Full Text of SR2339 99th General Assembly
SR2339 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | 3 | | learn of the death of Herbert Rogers Kent, who passed away at | 4 | | the age of 88; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Herbert Kent was born on October 5, 1928 in | 6 | | Chicago; he grew up in the Ida B. Wells housing project in | 7 | | Bronzeville and showed an early fascination with radio, | 8 | | building makeshift devices out of toilet paper inserts, | 9 | | crystals, wires, and earphones; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Herbert Kent got his start in radio while still a | 11 | | student at Hyde Park High School; in 1944, at the age of 16, he | 12 | | hosted a classical music program for WBEZ; he later joined and | 13 | | eventually became president of the school's radio club; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, After high school, Herbert Kent worked with a | 15 | | local theater company, the Skyloft Players, developing and | 16 | | honing the improvisational skills that would later lead to the | 17 | | creation of radio characters he made famous at WVON, including | 18 | | "The Wahoo Man" and "Gym Shoe Creeper"; in 1949, he landed his | 19 | | first paid radio job at WGRY in Gary, Indiana; he later reached | 20 | | the height of his popularity as a WVON "Good Guy", a part of a | 21 | | colorful stable of DJs that ruled black radio in Chicago from | 22 | | the early 1960s to early 1970s; he was deeply involved with the |
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| 1 | | station for more than 50 years and was instrumental in calming | 2 | | rioters in Chicago from over the airwaves after the death of | 3 | | the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, After a stint at WGCI, Herbert Kent joined adult | 5 | | contemporary radio station WVAZ/V103 in 1989, where he | 6 | | continued playing the old-school tunes he coined "dusties" and | 7 | | conducting radio "Battle of the Best" competitions between | 8 | | similar old-school artists, like Michael Jackson versus | 9 | | Prince, until his passing; he held the distinction of being the | 10 | | longest serving DJ according to the Guinness Book of World | 11 | | Records; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, In 2009, Herbert Kent collaborated with David | 13 | | Smallwood on his biography, "The Cool Gent, the Nine Lives of | 14 | | Radio Legend Herb Kent"; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Herbert Kent was honored with the naming of "Herb | 16 | | Kent Drive" near his former high school, from the 6000 to 6700 | 17 | | block of Stony Island Avenue in Chicago, in honor of his work; | 18 | | in 1995, he was inducted into the Museum of Broadcast | 19 | | Communications Hall of Fame with the first class of black radio | 20 | | inductees; he was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame | 21 | | in 1995; he was also inducted into the Gwendolyn Brooks Hall of | 22 | | Fame at Chicago State University and was voted Mayor of | 23 | | Bronzeville in 1999 in a contest started by the Defender |
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| 1 | | newspaper in the 1930s and revived by the Bronzeville Merchants | 2 | | Association; therefore, be it
| 3 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL | 4 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we, along with his | 5 | | family and friends, mourn the passing of Herbert Rogers Kent; | 6 | | and be it further
| 7 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 8 | | presented to the family of Herbert Kent as an expression of our | 9 | | sympathy.
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