The Major Refurb That Includes America’s First Black-Owned Radio Station—the Thousand-Watt Atlanta Station That Served as a News Center for the Modern Civil Rights Movement

Scott Slade's Georgia · Feb 19, 2026 · 3m

While the building that houses the Prince Hall Masonic Temple and Lodge is getting ready to open to the public as part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park this spring, don't miss what was going on upstairs in that yellow brick building at 330 Auburn Avenue. WERD 860 AM radio became the first Black-owned, Black-operated radio station in America when it signed on in 1948. For the first time, Black Atlantans had an outlet for Black news, Black music, promoting Black businesses with Black station celebrities that galvanized the community. And when Dr. King moved his SCLC offices…