This presentation is about the first disc jockey, Jack L. Cooper. I did the presentation as a McNair Scholar and I won best overall research project.

1. Jack L. Cooper: African American Radio Pioneer
Sept.18, 1888- Jan. 12, 1970
Sydney Stover
University of Montevallo McNair Scholars
Program

2. Introduction
• This is a standard historical research. Textual
analysis was used in order to find information
on Jack L. Cooper. Primary sources were
viewed as well as secondary sources that
featured primary material. The focus of this
study is to illuminate the life and career of the
first African American disc jockey.

3. Cooper’s Life (Just the Beginning)
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September 18, 1888 was Cooper’s birth date.
He was the last of 10 children.
Memphis, TN was his home.
Cooper dropped out of school in the 5th grade to work
such jobs as a bellboy, newsboy, a race track boy and
a boxer. Vaudeville was also part of his later career.
• Cooper won both the Cincinnati newsboy title and
the Ohio Negro welterweight crown.
Cited in Mark Newman “On the Air: The Beginnings of Black-Appeal Radio” and the
Chicago Defender Archives

4. Cooper and the
• 1924, Cooper worked for the Chicago Defender
writing a column called “Coop’s Chatter,” in which he
advocated better treatment for African Americans.
• Cooper also had two other articles called “Cooper’s
Dope”(1923) and “Cooper’s Comment” (1925). In
these articles, he focused on the social aspects of the
city as well as his life.
• Cooper was sent to Washington, D.C. to head the
new office in June of 1924.
Cited in the Chicago Defender Archives and Mark Newman “On the Air: The
Beginnings of Black –Appeal Radio”

5. “Taxation Without
Representation”
• While in Washington D.C., Cooper was listening to
the radio and noticed that all of the blacks on the
radio were only singers. None of them talked.
• “To me that was like ‘taxation without
representation,’” he later explained, “ and so
I made up my mind to do something about
it.”
• Cooper returned to Chicago in 1926 with radio on his
mind.
Cited in Mark Newman “On the Air: The Beginnings of Black-Appeal Radio.”

6. “A White Man’s World”
Amos ‘n’ Andy
Cited in Derek Vaillant’s “Sounds of Whiteness: Local Radio. Racial Formation, and Public Culture
in Chicago, 1921-1935”

7. “The All Negro Hour”
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November 3, 1929, “The All- Negro Hour” debuted on World Storage
Battery Company (WSBC) at 5p.m.
Comedy+ Music+ Religion= 60 minute slot
On air: 1929-1935
“Luke and Timber” (February 27, 1930)
“Mush and Clorinda”(August 1930)
“Horseradish and Fertilizer”( August 1930)
*disc –jockey format*
Cited in Mark Newman’s “On the Air with Jack L. Cooper: The Beginnings of BlackAppeal Radio” and the Chicago Defender Archives

8. Jack L. Cooper vs. Al Jarvis: The GREAT
Debate
Al Jarvis
Jack Cooper

9. Cooper and Public Service
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“Search for Missing Persons”
“May We Help You”
“The Community Marches On”
“Listen Chicago”
“ Your Legal Rights”
“Situations Wanted”
“Social Security for You and Your Family”
Cited in Mark Newman’s “On the Air with Jack L. Cooper: The Beginnings of BlackAppeal Radio

10. Radio Ownership
• 1930s = 14.4 per cent (black urban families)
0.3 per cent (black farm families)
3 percent (black rural, non farm families)
1940s= 90 % (black urban families)
70% (black farm families)
Cited in Mark Newman’s “On the Air with Jack L. Cooper: The
Beginnings of Black-Appeal Radio”

11. Cooper’s Success
• “Sow no valued seeds among the weeds, for
therefrom can come no harvest.”
• “ To grow old with nothing is disaster.”
Cited in Roi Ottley’s
“From Poverty to 90 Suits
Saga of Negro”
(Chicago Tribune)

12. “The Top Man in Chicago”

13. Cooper’s Firsts
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First successful black broadcaster in radio
First to pioneer in the disc jockey format
First news and sports announcer
First to broadcast religious services from a church
First black to reach management status at radio station
First to use radio as service medium
First to launch a successful black radio production company
and advertising agency
Cited in Mark Newman Entrepreneurs of Profit and Pride; Henry T. Sampson. Swingin’
on the Ether Waves. Vol. 2: A Chronological History of African-Americans in Radio
and Television Broadcasting, 1925-1955; and William Barlow ,Voice Over

14. Influenced by Cooper:
Daddy O’Daylie (WGRT)
• “He opened doors for
many of today’s black
disc jockeys and gave
them opportunities…”
Cited in “Stars Here Mourn ‘Profession’s
Loss’” (Chicago Defender Archives)

15. Lucky Cordell( WVON) on Cooper’s
death
• “ He was the first black
disc jockey in Chicago
and probably in
America, and the radio
and music industry has
lost one of its great
pioneers.”
Cited in “Stars Here Mourn ‘Profession’s
Loss’” (Chicago Defender Archives)

16. Sources
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Barlow, William. Voice Over
Chicago Defender (archives)
Newman, Mark. Entrepreneurs of Profit and Pride
Newman, Mark. “On the Air with Jack L. Cooper: The Beginning of BlackAppeal Radio.”
Ottley, Roi. “ From Poverty to 90 Suits--Saga of Negro”
Sampson, Henry T. Swingin’ on the Ether Waves. Vol. 2: A Chronological
History of African-Americans in Radio and Television Broadcasting, 19251955.
“Stars Here Mourn ‘Profession’s Loss’ (Chicago Defender)
Vaillant, Derek W. “Sounds of Whiteness: Local Radio, Racial
Formations, and Public Culture in Chicago, 1921-1935”