The Real Story of Cathy Hughes, Melvin Lindsey, and 'The Original Quiet Storm'

Essence Magazine online features an amazingly entertaining article that details the ins and outs of The Quiet Storm format launched by Cathy Hughes on Howard University's WHUR in 1975. The article details the ascension of it's first host Melvin Lindsey and how his popularity rose throughout the Nation's Capital and landed him on BET as one of it's first on-air host and a move to its competitor 93.9 WKYS. Lindsey died in 1992.

The article details many things people outside of those who were closely associated with Lindsey never knew:

Lindsey was a reluctant part-timer who had to be convinced to become the first host of The Quiet Storm. He left the station early on to join another station. Cathy Hughes was furious. She wouldn't speak to him. But circumstances caused them to come back together rather quickly.

The current host of The Quiet Storm on 96.3 WHUR is Angela Stribling. He and Angela had a very imitate friendship that lasted for many years until his death.

Based on the ratings success of WHUR, many stations copied their format. One of the first to copy the format and the name 'The Quiet Storm' was program director Frankie Crocker and on-air personality Vaughn Harper of New York City's WBLS.

Cathy Hughes' father was the CPA for Hon. Elijah Muhammad. On her visits to Chicago she met and knew both Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan.


Here's the article written by Ericka Blount Danois from Essence magazine. A great read...

Play Another Slow Jam: An Oral History of The Quiet Storm
A LOOK BACK AT THE RADIO FORMAT ITS CREATOR CATHY HUGHES AND LEGENDARY HOST MELVIN LINDSEY REVOLUTIONIZED 40 YEARS AGO

A psychologist told me that The Quiet Storm brought peace in Black households. I started crying. I never thought of it like that. -CATHY HUGHES



From 2019


From 2020