In 1975, a 10-watt radio signal began broadcasting from the campus of Savannah State College. Fifty years later, WHCJ 90.3 FM is still on the air, still rooted in the same mission it started with: educate through entertaining. The third episode of Broadcasting History: The HBCU Radio Legacy arrives just months after the station celebrated its 50th anniversary, alongside a milestone of its own, as the Radio Preservation Project returns digitized archival materials to the station for the first time.
A Station Built on African Roots
WHCJ was founded with a deliberately distinctive sound. Jazz, blues, gospel, reggae, Latin music. The station's programming has always centered music with African roots, and each DJ shapes their own playlist, bringing a sound that reflects the diversity of Savannah's community. "We believe in the authenticity and the uniqueness of the station," says Grace Curry, who has served as WHCJ's director since 2016. "Each programmer brings their own music. We don't tell them what to play." That philosophy has sustained a loyal volunteer base for decades, including Hanif Haynes, who has hosted his reggae program The Black Star Liner since 1983. For Haynes, the station is more than a broadcast outlet. "It's an extension of the community," he says. "You will not get that on a regular radio station."
What the Tapes Carry
As part of the Radio Preservation Project's work at WHCJ, a collection of cassette recordings from the station's archives has been digitized and returned to the station. Among them: a 1996 episode of What's Going On, a community affairs program hosted by then-director Theron "Ike" Carter, featuring a Savannah State student named Timothy Jones. The tape captures what WHCJ was built to do: give a microphone to voices that might not find one anywhere else. "I think the true history is that history passed on from generation to generation," says Carter, who led the station for nearly 27 years. "Nobody can change that unless you change it."
Training the Next Generation
Beyond the archive, WHCJ's legacy lives in the people it trained. Former intern Simone Brown describes moving from the student station to WHCJ as crossing a threshold. "By then you're a pro," she says. "I don't know who listened to me. But I know somebody heard me." That sense of real stakes, real audiences, and real responsibility is what former volunteer Nicole De'Costa credits with changing the course of her life. "Being here really changed my life," she says. "I'll tell anybody that." As WHCJ enters its next 50 years, that cycle of mentorship and stewardship remains at the center of everything the station does.
