls  from their audiences. Noble’s show  is a weekly  hour;  the others  had at least  16 hours  of radio  time to fill on the radio every  week.

All three seem to be addressing the same audience–one seeking the Black media imperative as preferred programming. In my view,  the audience  Law, Byrd  and Noble seem to target is composed of serious-minded African-American adults who want to l) learn about   African-American politics, history and culture and   2)   do something to improve the condition of African-Americans from a left-of-center, Nationalist-oriented point of view.  The hosts seek to increase understanding of the African-American experience by creating programs that inspire African-Americans to become race-conscious citizens. By doing this,   from my perspective, they serve the movements that created them and push a new generation to be exposed and, hopefully, become actively involved in social justice struggles.

The fact that Law, Byrd and Noble are part of a generation of  Blacks influenced by the Civil  Rights and Black Power movements does not make them at all unusual;  millions of African-Americans were also shaped by the period between 1960  and  1975.  What makes the story of these  three men  and  their forums worthy of scholarly study is  how,  as media professionals,  they consciously chose to make the mass media their own instead of being made by the mass media.  As Black men who see their history,  politics  and culture as central to their identity as  American citizens and human beings,  they decided to make media from that experience during virtually the same time period–the late  1960s; they chose to make media that matched their beliefs,  thoughts and opinions. They chose to use the media to present and discuss the  African and  African-American experiences from the often-controversial perspectives of their activist peers, not from the “objective” perspective taught in journalism school to Black and white journalists alike.  In so doing,  they became both proponents of the Black media imperative and ideological heirs– ”living mediums” standing on electronic stepladders–of the movements they have championed.