The National Negro Network was a black-oriented radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 programming service in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 founded on January 20, 1954 by Chicago advertiser W. Leonard Evans, Jr.. It was the first black-owned radio network in the country, and its programming was broadcast on up to 45 affiliates.

The network featured a variety of different programming, including a popular soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 The Story of Ruby Valentine, which was based on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

's We Love and Learn and As the Twig is Bent, and starred Juanita Hall

Juanita Hall

Juanita Hall was an American musical theatre and film actress. She is remembered for her roles in the original stage and screen versions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals South Pacific as Bloody Mary and Flower Drum Song as Auntie Liang.-Biography:Born in Keyport, New Jersey, Hall received...

, Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee is an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and activist, perhaps best known for co-starring in the film A Raisin in the Sun and the film American Gangster for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Early years:Dee was born Ruby...

 and Terry Carter

Terry Carter

Terry Carter is an American actor and filmmaker who is known for his roles as "Sgt. Joe Broadhurst", on the seven year hit TV series McCloud and as "Colonel Tigh" on the original Battlestar Galactica.-Early life:...

. The serial was sponsored by, among others, Philip Morris and Pet Milk

Pet, Inc.

Pet, Inc., was an American company that was the first to commercially produce evaporated milk as a shelf-stable consumer product and later became a multi-brand food products conglomerate. Its signature product, PET Evaporated Milk, is now a product of The J.M. Smucker Co...

. Other short-lived series included The Life of Anna Lewis with Hilda Simms

Hilda Simms

Hilda Simms was an African-American stage actress, best known for her starring role on Broadway in Anna Lucasta.-Early years:...

, and It's A Mystery Man with Cab Calloway

Cab Calloway

Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....

.

Some shows were produced by Calloway and Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...

. Other fare included broadcasts of symphony concerts from black colleges, and programs hosted by black DJs at affiliate stations.

The network drew up plans for several more series, but - with the TV era exploding - fell apart within a year due to inadequate capital.

External links

• African Americans and Radio, by Donna L. Halper