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TECHNOTE: Wed 9/3/25 Broadcast interruptions during tower work 9am-5pm
Celebrate and explore Black History Month with WKAR!

Gospel: The Gospel Train & The Golden Age of Gospel

Mon Feb 12 at 9:00 PM on WKAR-HD 23.1 & STREAMING | The Gospel Train
GOSPEL’s hour 1 takes the gospel train north to Chicago, where southern migrants Thomas A. Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe blended the melodic sounds and instrumentation of blues and jazz with lyrics about God’s goodness. Like the blues, gospel would become a commodity, but one built by Black-owned publishing companies like Martin and Morris and sustained by Black audiences.

Mon Feb 12 at 10:00 PM on WKAR-HD 23.1 & STREAMING | The Golden Age of Gospel
Starting in the 1940s, GOSPEL’s hour 2 explores the Golden Age of Gospel — the dramatic explosion of Black sacred music and the segregated highways of the American South — through the successful careers of Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin. As the lines between the sacred and secular blur, gospel music becomes the powerful soundtrack of the freedom struggle.

Streaming now for Passport members. Available to stream after air date for non-Passport members.

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