Birmingham’s Black radio DJs were like little gods in our lives

Ann Beard Grundy

Age 18 in 1963

In the 1950s and ‘60s, teenagers tuned into Black-owned radio stations, making celebrities of their most popular DJs – some of whom were actively engaged in the civil rights movement.

In this segment of an expansive oral history she gave in October 2025, Ann speaks of the Black radio stations that broadcast some of her father’s sermons and of the celebrity DJs, who were “like little gods in our lives.” Peering from an upstairs window of the parsonage, Ann could see two Black radio stations, including WENN, where renowned DJ Paul “Tall Paul” White would later give a shoutout to Ann’s brother Luke Beard, who had been his classmate at Parker High.

This segment is part of a broad oral history interview that Ann Beard Grundy offered for Kids in Birmingham 1963 and the Bending the Arc Project in October 2025.