Black Women in Entertainment
Patty Jackson on a South Philly girl’s journey to radio legend
As February comes to a close, we wrap up the month with Philly.com’s final Instagram Takeover to honor Black History Month. Several black figures from our city have taken over the account to share their stories and to reflect on what the month means to them.
On Wednesday, Philadelphia radio legend Patty Jackson took control of the account to share just how appreciative she is for the long career she has enjoyed on Philly’s airwaves.
“Who would have thought that a young, fast talking girl from South Philly would end up here,” Jackson wrote. Her reaction to everything she’s gotten to do in her 35 years in radio … “Just WOW.”
Jackson explained that she’s honored to be a part of radio history at WDAS-FM, Philadelphia history and black history.
Radio personalities help to provide the soundtracks to our lives. We have pictures in our minds of what they are like because we hear their voices everyday, sometimes to the point of feeling like we know them.
If you lived in Philadelphia, listening to artists like Frankie Beverly and the iconic music of Gamble and Huff, it was probably teed up for you by Patty Jackson. That presence might make her feel like family. It certainly did for Kevin Hart.
Jackson told the story of the first time she met the Philly native and self-proclaimed “Comedic Rockstar.”
She said Hart’s words to her were “I feel like I know you. Like I feel like you’re my auntie,” because his mother would always listen to Jackson on the radio.
“I’m truly grateful that listeners bring me into their homes everyday by way of radio,” Jackson said. She added that being told people feel like they already know her just from hearing her on the radio is the greatest compliment she gets.
Our closeness to Jackson made a number of Philadelphians susceptible to pain at the news of Jackson’s stroke in 2015. The event turned her life upside down.
“One minute, I could see fine. The next minute, everything was doubled and my eye just went in a whole other direction,” Jackson told my colleague Jenice Armstrong after the stroke. “Sometimes we won’t listen to a whisper but we’ll hear a roar,” Jackson pointed out. “God always has to get my attention through drastic measures.”
Jackson shared a moment that brought her “pure joy” through this difficult period of …
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