First African American radio station in Miami is ...

WFEC studio Christened at
the Lord Calvert Hotel,
Overtown, Miami  circa 1950
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Miami radio station WFEC (Florida East Coast Broadcasting Company) launched operations April 10, 1949. Located at that time at 350 NE 71 Street, it promoted itself as the “Whole Family Entertainment Center.”  The station, 1220 on the radio dial, featured news from the communities of Allapattah, Miami Shores, Miami Springs, Little River, 54^th Street, Edison Center, North Miami and Opa-locka. Part of its early schedule included news from the Jewish community.

A day-time operation only, it shifted to “all-Negro programming” by July 1952. By the end of that year the WFEC touted itself as “the only station in Florida featuring all-Negro programming.” One of its disc jockeys, Carlton King Coleman (1932-2010), became a popular Miami radio personality by the late 1950s when the station evolved into WMBM. Coleman later provided some of the vocals for the hit song (Do the) Mashed Potatoes recorded with James Brown’s Band. His career included his own radio shows in New York City and acting in a few films including Bad Boys II.

The station served as an early starting point in the illustrious career of Noble V. Blackwell (1934-1994), known as "HoneyBee" to listeners. He moved on to work as director of broadcasting at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia for more than two decades and as broadcaster for NBN New York City. In 1972 Noble was honored as "Man of the Year" by the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers. He also hosted the popular TV show, Night Train in 1964. His dream of owning a radio station was realized when he bought twin staions WCDL AM and FM in Pennsylvania. He successfully transitioned them into WLSP Hit Kickin' Country. (A recently-launched documentary about Noble Blackwell can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/@noblevblackwell).

Another WMBM personality, Larry King (1933-2021) launched his interview show there in the late 1950s, early 1960s. He later moved to Miami’s WIOD* and syndicated the show nationwide before landing at CNN.

Through a series of license sales, owners, radio dial numbers, frequencies, and locations, WMBM now offers urban gospel programming serving Miami at 1490 on the dial.

Looking back, it could be said WFEC paved the way for ethnic programming with its rhythm and blues and gospel format for Miami’s African American community. The station helped place the city at the vanguard of radio broadcasting before a nationwide increase in station consolidation and decrease in local radio identity became the norm.

Copyright © 2022, 2023, 2024. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

For more on WIOD, see:

https://janeshistorynook.blogspot.com/2013/07/miamis-radio-610-wiod-wonderful-isle-of.html

Sources:

Miami Herald, April 10, 1949

Miami Herald, Feb. 10, 1950

Miami News, Aug. 8, 1951

Miami Herald, July 21, 1952

Miami Herald, Jan. 15, 1953

Miami Times, Nov. 30, 1957

The Tennessean, Sept. 13, 1994

Wikipedia

NB Production Team/Tracye Blackwell Johnson

Tags: Miami radio history, African American history, Miami in the 1940s, Miami in the 1950s, Miami history, Noble V Blackwell,  Carlton King Coleman, Larry King

Miami's radio 610, WIOD: Wonderful Isle of Dreams once home to Larry King and ...

WIOD towers 1926 Bicayne Bay
Florida State Archives/Fishbaugh

By Jane Feehan

WIOD launched its first radio broadcast Jan. 19, 1926. The station, tagged with call letters WIOD for “Wonderful Isle of Dreams” by Miami Beach developer Carl Fisher, was built atop one of his man-made islands near the Nautilus Hotel (4300 Alton Road). It operated in one of the first buildings in the U.S. designed primarily for radio broadcast use.

According to author Ann Armbruster (The Life and Times of Miami Beach, Alfred A. Knopf: 1995), Jesse Jay, son of Webb Jay, inventor of the auto vacuum tank, founded WIOD. It was the first 1,000-watt station in Florida.   During its early days WIOD offered about two hours of programming and most of it was orchestra music or church services. By 1928 the station was an NBC affiliate.

WIOD studios moved to downtown Miami in the early 1930s to the News Tower. It was purchased by Metropolis Publishing Company, owner of the Miami News in 1936 and advertised with the slogan, “Your free ticket to the finest radio is at 610 on your radio dial.”

By 1941*, WIOD was operating 18 ½ hours daily from the 79^th Street Causeway.  Programming included entertainers Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, Eddie Cantor, other big names of the era and featured soap opera A Guiding Light five days a week. The station increased to 5,000 watts of power in February that year with great fanfare throughout South Florida; that ramp up in wattage made WIOD the most powerful radio station in the state. The station, deemed by management a “symbol of progress,”  broadcasted with the assistance of two 320-foot steel towers over the waters of Biscayne Bay (salt water is said to improve signal strength).

From 1959 to 1962, the call letters of 610 were changed to WCKR by then-owner Cox-Knight Broadcasting. TV station WSVN also owned 610 later during the 1960s and played rock music, an unsuccessful format in a fiercely competitive market. It transitioned back to call letters WIOD during the 70s and was the venue that helped launch TV personality Larry King’s national career. Other broadcast notables of the 70s and 80s included Big Wilson and Neil Rogers.

In 1981, WIOD’s power was increased with special temporary authority to 10,000 watts to overcome interference by a station in Cuba. Permission to broadcast at that power is renewed each year.

Today, iHeartMedia, Inc. owns WIOD. Its studio operates in Miramar and its transmitter tower lies near Biscayne Bay at North Bay Village. News Talk 610 operates 24/7, a big leap in scheduling from those short days of 1926. Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

*Some facts about radio in the 1940s: More than half the radios in the world were owned by Americans; 85 percent of Americans owned a radio; a nationally syndicated radio show would have as many as 10 million listeners.

------

Other Sources:

Kleinberg, Howard. Miami Beach, a History. Miami: Centennial Press, 1995.

Miami News, Feb. 22, 1941.

Wikipedia

Tags: Miami Beach in the 1920s, WIOD, WCKR, Miami radio, historical researcher, film researcher