Destination Freedom
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
← The Other Dial
1948–1950 · WMAQ, Chicago
Destination Freedom
Richard Durham wrote Black history as radio drama, weekly, on a network station
Richard Durham got a Sunday morning half hour on NBC's Chicago station and used it to write the history of Black America as drama — not as uplift, not as pageant, but as conflict, with anger left in. The Knock-Kneed Man, Railway to Freedom, The Denmark Vesey Story: the titles alone place it decades ahead of anything the networks were carrying. It lasted two years before the pressure told and the scripts were softened; Durham left. What survives is the most radical body of work in American network-affiliated radio, and it was made in a studio on Michigan Avenue by a man who later wrote Muhammad Ali's autobiography.
45 broadcasts · 4 years held · Chicago
45 surviving broadcasts of the WMAQ series written by Richard Durham. Recordings held by the Internet Archive.
194816
Destination Freedom
Three interviews, one archive reel, and a question nobody wanted asked.
Destination Freedom
Recorded on location, with the room left in.
Destination Freedom
New tape, a reluctant witness, and a timeline that finally stops making sense.
Destination Freedom
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
Destination Freedom
Three interviews, one archive reel, and a question nobody wanted asked.
Destination Freedom
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.
Destination Freedom
A quiet beginning that turns, halfway through, into something else entirely.
Destination Freedom
The one everybody argues about.
Destination Freedom
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Destination Freedom
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.
Destination Freedom
A quiet beginning that turns, halfway through, into something else entirely.
Destination Freedom
The one everybody argues about.
Destination Freedom
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Destination Freedom
New tape, a reluctant witness, and a timeline that finally stops making sense.
Destination Freedom
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
194920
Destination Freedom
Three interviews, one archive reel, and a question nobody wanted asked.
Destination Freedom
Recorded on location, with the room left in.
Destination Freedom
New tape, a reluctant witness, and a timeline that finally stops making sense.
Destination Freedom
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
Destination Freedom
Three interviews, one archive reel, and a question nobody wanted asked.
Destination Freedom
Recorded on location, with the room left in.
Destination Freedom
A quiet beginning that turns, halfway through, into something else entirely.
Destination Freedom
The one everybody argues about.
Destination Freedom
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Destination Freedom
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.
Destination Freedom
A quiet beginning that turns, halfway through, into something else entirely.
Destination Freedom
The one everybody argues about.
Destination Freedom
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Destination Freedom
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.
Destination Freedom
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
Destination Freedom
Three interviews, one archive reel, and a question nobody wanted asked.
Destination Freedom
Recorded on location, with the room left in.
Destination Freedom
New tape, a reluctant witness, and a timeline that finally stops making sense.
Destination Freedom
We go back to the beginning and read everything again.
Destination Freedom
Three interviews, one archive reel, and a question nobody wanted asked.
19507
Destination Freedom
Recorded on location, with the room left in.
Destination Freedom
New tape, a reluctant witness, and a timeline that finally stops making sense.
Destination Freedom
The one everybody argues about.
Destination Freedom
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Destination Freedom
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.
Destination Freedom
A quiet beginning that turns, halfway through, into something else entirely.
Destination Freedom
The one everybody argues about.
19512
Destination Freedom
Short, complete and unexpectedly devastating.
Destination Freedom
The episode listeners keep sending to people who never listen to podcasts.