How a Black-owned radio station maintained independence for 50 years when other media went corporate

WDKX Radio in Rochester, NY never sold out on the vision of its founder, Andrew Langston. His granddaughter Andria Langston shares the story of being a third-generation Black business owner. If you’ve ever looked at the call letters on a radio station, they may have seemed like just letters to you. But at WDKX Radio in Rochester, NY the “D” stands for Frederick Douglass, the “K” for Martin Luther King Jr. and the “X” is for Malcolm X.   Amid a media landscape where many Black radio stations advertising to Black listeners aren’t owned by Black people, WDKX exemplifies the legacy and power of independent Black media. This year, the station celebrates 50 years in business. According to the African American Public Radio Consortium, an estimated 10,000 commercial radio stations broadcast daily in the U.S. but fewer than 1% are Black-owned. This disparity reveals more than just a gap in ownership; it highlights a systemic issue that leaves fewer Black leaders in charge of the voices and messages that claim to speak for Black people. “Anybody can play Black music or put Black programming on, but there’s a different type of authenticity and relationship when it comes from Black creators,” says...