Annette Bass has a unique family history.
Bass is part of the Bell Broadcasting family, the first African Americans to build and operate an FCC-licensed radio station, WCHB, from the ground up in the United States. Her husband was the grandson of Dr. Haley Bell. Bell and his son-in-law, Dr. Wendell Cox, created WCHB in 1956 to serve Detroit’s African American community.
After receiving a permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in January 1956, the radio station was built in Inkster that same year. On November 7, 1956, at 6 a.m., WCHB-AM (1440) aired its first broadcast.
Three years later, the station continued to expand, obtaining another permit to operate an FM radio station in the evening known as WCHD-FM (105.9). WCHD changed its call letters to WJZZ in 1973.
Dr. Bell was a dentist and worked for Ford Motor Company prior to getting into radio. He was born in October 1895 in Brunswick, Georgia. His wife, Mary Bell, was born in Lebanon, Tennessee, outside of Nashville, in 1900. They got married in 1921 and moved to Detroit in 1923.
“Grandma Bell said they put three cities in a hat. One was (in) Texas, and I believe that was probably because her sister … lived in Texas. I think the third one was (in) West Virginia, and Detroit was second,” Bass said. “They drew Detroit twice, so they decided to come to Detroit.”
To preserve the family’s legacy, Bass spends time archiving WCHB’s and her family’s history to share with her grandchild and great-grandchildren.
This story is part of our Destination Detroit initiative, which through a series of interviews shares the rich history of the people who have shaped Southeast Michigan.
Watch more stories at onedetroitpbs.org/destinationdetroit.