African American Community Radio
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Washington relates the story of a woman who called Johnson’s program seeking
help saying she had been falsely charged with shoplifting. Johnson called both
Kirk and the chief of police, Terrell Bolton. “Chief Bolton said, ‘Give me the
number and I’ll give her a call on the way in and see what we can do to resolve this
issue.’ The mayor told her to get a lawyer and sue the hell out of ‘em, whatever
store it was....He [Johnson] is able to touch base with the powers that be and help
people in many instances get resolutions to these problems” (S. Washington,
personal communication, Oct. 21, 1999).
Johnson reflected: “That lady needed help....Well, I know Terrell Bolton. I
knew him before he was police chief. I knew him as a deacon at the Antioch
Fellowship Baptist Church in Oak Cliff. Ron Kirk and I have been friends forever.
So I can call Ron at home. I called them, and they got on it for her....That’s what
WDIA would have done” (W. Johnson, personal communication, Oct. 22, 1999).
As with Washington, another long-term listener credits her loyalty to KKDAAM to her recognition of the show’s ability to get the right things done: “If I have
a problem, and I can’t get it resolved, I know where I can go,” said Yolanda Pilch,
a homemaker who began listening to KKDA-AM and Willis Johnson’s program
about 12 years ago. “It gives the people a voice. We all have our own opinions;
there are people who really don’t like hearing other people’s comments. You know,
folks get mad at ‘M.T.’ [a regular caller who often expresses harsh opinions about
Black women], they get mad at me.” Even the bitter opinions of “M.T.” have a
value. Pilch claimed. “A lot of women have misconceptions, and they need to hear
it [how some men think].” Pilch said she turns some of the contentious calls into
family discussions with her young daughter. The call from the woman falsely
accused of shoplifting occurred on the day that Pilch was interviewed. “She called
Wilhs, who called the mayor, who called the chief of police. OK? Hey, sister girl is
hooked up! She don’t have to worry about a thing now.”
“It’s like having power. I feel very powerful in that way...I can call Wilhs, and
he can call Ron Kirk, he can call Chief Bolton, and Chief Bolton can call me at
home. I’m not talking about some httle peon patrolman. I can have the chief of
police call my house” (Y. Pilch, personal communication, Oct. 21, 1999).
As both Washington and Pilch reiterate, their hstening to KKDA-AM confirms
a solution for problems that neither have personally experienced. Yet. Clearly,
much of the empowerment that both allude to is in knowing the steps for getting
help, beginning with making a phone call to the seemingly always-accessible Wilhs
Johnson.
Stage Three: Motor Reproduction
Through the calls and the debates, all of Johnson’s hsteners are engaged in a
kind of rehearsal for living, whether the circum stances involve unhappy