Full Text of HR0201 98th General Assembly
HR0201 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 | | Representatives wish to congratulate the owners and employees | 4 | | of the WVON radio station in Chicago on the occasion of the | 5 | | station's 50th anniversary in 2013; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, WVON originated from the acquisition of | 7 | | WHFC-1450AM, a 1,000-watt station licensed in Cicero, by | 8 | | Leonard and Phil Chess, the owners of Chess Records, a | 9 | | successful record label, which produced mega-hits for local | 10 | | artists such as Muddy Waters, Lil' Howlin' Wolf, and others; | 11 | | the brothers envisioned one station that would pull together | 12 | | the best radio talent who could galvanize all of black Chicago; | 13 | | and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, On April 1, 1963, WVON hit the airwaves in Chicago | 15 | | with a group of handpicked personalities, Franklin McCarthy, E. | 16 | | Rodney Jones, Herb Kent, Wesley South, and Pervis Spann, who | 17 | | eventually became known as "The Good Guys"; Ric Ricardo, Bill | 18 | | "Butterball" Crane, Ed Cook, Joe Cobb, Roy Wood, Ed Maloney, | 19 | | Bill "Doc" Lee, Don Cornelius, Richard Pegue, Isabel Joseph | 20 | | Johnson, Cecil Hale, and McKee Fitzhugh eventually joined the | 21 | | roster; under the direction of the station's general manager, | 22 | | Lucky Cordell, and its "Ambassador of Good Will", Bernadine C. | 23 | | Washington, the Good Guys held black Chicago captive for more |
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| 1 | | than a decade and ranked consistently in the top 5 of the "most | 2 | | listened to" stations in the market; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, The power of WVON soon went beyond the Chicago | 4 | | market; Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, had a | 5 | | special arrangement with WVON that every song he produced would | 6 | | be sent immediately to WVON before any other station; WVON also | 7 | | served as the voice of information for local and national | 8 | | affairs; during the riots that followed the death of Dr. Martin | 9 | | Luther King, Jr., WVON on-air personalities were there to lift | 10 | | the spirits and ease the tension that had erupted in | 11 | | neighborhoods across the city; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, Following the death of Leonard Chess in 1969, the | 13 | | Chess family decided to sell WVON to George Gillette and Potter | 14 | | Palmer, who formed Globetrotter Communications; in 1977, | 15 | | Globetrotter Communications sold WVON to the Gannett Company; | 16 | | in 1986, at the height of the black community's political | 17 | | involvement in Chicago, Wesley South, co-owner of WVON, opted | 18 | | to change the station's format to talk, providing Chicago with | 19 | | its first black-talk radio format; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, WVON will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a | 21 | | two-day celebration on April 5-7, which will include the | 22 | | station's "IMPACT 50" Grand Gala; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, For 40 years, WVON has been and remains the drum | 2 | | major for the African-American community of Chicago and | 3 | | continues its mission of providing a platform on which black | 4 | | Chicago can air its concerns, voice its differences, and | 5 | | discuss the issues that affect society; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 7 | | NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 8 | | we congratulate the owners and employees of the WVON radio | 9 | | station on the occasion of the station's 50th anniversary and | 10 | | wish them continued success and happiness in the future; and be | 11 | | it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 13 | | presented to WVON as a symbol of our esteem and respect.
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