For nearly 50 years, commercial radio companies only employed white broadcasters to target information and entertainment to mainstream America. The exclusion of African Americans in broadcasting began with the emergence of the first commercial radio station in the United States, KDKA, in Pittsburgh on November 2, 1920. As radio advanced, some Northern radio stations featured Black broadcasters. However, the primary depiction of African Americans on-air came from white radio personalities who portrayed them as comical, non-intellectual, and without virtue. Blacks could only obtain realistic, relevant, and empowering mass-mediated information from intellectuals whose thoughts radiated from Black newspapers and magazines. Black mass media options shifted when, in 1969, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prohibited racial discrimination in employment. Gradually, media companies began to end discriminatory hiring practices, and Black full-time broadcasters started to change the type and utility of broadcast content.
Several factors converged to bring about the transformation of American radio, among which were the profit motive, civil rights and movement leaders, urban uprisings, and the federal government. Arguably, federal intervention through policies, findings, mandates, and laws reformed racist hiring practices in American radio companies. The FCC, Kerner Commission, and Federal Employment Opportunity Commission were the three major federal entities that integrated radio broadcasting.
The profit motive remains at the core of decision-making in a capitalist milieu. Still, profits did not usher in substantial racial integration historically at the major network-affiliated stations, such as NBC (Blue and Red) and CBS. The networks overlooked Black listeners as inconsequential. Broadcast stations obtained revenue from entities that purchased time during which broadcasters mentioned or advertised their products or services. The larger the audience, the more money the stations could charge. To increase profits, a station needed to enlarge its audience; then, it could justify raising advertising rates. A station could increase the size of its audience by convincing the FCC to improve its signal strength or broadcast content that attracted more listeners. The network-affiliated stations attracted large audiences by broadcasting shows featuring mega-stars on big-budget programs, including dramas, comedies, variety shows, and news. Network stations did not need Black listeners, who represented a small slice of the national population, roughly 10 percent. Black people were relatively poor, and many did not own radio sets before World War II. After the war, the socioeconomic status of Blacks trended upward, and their media consumption became more diversified.