Old Atlanta StoriesMusic & Culture
What might you have heard on WERD?
Music, worship, public affairs and neighborhood news shared the airwaves.
Music, worship, public affairs and neighborhood news shared the airwaves.
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Rhythm and blues, jazz and gospel shared the schedule with church services, educational programs, public affairs and neighborhood news. The mix made WERD useful as well as entertaining: listeners could hear artists ignored elsewhere, learn what was happening around Auburn Avenue and receive information from institutions they trusted.
That blend became a template for Black-oriented radio around the country. The format recognized that a community was not a niche genre—it was an audience with a full civic and cultural life.
Keep the thread
Stories that connect.
Keep going through the people, places, and moments behind this story.
Before “Black radio” became a national industry, WERD proved that ownership could turn a local signal into cultural power.
Open storyShared thread: Black BusinessChurches, Businesses and Block MemoryThe places that made a neighborhood feel like home.
Open storyShared thread: Sweet AuburnThe station upstairs, the movement downstairsOn Auburn Avenue, a single building connected culture, enterprise and the civil-rights movement.
Open storyYour Atlanta belongs here
Remember this corner of the city?
A photograph, flyer, family name, date, or firsthand memory can add another layer to the story.
More from Issue 3
Before “Black radio” became a national industry, WERD proved that ownership could turn a local signal into cultural power.
On Auburn Avenue, a single building connected culture, enterprise and the civil-rights movement.
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Du Bois and Atlanta University students used design to challenge racist claims at the 1900 Paris Exposition.
When washerwomen used a world's fair as leverage
In 1881, Black laundresses organized for better pay as Atlanta prepared to welcome the world.