Celebrating Black Radio Legends: Rev. Louise Williams Bishop and Dyana Williams Among the 2023 Radio Hall of Fame Nominees

Rev. Louise Williams Bishop radio career has spanned over 60 years at Philadelphia Black radio stations WHAT, WDAS AM & FM, and WURD as mainly a gospel radio host. She spent 49 years of her career at WDAS radio as "The Gospel Queen," where she became a household name for not only her radio show, but also for her community activism. She married legendary personality Jimmy Bishop, started a family, and maintained her daily radio show as one of very few women voices on the radio. Her command of the radio airwaves are unmatched!

Brief snippet from 1966. Soon after, legend has it, Louise Williams Bishop called Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records and introduce him to Aretha Franklin. (>>Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia)



Williams Bishop became an ordained minister and moved into politics having been first elected to serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives in 1988 and was overwhelmingly re-elected to office nine times by her constituents of the 192nd Legislative District. Williams Bishop was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's Hall of Fame in November 2013. 





Dyana Williams, a favorite in the industry, began her radio career at WHUR in Washington, D.C. in the early days of the station as Ebony Moonbeams, the predecessor to The Quiet Storm. From there she went to WBLS under the tutelage of Frankie Crocker. In 1976, she returned to Washington, D.C., where she became the first African American woman rock DJ at WRQX-FM. Then Williams worked as program director at WMMJ radio. She came to Philadelphia in 1980 and was on air at WDAS-FM. During this time she began to develop her skills in the area of artists' management and transitioned into that area of the industry. She revived her radio career with Radio One in 2008 as a host on WRNB and hosted afternoons on Classix 107.9 in 2019. She's also done some recent work with WXPN. But it's what she has done behind the scenes in the music industry that has truly made her a pioneer. 

Without Dyana Williams, June would NOT be known as Black Music Month.

She is fondly referred to as "The Mother of Black Music Month," Dyana helped establish June, Black Music Month (with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Kenny Gamble and broadcaster Ed Wright) and was recognized for her music activism in the White House by Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. Dubbed by the New York Times as "hip-hop's artist whisperer," Williams has engineered media strategies for her celebrity clientele who have included multiple GRAMMY Award winners, many platinum-selling performers, executives, actors and athletes, among many others. Some notable clients have included Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Jazmine Sullivan, Kirk Franklin, Jack Harlow, Charlie Wilson, and Saweetie, among others. (more... at Williams' website)

She's also a board member of the National Museum of African-American Music in Nashville, Tennessee.






Dyana Williams show at WHUR








Here's the full list of the 24 nominees that were chosen by the Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee, with input from the radio industry and listeners:  

Bert Weiss

Bob Rivers

Charles Laquidara

Dyana Williams

Gerry House

Jaime Jarrin

John & Ken

John DeBella

Johnny Magic

Kevin Matthews

Kid Leo (Lawrence Travagliante)

Larry Elder

Laurie DeYoung

Lee Harris

Rev. Louise Williams Bishop

Mark Simone

Mary McCoy

Matt Siegel

Mojo in the Morning

Monica May

Nina Totenberg

Pat St. John

Shadoe Stevens

Shelley “The Playboy” Stewart

Voting for inductees begins Friday, June 16, 2023 and runs through June 30th at 11:59pm PT. The top six vote recipients will gain induction as part of the 2023 Radio Hall of Fame Induction class. The two additional inductees that will make up the eight-person induction class will be selected by the Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee.

More than 800 industry members will receive a confidential online ballot on Friday, June 16th to cast votes for up to six nominated individuals. The confidential balloting process will be conducted by Votem.com and overseen by Miller Kaplan‘s Andrew Rosen.

2023 Radio Hall of Fame inductees will be announced Monday, July 24th and honored in-person at the 2023 Radio Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Thursday, November 2nd at the InterContinental New York Barclay Hotel in New York City.