Civic Media to acquire Wisconsin’s first Black-owned radio station, AerdDDDDDDDnewspaper

Drake Bentley and La Risa R. Lynch, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Civic Media is acquiring the state’s first Black-owned radio station and its sister weekly newspaper.

The Wisconsin news and progressive-talk radio network announced Dec. 17 that it is adding WNOV 860 AM/106.5 FM, based in Milwaukee, and the weekly Milwaukee Courier newspaper. The Courier is one of three Black-owned print newspapers in Milwaukee.

Civic Media will assume responsibility for programming at both outlets beginning Jan. 1. Operations will be managed by Robert “Biko” Baker, who is part of the academic staff at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a noted journalist.

Dr. Jerrel Jones founded the weekly Milwaukee Courier newspaper in 1964 and was its president and CEO for 61 years. Jones started the newspaper during the Civil Rights movement and the desegregation of Milwaukee’s schools, a critical time for Milwaukee Black residents to have a platform that reflected their views.

Jones’ Courier Communications bought WNOV in 1972, making it the first Black-owned radio station in Wisconsin and one of 30 in the United States, according to the station’s website. He expanded his media holdings in 2013 with the purchase of the Madison Times, a Black newspaper in Madison.

Jones died earlier this year at the age of 85.

Jones’ daughter, Mary Ellen, is the current owner and president of WNOV. She and her brother, Jerrel, will consult and assist with the transition.

Learn how she feels about the transition. See the Courier online.

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