When you visit the Shop and Save in Memphis, Tennessee, you'll hear laughter, conversation — and WDIA.
For more than 75 years, listeners have been loyal to America's first all-Black radio station. For 42 of those years, they've been loyal to host Bev Johnson.
"She's connected to the community," one listener said.
"The queen," another said.
Johnson spoke to CBS News about what's behind her continued success and why people turn to WDIA.
"I think people want to know, they want to become educated and WDIA has always done that," said Johnson, who's lived in Memphis since her college days. "I'm also known as 'your girlfriend.' And you know how you can tell your girlfriend stuff? Well, they tell me things."
WDIA signed on in June 1947 at 730 AM in Memphis. At first, it was just another small station, owned by two white men, according to the National Civil Rights Museum. They tried all sorts of programming — country, light pop, even classical — but nothing stuck.
Then, they made a move that would change radio forever. In late 1948, they hired Nat D. Williams, a beloved African American high school teacher and columnist, to host his own show, according to the Radio Hall of Fame.
WDIA wasn't just about music. It was a lifeline and a loudspeaker for Black Memphis. They aired news that mainstream outlets largely ignored, including stories of police brutality, unfair housing and civil rights activism, according to the station.
"We were giving them the information that they couldn't get anywhere else," Johnson said.
The station also promoted Black-owned businesses and organized charity drives, like the Goodwill Fund, which raised money for things like school supplies, scholarships and medical care for Black children.
It spearheaded efforts to save Memphis' Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. Two decades later, WDIA started a foundation for the cause, raising money over the air, Johnson said.
The Lorraine Motel became the National Civil Rights Museum in 1991.
Today, Johnson, along with a rotation of expert guests, offers critical information from Memphis' own doctors, lawyers and community leaders.
"A lot of times my guests give information that our listeners, they can't afford it," Johnson said.
In Memphis, one in five people live below the poverty line, according to the University of Memphis. When a problem arises, they may not know where to look — but they always have WDIA.
That's why attorneys Monika Johnson and Ursula Woods are regulars on the show.
"It makes a difference when you have the knowledge," Monika Johnson said.
As for Bev Johnson, Woods said, "What you see on air is what you also see off air, which is someone who truly understands the community — their needs and their desires and the things that make them laugh."
"Bev has a way of making everybody feel like family. I don't care who you are," Monika Johnson said.
After over four decades, Bev Johnson says she's not done yet.
"I think I still have some work to do to talk to some folks, to put them on the right track, give them a little wisdom," she said.
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