Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 66

It 6G DETROIT FREE PRESSSUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1994 Being the first black station was extra burden for WGPR WGPR MILESTONES i 'I I om sm fH ii ii I 1 Sept. 29, 1975: Channel 62 signs on. Aug. 1978: Debut of "Movies All Night" I I i 1 krf ') JsljH Aug. 1985: William Banks dies.

George Mathews eventually takes over. 1 964: Black Masons buy WGPR FM. 1973: Broadcast license granted to WGPR, Channel 62. left work that day," she recalled. "Jerry called and asked me to come back in.

When he said 'that's it, the news is he all but had tears in his eyes he felt so badly that he had to lay us off." Makupson stayed on as a volunteer, hosting a talk show. Her guests were local personalities such as City Council- woman Erma Henderson, restaurateur Joe Muer and mission director Mother Waddles. But working for free began to wear on the young woman. "After about a year, I really felt they could have paid me," Makupson said. "At that point, I'd had enough.

I was able to get my old job back at my old pay. In the meantime, I had applied everywhere. When Channel 50 called, I almost didn't take it." For all the glitches, the early days of Channel 62 were heady. There was a sense of making history. A sense of self-determination.

And there were some successes that first year. Channel 62 registered on television viewer-ship ratings during its first quarter, something most TV stations take a year or more to do. "The Scene," a locally produced teen dance show hosted by WGPR-FM deejays Nat Morris and Ray Henderson, had the highest rating. If anywhere, it was on "The Scene" that radio savvy translated into TV success. Produced in the WGPR studios, "The Scene" attracted hundreds of teens to its live broadcasts.

"There were times when there were so many kids coming down to see the stars that were going to be on 'The Scene' the cars would clog Jefferson Avenue," Gregory said. The promised 90 percent of local programming never happened. "A See WGPR, Page 7G IHf KWY0RK JWICS, JhnrtMasfa kkkk One Of The Very Best Family Films Of The Year." 1 I 1 950: The Rev. William Banks founds the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and Order of the Eastern Star known as the Black Masons. aspirations and achievements of blacks and related ethnic groups." The plans were too big.

Too unrealistic. The town's top TV stations couldn't afford to produce 90 percent of their programming. "The first thing we learned was we didn't know a heck of a lot about what you needed for a TV station," Gregory said. "We did not realize how expensive television was." Still, they got things going. Gregory found a building at 3140 E.

Jefferson for the headquarters. Channel 62's first days on the air were bumpy. The 7 a.m. sign-on time was moved to 9:30. Shows came on later than scheduled.

Blackouts knocked the station off the air. Commercials didn't play all the way through. "It was a nightmare," said Blocker, who now owns a public relations firm. "I never want to go through that again in my life." With each glitch the station lost advertisers, and the money got tighter. About a month after Channel 62 went on, Banks andor the Masons decided too much money was being lost too fast.

A major staff cutback and reorganization included reducing the 12-person news team to six. "Banks turned a little chicken," Blocker said. "The day that decision was made that we were going to have to cut back like crazy that was a sad day. All these people in there with this dream, and you were going to have to tell them they were no longer part of it." Makupson, who'd left a secure job with a health maintenance organization, remembers the day well. "I had 1 -MICHAEL MEDVED.

"The Swan Princess' Emerges As A WGPR, from Page 1G hours. The bottom line is that WGPR-TV has lasted 19 years while many new businesses don't make it through the I first five. Stable ownership is another achievement ownership of nearly "every other VHF or UHF station in Detroit has changed hands since WGPR went on the air. But is that enough? Is that to be the lasting legacy of the nation's first minority-owned TV station? To be the first black anything is an extra burden, coping with the normal struggles while carrying the banner of one's race. "We always have different expectations of black businesses whether it is fair or not," said Kimberly Camp, director of the Museum of African American History.

"The expectations tend to be a little beyond the realistic." Blocker's assessment of the station's image seems to sum things up: "It has to do with a thing called esteem. When we do something as a people we want to see it succeed so we can be proud of it, and Channel 62 never got to that point. That was the big failure if there was a failure. Black people never mention Channel 62 that much. I think people just lost faith." An idealistic start The story of Channel 62 is mainly contained in its first few years, when its identity was set.

Channel 62 was the idea of Banks, the son of a Kentucky sharecropper who came to Detroit at age 16 to find work. While working at Ford Motor Company he graduated from City College (now Wayne State University) and the Detroit College of Law. He also received a degree in divinity from Baptist Ministers College of Detroit. In 1950, Banks had tired of what he felt were moral lapses among his Masonic group. Most of the group's money came from alcohol sales and gambling at the lodges, which Banks opposed.

So Banks founded the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and the women's wing, the Order of the Eastern Star more commonly known as the Black Masons. Twenty-two original members met in a Canton, Ohio, living room. By the next year, there were 1,500 of them. In 1976, Banks said there were 350,000 Black Masons worldwide. The various chapters accumulated money for endowments, scholarships, youth programs, marching bands, tutoring and the teaching of domestic skills, according to Banks' daughter The Masons charge a $5 fee to join.

Members also are expected to buy an endowment of $100 or more and pay 35 cents per month for each $100 of endowment purchased. The "endowment" functions as a burial insurance policy. At least some of this money was invested in real estate. In 1964, the Black Masons bought the struggling WGPR-FM 107.5 for $40,000 and turned it into a successful operation. Just as he had done in building the Black Masons, Banks turned to local churches by encouraging ministers to broadcast to their flocks.

WGPR became an acronym for Where God's Presence Radiates. But the station's main fare was Sept. 1994: Sold to CBS, pending FCC -approval. 1986: Ivy Banks sues Masons for $1.3 million. March 1993: Renewal of license delayed as FCC questions educational content of children's programming.

License later granted. -NEW YORK POST SNEAK PREVIEWS socwtmckavjuuiu ok rm SOW WOKDEIEPIC SOUKDTUX NEW LINE CINEMA 5:35 12:00 2:30 5:00 3:00 5:00 12:45 2:30 4:20 6:15 4:30 6:15 12:00 2:00 4:00 6:15 4:00 6:45 11:10 1 :30 4:00 6:45 9:00 12:45 2:50 4:55 7:10 9:10 4:50 7:00 Lavish Animated Musical Fantasy! -KEVIN THOMAS, LOSANGELES TIM "The Swan Princess' Is Funny And Enchanting." -CARYN JAMES, NEW YORK TIMES princess Tremendous Fun! Exhilarating!" PULP FICTION NEST GENERAL AUDIENCES iwnifrotK! Ik. 1:00 3:10 5:15 7:20 9:30 1:20 3:25 1:00 3:10 5:10 11:00 1:00 1:00 12:50 2:40 4:30 6:15 11:00 12:50 10:55 12:55 3:05 5:10 7:05 9:20 10:50 1:00 10:50 12:50 2:50 5:00 7:00 9:00 12:30 2:45 2:45 (P19M Mkpm HIRAMAX T.7:T rTTffl lj liUHl'Tim 1:30 4:30 7:30 2:15 6:20 9:30 7:20 10:15 6 00 PM. 10:00 P.M. 7:00 P.M.

1:30 4 45 7:20 10:00 12 30 4:15 8 00 1976 photo Jerry Blocker and funk. It enjoyed respectable ratings and boasted the Electrifyin' Mojo as one of its top deejay's. In 1976, Banks said the radio station was grossing more than $1 million annually. Success on the radio emboldened Banks. Already over the usual retirement age in the early 1970s, he was ready for a new challenge television.

As a Republican businessman trying to make waves, Banks caught the ear of then-President Richard Nixon and was invited to the White House for dinner. "They talked about the fact that there were no black-owned TV stations in the United States," Gregory said. "Nixon wanted to do something to make himself seem amenable to black people." With the White House pushing things along, the FCC license was granted in 1973. In order to capitalize the station for the first year, the Black Masons sold a number of their real estate holdings a Northern Michigan hotel, 100 acres of land in Florida (for $750,000) and some other parcels. General Motors and Ford Motor Company each committed to spending $25,000 in advertising at WGPR during its first year; Chrysler committed Old Pro clothes committed Stroh Brewery came in with $15,000, and Kmart $8,000.

Big dreams Banks turned to people he knew to get the television station up and running. For instance, the programming director for WGPR-FM, George E. White, became vice president for programming for Channel 62. Banks called on Gregory to help him get organized. She took a year's leave from her tenured position teach ing English at Oakland University.

The only team member with any substantial TV experience was news director Jer ry Blocker, who had come over from Channel 4. There were big plans. The station would broadcast two daily half-hour news programs that would focus positively on the African-American community. Ninety percent of Channel 62's programming was to be locally produced including talk shows, a teenage dance show, a quiz show, a soap opera and more. At the time White said, "The program schedule will provide in-depth penetration in the problems, goals, 7 SO 9 45 1 00 3 20 5 45 8 10 10 EZZZ2ZZZZZ2ZZZ3 12 45 3 10 5 30 7 50 10 10 7:30 1 0 00 30 7 7 30 9 30 10 11 11 20 1 30 1 50 4 4 30 7 7 30 9 30 10 J.

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