We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
With all due respect to WMUC’s Soul Controllers (“Air Waived”‘ 11/12), but here are two additional facts to add to this area’s FM radio lore; neither college nor commercial radio has claim on being the first or the longest. The area’s first weekly rap radio program was heard on now-defunct WDCU 90.1. It aired during the mid-’80s on Saturday afternoons for about a year, and was hosted by Frank-Ski. Though the music featured on Ski’s program was more commercially oriented, it was the first rap program to employ the use of DJ turntable skills.
Longest-running program honors go to WPFW 89.3, whose 50,000 watts of power aired The B-Side on Thursday nights from 1987 through 1995—a program that I had the pleasure of hosting. Airing during rap radio’s truest doldrums period, The B-Side, like an oasis in the desert, premiered a good five years before the Soul Controllers’ debut.
Takoma Park, Md.
This isn't a paywall.
We don't have one. Readers like you keep our work free for everyone to read. If you think that it's important to have high quality local reporting we hope you'll support our work with a monthly contribution.