Who's Who at WONN

The Ebony Special

The Ebony Special was a WONN record show that aired nightly from 10pm to midnight in the early 1950’s. It appealed primarily to the black audience and featured music by such now-legendary R&B artists as Roy Brown, Ivory Joe Hunter, Louis Jordan, and Ruth Brown.

An early host of the program was a white deejay named Graham Mela – nicknamed Cracker Graham - who they say looked a lot like baseball great Yogi Berra. Mela became an extremely popular local air personality. He was also in the station sales department and would be mobbed by admirers, like he were a movie star, when he called on his clients. Because of his growing popularity, Mela was soon “promoted” to WONN’s early morning show.

Station History