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Del Shields was the first African American to host a network radio program -- Night Call. It was broadcast immediately following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr and allowed radio listeners from across the country to interact with leaders of the civil rights and protest movements. It was the first national call-in program and required the invention of equipment that could interface studio microphnones with a guest telephone line and and caller lines. When the New York Bell technician came to hook up the equipment to the Bell system, he said, "I can't do it. I have to check with headquarters." I soon, as executive producer, received a call from Ma Bell saying that they couldn't hook us up -- "The number of calls it might generate could bring down the system."
Two memkbers of congress were on our national advisory committee. Ben Logan, producer, consulted with them. A couple of days later, I got another telephone call. "We don't know what's going on, but Washington says to put you guys on the air. What we're going to do is put you on the Wall Street exchange. It has no traffic at night." And so Night Call was launched from the studios of WRVR, the Riverside Church radio station, and aired each week day night for 19 months -- 119 stations providing public service air time. The fear of Bell executives was well founded. As many as 40,000 attempts were made to reach the program when well-known figures appeared.
By bringing people from all walks of life all over the country into dialogue, some think Night Call helped avert more violence and death. Del Shields made a huge difference. It was a privilege to work with him.