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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to
3learn of the death of Herbert Rogers Kent, who passed away at
4the age of 88; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Herbert Kent was born on October 5, 1928 in
6Chicago; he grew up in the Ida B. Wells housing project in
7Bronzeville and showed an early fascination with radio,
8building makeshift devices out of toilet paper inserts,
9crystals, wires, and earphones; and
 
10    WHEREAS, Herbert Kent got his start in radio while still a
11student at Hyde Park High School; in 1944, at the age of 16, he
12hosted a classical music program for WBEZ; he later joined and
13eventually became president of the school's radio club; and
 
14    WHEREAS, After high school, Herbert Kent worked with a
15local theater company, the Skyloft Players, developing and
16honing the improvisational skills that would later lead to the
17creation of radio characters he made famous at WVON, including
18"The Wahoo Man" and "Gym Shoe Creeper"; in 1949, he landed his
19first paid radio job at WGRY in Gary, Indiana; he later reached
20the height of his popularity as a WVON "Good Guy", a part of a
21colorful stable of DJs that ruled black radio in Chicago from
22the early 1960s to early 1970s; he was deeply involved with the

 

 

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1station for more than 50 years and was instrumental in calming
2rioters in Chicago from over the airwaves after the death of
3the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; and
 
4    WHEREAS, After a stint at WGCI, Herbert Kent joined adult
5contemporary radio station WVAZ/V103 in 1989, where he
6continued playing the old-school tunes he coined "dusties" and
7conducting radio "Battle of the Best" competitions between
8similar old-school artists, like Michael Jackson versus
9Prince, until his passing; he held the distinction of being the
10longest serving DJ according to the Guinness Book of World
11Records; and
 
12    WHEREAS, In 2009, Herbert Kent collaborated with David
13Smallwood on his biography, "The Cool Gent, the Nine Lives of
14Radio Legend Herb Kent"; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Herbert Kent was honored with the naming of "Herb
16Kent Drive" near his former high school, from the 6000 to 6700
17block of Stony Island Avenue in Chicago, in honor of his work;
18in 1995, he was inducted into the Museum of Broadcast
19Communications Hall of Fame with the first class of black radio
20inductees; he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame
21in 1995; he was also inducted into the Gwendolyn Brooks Hall of
22Fame at Chicago State University and was voted Mayor of
23Bronzeville in 1999 in a contest started by the Defender

 

 

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1newspaper in the 1930s and revived by the Bronzeville Merchants
2Association; therefore, be it
 
3    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL
4ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with his
5family and friends, mourn the passing of Herbert Rogers Kent;
6and be it further
 
7    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
8presented to the family of Herbert Kent as an expression of our
9sympathy.