UFCW Local 1529
Standing strong for working families
Powering · Labor Education
WOJG 94.7 FMwojg.com
WOJG 94.7 FM
94.7 FM and WBOL AM 1560 — the only Black-owned 6-kilowatt radio station in Tennessee. "Always be a voice for Christ and a servant of the people."
Shaw's Broadcasting is a family business that started with a broom. Johnny Shaw took a custodian's job at WBOL, became Hardeman County's first Black DJ, and ended up owning the place. WBOL AM 1560 went on the air in 1987 as the first radio station ever to broadcast in Hardeman County, playing the best of Stax and Motown. WOJG 94.7 FM followed in 1992 as a 24/7 urban gospel station. Today the two stations reach 14 counties across West Tennessee and North Mississippi — plus anyone in the world with a stream — and they are run day to day by the Shaws' daughter, Dr. Rhonda Shaw.
Listen Live · Bolivar, Tennessee
WOJG 94.7 FM — The Word & The Music
Shaw's Broadcasting, live across West Tennessee and North Mississippi.
What WOJG Does
The Only One of Its Kind in the State
WOJG is, by the station's own accounting, the only Black-owned 6-kilowatt radio station in Tennessee. Fourteen counties of West Tennessee and North Mississippi hear it over the air, and the stream at wojg.com carries it anywhere in the world.
A Family Business Built From a Custodian's Job
WBOL AM 1560 opened in 1987 — the first station ever to broadcast in Hardeman County — and WOJG 94.7 FM was added in 1992. Johnny and Opal Shaw own both. Their daughter manages both. Their gospel singing raised the family that runs the signal.
Doctor2Doctor — In the Chatroom
Dr. Rhonda Shaw's show, co-hosted with Dr. Nicole West, airs Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. CST on 94.7 and streams worldwide. Mental health, substance use disorders, domestic violence, human trafficking — and, in her words, the fun topics too, like love and relationships. Her motto: we discuss relevant topics that impact our communities and our world.
Gospel, News and the Business of the Community
Twenty-four hours of urban gospel, plus Action News 5, national, regional and local news, traffic, weather, public service announcements, ministry broadcasts, community talk, gospel concerts and the community announcements a rural listening area actually depends on.
At the Podium for the NAACP's 80th
Dr. Shaw hosted the Freedom Awards Dinner at the Tennessee State Conference NAACP's 80th Annual State Convention and Civil Rights Advocacy Conference in Memphis, where Rev. Shavon Arline-Bradley, president of the National Council of Negro Women, was on the program.
Leadership
Dr. Rhonda Shaw
General Manager, Shaw's Broadcasting · Station Manager, WOJG 94.7 FM · Host, Doctor2Doctor — In the Chatroom
She runs the stations and she has a second career that explains what she puts on the air. Dr. Shaw holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration from Trevecca Nazarene University and an Ed.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from Union University. As a Senior Research Associate with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research she coordinates a Bureau of Justice Assistance project training law enforcement who work in and around schools; before that she directed a $4 million federally funded school safety initiative across 24 Memphis-Shelby County middle schools, served on the Memphis & Shelby County Juvenile Justice Board, and built trauma-informed family support programs at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. She grew up in Whiteville — "a quaint rural town without a traffic light" — the middle child between two brothers, playing piano in her parents' church before her legs reached the pedals, and she still serves as a Minister of Music. Five grandchildren.
Co-owner · Shaw's Broadcasting
Rep. Johnny Shaw
Co-owner, WOJG 94.7 & WBOL 1560 · Tennessee House District 80 · Pastor, St. John Missionary Baptist Church, Stanton
He swept the floors at WBOL, became the first African American DJ in Hardeman County, and bought the station. In January 2001 he took his seat in the Tennessee House as the first African American elected to a rural West Tennessee legislative district since Reconstruction, and he has held District 80 — Hardeman, Haywood and Madison counties — ever since. He has pastored St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Stanton for more than 34 years, is a founding member of the Shaw Singers, studied theology at American Baptist College, and has been an NAACP member for decades. He has said publicly that this term is his last. His district includes Haywood County, where Ford's BlueOval City is being built.
Why This Station Matters to Labor
Memphis media stops at the county line. WOJG does not — it covers 14 counties of West Tennessee and North Mississippi, which is exactly where union members live who never hear a word of labor news. District 80, represented by the station's co-owner, takes in Haywood County and the BlueOval City site. And the family that owns the signal came up the way our members did: a custodian's job first, ownership later. A station like this, Black-owned and rural, is rare and worth knowing.
A Community Partner of Labor Education
Labor Education features WOJG 94.7 FM and WBOL AM 1560 as a community partner because a Black-owned station reaching 14 rural counties is an asset to working families across West Tennessee. No joint programming has been announced — this page is a spotlight, not an agreement. Tune in on 94.7, stream at wojg.com, and catch Doctor2Doctor — In the Chatroom on Saturdays at 2:00 p.m.
Connect with WOJG 94.7 FM
Want to get involved, partner, or learn more? Reach out through their website.
