[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 80 (Thursday, May 31, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E915]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO HAL JACKSON, PIONEER NEW YORK CITY RADIO BROADCASTER

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                       HON. JESSE L. JACKSON, JR.

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 31, 2012

  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note that there 
are many persons in the history of the African American community who 
have broken down important racial barriers, and that one of the most 
important of these was Harold Baron Jackson--better known as Hal 
Jackson--who helped to break down such barriers as a popular cross-over 
New York City radio broadcaster for over 50 years. He remained an 
active broadcaster on WBLS FM Radio until just a few weeks before his 
passing. He died last Wednesday at age 96.
  Mr. Jackson's easy manner and multiple interests in music didn't make 
it any easier for him to break into the radio business in the 1930s--
before the 1954 Brown decision when Jim Crow de jure legal segregation 
was still the law of the land, while hangings of Blacks in the South 
were still a major concern in Black life and de facto segregation ruled 
the North.
  The New York Times pointed out in its obituary, ``At a time when 
segregation was widespread, he was a familiar voice to black and white 
listeners alike. At one point in the 1950s, he was hosting three 
shows--one rhythm-and-blues, one jazz and one pop--on three different 
New York radio stations.
  He was also a significant player, along with Percy Sutton, in the 
establishment of the African American wholly-owned Inner City 
Broadcasting Corporation in 1970 where he established an urban 
contemporary format rooted in African American music but which also 
appealed to a racially mixed audience. While getting his start in 
broadcasting in Washington, DC, he moved to New York in 1954 and helped 
to establish WBLS as the highest rated radio station in New York City. 
Mr. Jackson dominated the airwaves, eventually expanding his reach 
across the country.
  In 1990 he became the first African American inducted into the 
National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Mr. Speaker, and in 
1995 was among the first five inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.
  Hal Jackson's birth, as was true of many southern Blacks then, was 
not officially recorded but it's believed that he was born on November 
3, 1915 in Charleston, SC. He was one of five children. His father, 
Eugene Baron Jackson, was a tailor, and his mother was the former Laura 
Rivers. Both of his parents died when he was a child, so he was raised 
by ``relatives in Charleston and New York before settling in 
Washington, where he graduated from Dunbar High School and attended 
classes at Howard University.'' (New York Times)
  Mr. Jackson was also an avid sports fan who broadcast Howard 
University football and Negro league baseball games and organized an 
all-black basketball team known as the Washington Bears. He also raised 
money for civil rights causes, established Hal Jackson's Talented Teens 
International and was one of the first advocates of the Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. Holiday. And, as they say, the rest is history.
  He was married four times and divorced three. His current wife, the 
former Debi Bolling, survives him, along with two daughters, Jane and 
Jewell; his son, Hall Jackson, Jr., a former Wisconsin Supreme Court 
Justice; and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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