ATLANTA — As we continue celebrating Black History Month, WSB is proud to be a part of that history.
Some of our WSB colleagues were pioneers in the broadcasting industry.
In 1967, Lorenzo “Lo” Jelks became the first Black television reporter in Atlanta, right here at WSB.
“It was a tremendous responsibility,” Jelks said. “To have the honor of working in that kind of environment just thrilled me so.”
During his first year reporting for television, viewers only heard his voice.
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The next year, when he finally appeared on camera, the station received angry letters and phone calls.
Jelks put all that aside, instead focusing on his job and love of journalism.
At one point he interviewed the head of the Ku Klux Klan.
“It was a strict desire on my part to experience that interview and I enjoyed it tremendously,” Jelks said.
In 1968, WSB’s Billye Suber Aaron became the first African American woman in the southeast to cohost a daily, hour-long talk show.
One of her interviews was with baseball legend Henry “Hank” Aaron.
The two developed a close friendship and married in 1973.
“You try to use whatever talents you have. To spread it, to turn to help other people along the way,” she said.
Also in the 1970′s WSB legend Jocelyn Dorsey became the first African American news anchor in the Atlanta market.
Dorsey joined the team in 1973, doing everything from producing, working on the assignment desk, reporting, and anchoring.
“I didn’t have the idea of the impact that people... people took away from me being on the air,” Dorsey said. “It was a risk because the backlash was tremendous.”
Longtime WSB anchor Monica Kaufman Pearson credits Dorsey and Jelks for paving the way for her and others.
Kaufman joined Channel 2 in 1975 as Atlanta’s first woman and first minority to anchor the 6 p.m. news.
“When I went on the air, there was a lot of pushback from some people in the audience who, one, didn’t want to see and two, didn’t want to see a Black woman sitting on the 6 o’clock desk,” she said.
Kaufman retired in 2012 after anchoring 37 years at WSB.
Jelks passed away in 2023 at the age of 83.
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