HBCU Radio Preservation Project: Veronica Downing
Veronica Downing discusses being on air, connecting generations through jazz, fostering expression, and more
Tune your radios (or computers!) to the Margaret Walker Center’s station: today is another edition of the HBCU Radio Preservation Project. As a collaborator in the project, the Margaret Walker Center is serving as a repository for the histories of HBCU stations and the community members who have been a part of them.
Today we highlight Veronica Downing, on-air personality for Jazzy 89.9, WRVS 89.9’s sister station. Veronica grew up in the southwest region of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and traces her first interest in broadcasting to hearing the morning announcements in elementary school. She began to read the pre-printed announcements over the PA system, too. Listening to stations like 105.3 WDAS-FM and Power 99 FM broadened her music tastes with genres ranging from 60s soul to hip hop. Veronica went on to earn her associate degree in 2019, after which she attended Elizabeth City State University and received her B.A in Race, Gender, and Ethnicity Studies with a concentration in Africana Studies.
Pursuing her interest in journalism, Veronica contacted Melba Smith, WRVS’s station director. When Melba heard her voice, she suggested that Veronica enter into radio, and Veronica became the host of the Honey Vibes Weekend Radio Show, which seeks to connect different generations over an appreciation for jazz. Lastly, Veronica discusses the significance of not only music and radio but also of HBCUs in general for helping students navigate life and express themselves.
There’s much more to hear, so click on the video below!
About the Project
Each Wednesday, tune into our YouTube channel, @mwalkercenter, to catch a new oral history from the HBCU Radio Preservation Project!
We are proud to partner with several organizations for the HBCU Radio Preservation Project, which is dedicated to honoring and preserving the rich history and cultural resource of HBCU radio.
Here’s some more info from their website:
Much of the material created at these stations is at risk of being lost, though they document the rich history and diversity of the Black experience through the Civil Rights era and beyond. The goals are to preserve the stations’ audio collections and to foster a community of sustainability for the stations and institutional archives on campus.
The project provides preservation training and workshops for campus stations, archivists and community members, recruiting HBCU graduates as interns and fellows.
Field archivists will collaborate with stations and campus archivists on collections assessments and follow-up field services such as inventories, reformatting, rehousing, and other preservation activities.
Oral historians will interview a range of community members to document the history of the stations. Training in gathering oral histories and using historical audio in content creation will also be offered. Other goals include launching an interactive website, a podcast series, and annual symposia.
