This Black History Month we’re sharing stories about community, memory, and why radio preservation matters in Legacy Listening: HBCU Radio Memories, our series featuring excerpts from oral histories collected by the HBCU Radio Preservation Project.
This week week Malik Perkins, a graduate of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, who shared his radio memories with the HBCU Radio Preservation Project’s 2025 Fellow Olivia Green in May of 2025.
Interview Highlights:
The impact of Professor Clay
"It was a jazz radio station and, there was this thing where students were like, we want hip-hop and R&B. Professor Clay, who was over it at my time, he was explaining to them like, no, you already have hip-hop stations. This is a public radio station. You have to have a niche that allows you to generate, income and allows you to have your own market that you can dominate. I remember him explaining that to me, and I remember saying to myself, if you learn how a radio station works, it really doesn't matter what it is. You just need to get in and learn how this stuff works.
Professor Clay had a very much karate kid wax on, wax off style. So you're doing things and don't really realize how it correlates to later."
WCSU as a starting point for a media career
"I think [WCSU] was a starting point of that if I see something I want to do, and I carry this mentality now, that I'm, first of all, I'm willing to say to myself, I might not be good at this right now. I don't know anything about this, but if I see something I want to do, I will put the time in.
I will go through the 'this was a bad show', this was a whatever, this was a disaster day and work at it until I eventually get where I want to be. As cliche as it sounds, but, you know, from the radio station to becoming a TV reporter to even working at Ohio State, like I've, I just believe that if I set a goal for myself, I'm willing to work at it until I get there."
Being part of the legacy of HBCU radio
"I think HBCU radio will always be special no matter what form it takes so being a part of that legacy in an era where some may feel that HBCUs future is a little bit shaky, seeing that we're doing all this work to preserve history, I think that's really cool just making sure that we have that legacy to pass on to future generations."
Listen to our full interview with Malik Perkins and other oral histories from the HBCU Radio Preservation Project on YouTube in collaboration with our partners at the Margaret Walker Center.
