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Black History

WSLR Hosts Black History Month Listen In On February 20

| Arlene Sweeting |

WSLR 96.5, Sarasota’s Community Radio, believes the voices of black, indigenous, and people of color must be heard. In honor of Black History, WSLR will host their second African American Takeover Day on Saturday, February 20 from 7 am-7 pm. You’ll hear from artists, doctors, musicians, community activists, and more.  You can listen to WSLR in multiple ways – tune your radio to 96.5FM if you live in the City of Sarasota and surrounding areas, download the mobile app to take the station with you no matter where you are, or stream the station online at WSLR.org from anywhere in the world.  Programming remains available on the WSLR archives for a period of two weeks.

The full schedule of programming appears below.

Black History Broadcast Schedule

7-9am –The Saturday Morning Gospel Beat with Jonah Ray shares music and songs from and for the heart and soul so be sure to connect, listen, and be encouraged though reverence, worship and praise.

9am – TownTalk TampaBay.  Host Sharon Folta talks to African Americans from our community about their lives, their vision and their contributions.

9:30am – 11am –Radio RESET, hosted by Sharon Folta, celebrates female voices in music, verse, activism and community from Sarasota and beyond!

11am – Covid and Health Disparities w/ Dr. Lisa Merritt and special guests.

12pm – Roundtable with Performing Artists of Color –Jonah and Travis Ray moderate a conversation with local artists of color discussing racial disparities within the performing arts industry.  Guests confirmed are Syreeta Banks and Dovonan Whitney.

1pm – Forest Conservation – Snousha Glaude will talk to Meg Lowman of the TREE Foundation about her work establishing church forests in Ethiopia and the impact of deforestation on minority communities.

1:30pm – History of Amaryllis Park Neighborhood Association – Mary Butler

2pm  – The Soundtrack of Pan-Africanism – Produced by Dr. Errol Monte-Pizarro, this program will highlight the construction of the idea of “Africa” as an encompassing unit through musical genres that combine elements of various musical cultures of the continent without belonging exclusively to any of them. The program suggests that this culturally base Pan Africanism served as a foundation for political and philosophical Pan Africanism. However, it also had its own development that diverged from the explicitly political Pan-Africanism proposed by the movement’s founding theorists at the turn of the twentieth century.

3pm – Black History Listen In – An auditory open mic where we listen to the pivotal voices of Black creation, from literature to poetry read from local students and teachers across our city of Sarasota.

4pm – Brenda Watty Variety Hour – Brenda has performed with the Marvelettes, The Four Tops, The Crystals, Bo Didley, and many more. Show will feature music and conversation.

5-7pm –Jazz & More Special Black History Month Edition.  Jazz & More features an eclectic mix of classic bebop, traditional and smooth jazz with R&B, rock and blues features with host Brian Jones

WSLR is a member of the Manasota Anti-Racism Coalition which released a public statement on the need to confront racism and white supremacy on Sunday, June 7, 2020.  

Photo from Deposit Photos

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