WANN

WANN was a pioneering Rhythm & Blues station from Annapolis, Maryland. After working as a radio officer in World War II, Morris Blum started WANN in January, 1947. The station set out broadcasting Big Band music along with Sports and News but a year later Blum decided to start playing gospel and rhythm & blues, known at that time as “race music.” Blum had observed African-Americans serving alongside whites in the Navy and was “completely colorblind at a time when it was not popular to support civil rights causes,” according to a longtime friend. The station sponsored a weekend "Bandstand at the Beach" at Carr's Beach, a segregated beach for African-Americans where James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald performed. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Blum allowed demonstrators to use WANN to vent their outrage which helped avert rioting in Annapolis. WANN was an influential black music powerhouse for almost 50 years before switching to Country in 1992. Morris Blum sold the station in 1998 and passed away in 2005 at the age of 95.