Re: Get to know Herb Kent

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: : Someone You Should Know - Mr. Herb Kent : : : : : The following is taken from Mr. Kent's bio. : : Herb Kent is an urban radio pioneer born 10-05-1928. He is a voice of the community, a father, a friend, and a living history lesson. Herb is old school and is now 79 years old but is into internet music and has learned to program his weekly radio broadcast on a laptop- 79 yrs old and the man has adapted, he’s now and is as popular as ever in Chicago. : : To many Chicagoans, Herbert Rogers Kent, the Cool Gent, The King of the Dusties and The Honorary Mayor of Bronzeville stands for all these things and more. As one of the most important figures in Chicago radio history, Herb Kent has not only been able to entertain and inform listeners on his weekly radio show, he has also opened up many doors for African Americans. Simply put, Herb Kent is a Chicago treasure and a bankable commodity. : : Growing up on the South Side of Chicago in the Ida B. Wells housing community, a young Herb Kent displayed an early interest in radio when as a teenager; he built radio equipment, including his own set of microphones, from surplus World War II parts. Kent's strong desire to learn as much as he could about the radio industry was eventually realized at the age of 16 when he was accepted into the highly competitive WBEZ Radio (Chicago Public Radio) Workshops. From his early start at WBEZ, Kent went on to join a local community theater group known as the Skyloft Players. Young and eager to learn, Herb performed on stage and soon realized that many of the skills required to be a successful stage actor applied to radio as well. Kent’s early theatrical training would later help develop such popular radio characters as, "The Wahoo Man," who was a zombie/wildman that would be often brought into local high schools in a coffin, the Wahoo man would scream "Wahoo" and get up from the coffin and run out an exit door- the kids went wild in the school gym- "There he go" and "He went that way!" The "Gym Shoe Creeper" was an urban legend and would catch a bad guy in the act under the train tracks or in an alley and take his stinking gym shoe off and make the bad guy smell them- this was worse than any thing the cops could do and "The Electric Crazy People comedy troupe." "I brought theater of the mind to radio," says Kent. : : In 1949, Kent received his first paid radio job at WGRY in Gary, Indiana for $35 dollars a week. WGRY at that time had only two radio personalities. With Herb being one of two DJs, he was able to learn every aspect of putting a radio show together from producing, writing, and interviewing, to polishing his own on-air presence on twelve-hour shifts, seven days a week. : : Back in the fifties, Herb Kent's first fan club was formed and the nickname, Cool Gent was born. Around that same time Herb coined the term, "dusty records" to describe old-time favorite hits. "The dust in the grooves makes them crackle," said Kent. : : Throughout his radio career working at stations like, WVON and WJJD, Herb Kent has interviewed many of today's music legends including, Duke Ellington, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Marvin Gaye just to name a few. Herb helped launch the careers of Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Al Green, James Brown and too many to mention here. : : Kent even gave career advice to a young man with his own dreams for success in the entertainment industry, Soul Train creator Don Cornelius.In addition to his accomplishments as a radio personality, Kent has been an active community and civil rights leader. He has spent many years serving as a role model to the African American community by encouraging young people. "Stay in school and avoid gang involvement, that was my theme," stated Kent. : : In the 1960's, during the height of the civil rights movement, Herb hosted a program with Stevie Wonder, for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s last visit to Chicago. Ironically, it was also Kent who after the assassination of Dr. King, took to the airwaves to calm rioters on Chicago's West Side in the late 60s. For his many years of service and dedication to the community, the City of Chicago has bestowed numerous honors upon Kent, among them, a street named in his honor, "Herb Kent Drive" and Honorary Mayor of Bronzeville. : : In 1995, he was inducted into the Museum of Broadcasting's, Radio Hall of Fame.In the late 90’s Kent ventured into local television as the host of the popular dance show called, "Steppin' At Club Seven", later to be renamed "The New Dance Club." : : Today, despite a very busy and sometimes hectic broadcast schedule hosting two highly rated shows on WVAZ FM, Herb shows no sign of slowing down at 79. Kent is a contributing writer for N’DIGO Magazine, and lectures to communication students at Chicago State University. : : So what's new for the millennium? Learning digital music formats, new computer skills, and taking the world of Herb Kent on the internet with the creation of his own new web site in the near future, just to name a few. At the age of 79, Herb has learned to format all his radio shows on computer. Looking back over his incredible life and broadcast career, Kent says, "Radio has sustained me, and has really brought me through some hard times. It has been a rock for me; it's the love of my life." : : : : (Gather.com)

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