Over 40 years of excellence

One day in 1976 on the campus of Howard University, the nation’s largest historically black institution of higher learning, the professional radio disc-jockeys went on strike at WHUR 96.3 FM, the university’s commercial radio station. A shy student intern named Melvin Lindsey was given the task of hosting a live radio shift to fill the dead air. Quietly shaking in his platform shoes, armed with only the albums from his basement, and no DJ experience to his name, he did it. Without a playlist, Melvin worked with what he had and mixed his satin voice with album cuts from the soul artists he listened to in the solitude of his basement.

Melvin’s soothing voice had a thunderous impact on the emotions of his audience. His listeners fell in love with his voice and were moved to almost ecstasy when they came face to face with his smooth sound on their radio speakers. His listeners turned down the lights, curled up on the edge of their beds and watched the radio to hear his voice while anticipating the depth of the next song he would play. Melvin was a radio music designer. He used music to tell a story and weave a tapestry of sound that words could not describe. Read more