Martha Jean, the Queen of Detroit Soul Radio!
WCHB and WJLB
In 1963, she moved from seminal Memphis soul station WDIA to Detroit and became a fixture of first WCHB and then WJLB, the Motor City's two premier black music radio stations.
As a strange white boy living walking distance from Eminem's Eight Mile Road, Martha Jean along with Frantic Ernie Durham and Butterball Junior were my sanity salvation. Above all, Martha Jean introduced me to the gospel music of Reverend C.L. Franklin (Aretha's father) and the Swan Silvertones; and she introduced me to the blues of a young B.B. King in her noon "Tasting Time" segment dedicated specifically to Detroit's "hard working blue collar workers."
"Buzz the Fuzz"
During the devastating 1967 Detroit Riots, Martha Jean was on the air for 48 hours straight with her message of nonviolence, urging the community to keep the peace. In the seventies, she started a call-in show called "Buzz the Fuzz", which acted as a link between the black community and the Detroit Police Department.
"The Home of Love"
In 1972, Martha Jean became an ordained minister and started a church called "The Home of Love."
In 1975, when I was a writer at CBS in Los Angeles, helping "Match Game" announcer Johnny Olson warm up the studio audience, I saw a group of distinguished-looking middle-aged black women clad in all white. When Johnny asked who they were, they responded that they were part of "The Queen's Church." I then shouted out, "Martha Jean the Queen?" They shouted back, "Yes!" I went out into the audience and sat down with them for the entire show.
WQBH
In the 1980's, Martha Jean bought a gospel radio station with several partners. The call letters "WQBH" stood for "Bring the Queen Back Home." As one of the first African-American women radio station owners, she said, "...to be a woman in radio, you have to think like a man, act like a lady, and work like a dog."
She became so successful that she moved into a home in Grosse Pointe Farms, a once exclusive WASP enclave. In 1998, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Martha Jean Steinberg continued to host her noon "Inspirations with the Queen" (the former "Tasting Time") until a couple of weeks before her death in 2000.
SOURCES:
"Detroit radio lost community fixture", Luther Keith, Detroit News, URL: (http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0506/13/A02-213375.htm)
http://www.answers.com/topic/martha-jean-the-queen-steinberg
http://www.michiguide.com/dials/rad-d/wdtk.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDTK
http://www.shemadeit.org/meet/biography.aspx?m=125
Published by Elliot Feldman
I'm a veteran television writer (Match Game, Hollywood Squares) and cartoonist (Los Angeles Reader) I've also written for online versions of Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit. View profile
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12 Comments
Post a CommentThat was so long ago. Wish I could remember. Martha Jean introduced me to BB King and the blues. Tastin' time!
I loved her theme song. WHERE CAN I BUY IT?
I love this article. It's just wonderful!! but I am very upset when I was sent this article and saw there was a Luther Keith article as a source that sited me as the daughter that sold the radio station. I want to clear this up once and for all. I did NOT sell the station and never wanted it sold. I am on the record with the Michigan Chronicle, an editorial with Detroit News and with everyone who asked me about this when it happened. I have never been so hurt as being falsely accused for selling my mother beloved station. But for people in other cites and states who read that article and have come to me to ask me about it! The article is an example of journalism 101 with a failing grade!
Crains Radio site and the FCC online articles have published the details of the sale of the station and the details are on DVD in the probate court. But Kieth didn't check or call me for comment as he claimed he had! I am ALWAYS reachable!
I only owned 5% of the station stock and was not the Pre
Without A Song by james Clevland
The Song title was Without A Song by James Clevland. He once said at a concert in detroit that he was broke most times never had enough money, until one day Martha Jean the Queen played his song' Without A Song on the radio, and he has never been broke since that day.
it was Good Day by James Clevaland
The queen was my pastor, I still go to the HOme Of Love and Im proud that our small little church bears her name proudly
I'm having a case of "old-timers"... 12noon was "Inspirational Hour" with gospel music and 6:00pm was "Time for Blue Collar". Unfortunately, Joy Bells by the late Bishop Ellis is overpowering the theme song for me at this moment. My search today, is for the theme music for both segments. We lost a jewel with the passing of "The Queen". If anyone has the soundtracks for either intro's, pass it on.
what was the name of the song the queen use to play at 12:00 every day
When I was 13, I lived outside of detroit, my father was an US Army Recuriter with an office on Woodward Ave, and Marvin Gaye's What's Going on busted from Martha Jean the Queen's WJLB. With it's Mystifying Mojo, and the Quiet Storm, They brought SOUL to life.