2008 Interview with Bobby-Q-Day

Nearly 40 years ago, I was working a DJ show on WAMM-AM in Flint, Michigan. I was contacted by a young black man named “Earl Clark”. He said he was from Detroit and had studied radio while in the Navy. He had filed for a FM radio station license with the FCC.

The more we talked, I learned he needed an antenna (tower) site for this soon to be radio station; in fact he needed everything from equipment to personnel. I agreed to help him get this station on the air.

We started to look for a tower location. We drove along the country farmlands around Saginaw until we found a farmer who let us lease land to build our tower. My brother-in law who was a super salesman, agreed to join us as Sales Manager.

October 1969

42 years ago W-3 Soul began broadcasting throughout the Tri-city area. That area included Saginaw, Flint, and Cities beyond. This date and the fact that it is an FM radio station is so vitally important, because it was the first time that a Black owned and operated FM radio station, licensed to program Soul/Jazz music to a predominately large black audience in that part of the country.

Sometime around 9am...

It was Saturday morning in Saginaw, MI., I’m not sure which day of the month, but it was a beautiful October morning, the sun was shining and it was warm for that time of year. Business as usual for the rest of Saginaw.

We spent that Friday at the station as we had done so many times before, however on that Friday all of the jocks were at the station; there all day and part of the night practicing on the turntable, doing routine voice delivery on the mike, etc.

Earl received information from his lawyer earlier in the week that he had been approved for broadcasting. License would be sent by telegram.

Saturday morning no license, and so sometime between 1:00-2:00pm that afternoon we decided to head home. We walked down the stairs, opened the door, and that telegram fell from the door.

That was the first day of broadcasting. W3-Soul was on the air.