Martha Jean, the Queen of Detroit Soul Radio!

"Martha Jean the Queen" was a legendary part of Detroit radio in the 1960s, when soul music ruled the airwaves. She was one of a kind, her on-air delivery like a preacher addressing a congregation. She played the blues, soul, and gospel while delivering messages of hope and pride to the black community.

WCHB and WJLB

In 1963, she moved from seminal Memphis soul station WDIA to Detroit and became a fixture of first WCHB and then WJLB, the Motor City's two premier black music radio stations.

As a strange white boy living walking distance from Eminem's Eight Mile Road, Martha Jean along with Frantic Ernie Durham and Butterball Junior were my sanity salvation. Above all, Martha Jean introduced me to the gospel music of Reverend C.L. Franklin (Aretha's father) and the Swan Silvertones; and she introduced me to the blues of a young B.B. King in her noon "Tasting Time" segment dedicated specifically to Detroit's "hard working blue collar workers."

"Buzz the Fuzz"

During the devastating 1967 Detroit Riots, Martha Jean was on the air for 48 hours straight with her message of nonviolence, urging the community to keep the peace. In the seventies, she started a call-in show called "Buzz the Fuzz", which acted as a link between the black community and the Detroit Police Department.

"The Home of Love"

In 1972, Martha Jean became an ordained minister and started a church called "The Home of Love."

In 1975, when I was a writer at CBS in Los Angeles, helping "Match Game" announcer Johnny Olson warm up the studio audience, I saw a group of distinguished-looking middle-aged black women clad in all white. When Johnny asked who they were, they responded that they were part of "The Queen's Church." I then shouted out, "Martha Jean the Queen?" They shouted back, "Yes!" I went out into the audience and sat down with them for the entire show.

WQBH

In the 1980's, Martha Jean bought a gospel radio station with several partners. The call letters "WQBH" stood for "Bring the Queen Back Home." As one of the first African-American women radio station owners, she said, "...to be a woman in radio, you have to think like a man, act like a lady, and work like a dog."