Music Icon Dyana Williams and the Making of Black Music Month

The AphroChic Podcast

Arriving in Philadelphia after deejaying in her native New York and Washington D.C., where she was known for a time as “Ebony Moonbeams,” Dyana Williams established the popular radio show “Love on the Menu” for radio station WDAS and later Soulful Sundays for Classix 107.9. The latter show lasting for 12 years before signing off for the last time in 2020. Even with her luminous on-air career, Dyana’s contributions behind the scenes have been even more impactful. Formerly married to music producer Kenny Gamble (Gamble & Huff), Williams has long been associated with the “Sound of Philadelphia” (Patti LaBelle, McFadden & Whitehead, Teddy Pendergrass, etc.) and has produced documentaries, founded and led organizations and mentored countless emerging artists, a passion that she continues to pursue. But perhaps her most lasting gift to us is her role in the founding of Black Music Month. Its initial recognition in 1979 was the beginning of a process that Dyana would shepherd until it was written into law by congress and proclaimed first by President Clinton in 2000 and again by Presidents Obama and Biden.
Read more about Dyana in Issue No. 7 of AphroChic magazine.