Arthur Bernard Leaner (June 30, 1908 – September 6, 1978), who was known professionally as Al Benson, was an American radio
DJ, music promoter and
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
owner in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
between the 1940s and 1960s. He was particularly significant for his promotion of
rhythm and blues music and black involvement in the recording industry in Chicago. "He was the first black radio personality to have a six figure salary...
ndwas referred to as the Godfather of Black Radio."
[Legendaries of Radio: Al Benson]
. Legendariesofradio.wix.com, Retrieved 18 May 2014 He was also an ordained minister, and became an important figure in the
civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
in Chicago. In 2017 he was inducted into the
Blues Hall of Fame
The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum located at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1 ...
.
Biography
He was born in
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...
. He learned
tap dancing
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm (jazz) tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses on dance; it is widely perfo ...
with his father's
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
band as a child,
[ Biography at Allmusic.com]
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Retrieved 18 May 2014 and worked in
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
shows before moving with his parents in 1923 to Chicago. There, he founded a
storefront church
A storefront church is a church, usually in the North American context of the United States, and to a much lesser extent, Canada, that is housed in a storefront or strip mall building that formerly had a commercial purpose.
Often, the interior ...
, and worked in a wide variety of jobs including cook and probation officer, as well as becoming an established figure in
Congressman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
William Dawson's
political machine
In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hig ...
. As Rev. Arthur Leaner, he made his first broadcasts, of sermons and
gospel music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...
, on radio station
WGES in 1943.
[ William Barlow, ''Voice Over: The Making of Black Radio'']
Temple University Press, 1999, pp. 98-102
In 1945, using the
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
Al Benson, he started broadcasting a regular weekly one-hour secular show on WGES, in a different slot in which - unlike in the religious program - he was allowed to advertise products. He referred to himself on air as "the Old Swingmaster". Within two years, his output had increased to twenty hours a week, on WGES and
WJJD, and in 1948 he was voted the most popular DJ in Chicago. The following year, he was elected to the honorary post of "Mayor of
Bronzeville", which he won for several consecutive years, a testament to his huge popularity among African-Americans in the city. This is attributed to the fact that he spoke in colloquial terms with a strong Southern accent, like many of those who had
migrated to the city, and that he played many of the
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
and
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
records that had previously been ignored by broadcasters because of their "suggestive" lyrics and "lowlife" connotations.
[
Although there had been earlier black personalities on radio in Chicago, notably ]Jack L. Cooper
Jack Leroy Cooper (September 18, 1888 – January 12, 1970) was the first African-American radio disc jockey, described as "the undisputed patriarch of black radio in the United States." In 2012, he was inducted into the National Radio Hall o ...
, Benson later said:[ Charles Walton, "Al Benson—the Godfather of Black Radio in Chicago"]
''JazzinChicago.org''. Retrieved 18 May 2014Radio was a field that was very difficult for Black people to get into in the 1940s.... When I got into radio it was my very ambition and intention to let people know who I was. However I did not identify myself by being degrading, being uncouth or using bad English. But I used certain terms that we Black folks are accustomed to using. Slang usage—and that alone picked up my identity. My approach to the people was down to earth. I did not talk down to them. I was on their level. I made them feel that "he is one of us."
DJ Lucky Cordell said:enson Enson may refer to:
* ''Enson'' (album), by Masaaki Endoh
* Enson Inoue (born 1967), Japanese mixed martial artist
* Faux d'Enson, a mountain in Switzerland
* Enson, a character in ''The First'' comic book series
See also
* Enson (disambiguat ...
played the music that they were accustomed to hearing and that music could not be found anywhere else on the radio. Nobody was playing the blues. The blues that was played might be Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...
or Jazz. Al Benson came on and played Howlin' Wolf
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...
, Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...
, and so forth and started to satisfy the people. If I had to hazard a guess, his audience included about seventy percent of the Black population. I don't know how fast his recognition came, as far as sponsors, but as soon as the word got around that there was a guy on radio playing those records, and the word was passed along in the Black community, Benson was made.
By 1950, he was broadcasting ten hours each day on three stations: WGES, WJJD, and WAAF.[ Clovis E. Semmes, ''The Regal Theater and Black Culture'']
Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, pp. 129, 192 He became popular among both local and national advertisers for his ability to sell the products that they were marketing, former WGES executive Elizabeth Hinzman describing him as "the greatest salesman that I have ever known". His power to influence the record-buying public gave him great influence over the local recording industry. It was said that he "revolutionized Chicago's Black radio programming,"[ and that "..he was the main reason why so many independent black record companies featuring rhythm and blues and even gospel artists grew."]
Oocities.org, Retrieved 18 May 2014
In the early 1950s he also helped set up record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
s, including Parrot
Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoid ...
, Blue Lake, and Old Swing-Master, to cater for the growing demand for blues and R&B music. The labels recorded such musicians as T-Bone Walker
Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''Roll ...
, J.B. Lenoir, Sunnyland Slim
Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906March 17, 1995), "Blues pianist and singer Sunnyland Slim was born Albert Luandrew in Vance, Mississippi, September 5, 1906 (most sources say 1907, but the Social Security Death Index and 1920 census data give t ...
, Albert King
Albert Nelson (April 25, 1923 – December 21, 1992), known by his stage name Albert King, was an American guitarist and singer who is often regarded as one of the greatest and most influential blues guitarists of all time. He is perhaps b ...
, Willie Mabon
Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to:
People Given name or nickname
* Willie Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and scree ...
, Coleman Hawkins
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed "Hawk" and sometimes "Bean", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Yanow, Scot"Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography" AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. One of the first p ...
, Lorez Alexandria
Lorez Alexandria (born Dolorez Alexandria Turner; August 14, 1929 – May 22, 2001). was an American jazz singer, described as "one of the most gifted and underrated jazz singers of the twentieth century". She became established in the midwest b ...
, and, later in the 1960s, Magic Sam
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and others.[ At the height of his popularity in the 1950s he had regular television shows, and sponsored many ]rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
and R&B concerts in Chicago.[ He encouraged younger black DJs to follow in his path. He also became the owner of a newspaper, record shop, restaurant, and boutique, which all hired mostly African-American staff.][
Although changing tastes and Benson's "flamboyant and self-willed" character eventually undermined his popularity,][ he remained actively involved in the ]civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
, ensuring the integration
Integration may refer to:
Biology
*Multisensory integration
*Path integration
* Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome
*DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...
of nightclubs that had refused to serve black customers, and on one occasion in 1956 hiring an airplane to drop 5,000 copies of the United States Bill of Rights
The United States Bill of Rights comprises the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. Proposed following the often bitter 1787–88 debate over the ratification of the Constitution and written to address the objections rais ...
over Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
.[ Benson retired from broadcasting at ]WVON
WVON (1690 AM "The Voice of the Nation", originally "Voice of the Negro") is a radio station serving the Chicago market, which airs an African-American-oriented talk format. WVON is owned by Midway Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasts at 169 ...
in 1963, and for a time returned to being a pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
while maintaining some of his business interests and moving to live in Three Oaks, Michigan
Three Oaks is a village in Three Oaks Township, Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,622 at the 2010 census.
The village of Three Oaks is located in the southwest corner of Michigan, just 5 miles from the shores o ...
. In later life he encountered problems and became ill with poor blood circulation, causing amputation of his legs, thus limiting his ability to work and pay taxes resulting in the IRS taking his home. He later became ill with lung cancer.
He died in Berrien Springs, Michigan, in 1978 at the age of 70. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife, Norma Jean who later succumbed to brain cancer. He has two surviving children, Arleta Leaner (Parker) who took after her father and worked in radio and television and his youngest daughter, Bertina Leaner (Clark).[ Biography by Robert Pruter, in Edward Komara (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of the Blues'']
Psychology Press, 2005, p. 74 In 2017, he was nominated for the Blues Hall of Fame
The Blues Hall of Fame is a music museum located at 421 S. Main Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Initially, the "Blues Hall of Fame" was not a physical building, but a listing of people who have significantly contributed to blues music. Started in 1 ...
, the following year he became one of the inductees for Individual: Business - Production - Media or Academic.
Bands
Bands produced by Benson included The Parrots, the first group he produced; The Pelicans with "Aurelia" and "White Cliffs of Dover" (1953); and many others.[Robert Pruter -''Doowop: The Chicago Scene 1996'', , page 52 : Another early Benson group was the Pelicans. The group was led by Roger Heard and came from Detroit. The Pelicans' two sides, released on Parrot in late 1953, were "Aurelia" and "White Cliffs of Dover." "Aurelia" was a deep-sounding ...]
See also
* African American firsts
*Hal Jackson
Harold Baron Jackson (3 November 1915 – 23 May 2012) was an American disc jockey and radio personality who broke a number of color barriers in American radio broadcasting.
Biography
Early years
Jackson was born in Charleston, South Carolina, ...
* Doctor Hep Cat
* DJ Nat D.
*Yvonne Daniels
Yvonne Daniels (September 16, 1937 – June 21, 1991) was an American radio host in Chicago from the 1960s to 1991. Daniels was a member of the first all-woman radio team in 1967 for WSDM and the first woman radio host for WLS in 1973. Daniels ...
*Daddy-O Daylie Holmes Daylie (May 15, 1920 – February 6, 2003) was a Radio personality, radio jock on radio stations in the 1940s and 1950s that rhymed and rapped playing bebop and was one of the early pioneers of Black-appeal stations, black-appeal radio. His u ...
* Jocko Henderson
* Jockey Jack/Jack the Rapper
*Black-appeal stations Before the development of the radio format called "Top 40" was born, "Black Appeal Stations" reinvigorated radio. By playing a specific group of songs aimed specifically at the young African American demographic, "Black Appeal Stations" helped keep ...
*WERD
WERD was the first radio station owned and programmed by African Americans. The station was established in Atlanta, Georgia on October 3, 1949, broadcasting on 860 AM (now used by WAEC). The National Black Radio Hall of Fame Atlanta Chapter is ...
*Glossary of jive talk
Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive or simply Jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip is an African-American Vernacular English slang or vocabulary that developed in Harlem, where "jiv ...
*Jive talk
Jive talk, also known as Harlem jive or simply Jive, the argot of jazz, jazz jargon, vernacular of the jazz world, slang of jazz, and parlance of hip is an African-American Vernacular English slang or vocabulary that developed in Harlem, where "ji ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benson, Al
1908 births
1978 deaths
American radio DJs
Radio personalities from Chicago
African-American radio personalities
African-American businesspeople
African-American activists
Businesspeople from Jackson, Mississippi
20th-century American musicians
20th-century American businesspeople
Activists from Mississippi
People from Three Oaks, Michigan
Jazz radio presenters