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| Sam Williams |
Gospel radio host Sam Williams used to end his shows with
the phrase, "What on Earth are you doing for Heaven's sake?" Flint radio listeners
have been able to answer that question for him for more than 50 years as he
hosted his Sam Williams Sunday Morning Gospel Show for more than five decades.
"I like to be able to send out a message, and that's
what I do. I put my music together so it sends a message. I'm not just playing
songs," Williams told mlive.com, reclining in a chair behind the microphone while a
sermon plays during his show. He recalls a listener praising his show because
he doesn't know the song that will come on next.
Williams' high standard likely stems from his long history
with music. He moved to Flint
at 16 months old, and sang as a child in his church choir and as part of a
quartet with three of his nieces. While serving in the Navy, he sang as a
member of a group called the Nautical Notes and performed with the likes of
jazz legend Lionel Hampton.
Dick Carter, who was the leader of a band he sang with and
the manager of the radio station WBBC, called upon Williams in 1955 when
another host couldn't make his shifts after getting in trouble.
Williams began to work at the station over the weekends, and
Carter brought him along when he started his own AM station, WAMM, in 1956. He
asked Carter if he could start a gospel show that would air on Sundays, since
stations weren't playing the genre at the time. Carter agreed, under the
condition that Williams could find sponsors to help pay for the airtime.
After hitting the pavement, Williams found four sponsors,
including a church and a funeral home, to buy 15 minutes each. From there, the
city's first gospel show, one hour long, was born. He would end his shows with
the phrase, "What on Earth are you doing for Heaven's sake?"
The gospel program took off, expanding to nine hours before
cutting back to eight. He continued at
WAMM through 1975, when an engineer named Vernon Merritt brought Williams and a
group of others with him to Washington , D.C. , to appear before the FCC to make a case for Flint 's first FM radio
license and first black-owned station. Six years later, he said, the FCC
granted the license, and WDZZ went on the air.
He took his gospel show to WDZZ, and helped it become Flint 's top-rated
station. When Merritt sold the station five years later, he gave Williams part
of the ownership as a nod of respect for helping people in Flint and helping the station's success. WDZZ
is now owned by Cumulus Media.
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