Trailblazers in Black History: Hal Jackson

Harold Baron "Hal" Jackson was an American disc jockey and radio personality who broke a number of color barriers in American radio broadcasting. He was the first African-American inductee to the Radio Hall of Fame.

Jackson was born in Charleston, South Carolina and grew up in Washington, D.C. where he was educated at Howard University. 

Jackson moved to New York City in 1954 and became the first radio personality to broadcast three daily shows on three different New York stations. Four million listeners tuned in nightly to hear Jackson’s mix of music and conversations with jazz and show business celebrities.

In 1971, Jackson and Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, co-founded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC), which acquired WLIB — becoming the first African-American owned-and-operated station in New York. 

The following year, ICBC acquired WLIB-FM, changing its call letters to WBLS ("the total BLack experience in Sound").

Additional information is available here. 

Source: Wikipedia