Half a century of Black TV
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 15 January 2024
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From Roots to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to Abbott Elementary. Bethonie Butler’s new book "Black TV" shows how TV series centered on Black characters have evolved over the past 50 years.
About:
Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is WBUR’s award-winning, daily public radio show and podcast. Its unique combination of original reporting, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis creates an experience that makes the world more intelligible and humane. Deep dives. Original stories. Fresh takes.
We’d appreciate your help to better understand On Point's podcast listeners and get your feedback — it’ll take you about 10 minutes or less!
Take our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/onpointpodcast
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is on point. I'm Magna Chakrabardi. |
| 0:03.0 | And now here's your host, Don Crenelia. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello and welcome aboard you right on time for another magnificent ride on the Soul Train. |
| 0:12.0 | He's coming right back at you with a big smash |
| 0:14.8 | by the mighty temptations, |
| 0:16.5 | right after some very important messages. |
| 0:18.8 | Get on, get on, get on, get on, hot. |
| 0:21.2 | In 1971, Soul Train began its 35-year run on American television. |
| 0:27.0 | The pioneering music and dance show featured the best of black talent |
| 0:31.0 | and was recognized as one of the most influential television shows of its time. |
| 0:35.8 | And the influence of Black TV on American culture continues. |
| 0:40.2 | It's a half century path chronicled by pop culture writer Bethany Butler in her new book, |
| 0:46.0 | Black TV, five decades of groundbreaking television from Soul Train to Blackish and Beyond. |
| 0:52.8 | And Bethany Butler joins us today. |
| 0:54.6 | Welcome to On Point, Bethany. |
| 0:57.1 | Hi, thank you so much for having me. |
| 0:59.5 | I actually would wonder if we could start with the influence of black TV on you. |
| 1:06.6 | What's the sort of earliest show that you remember loving that featured you know |
| 1:12.2 | either black stories or I suppose? loving that |
| 1:15.0 | featured, you know, either black stories or I suppose maybe a long time ago there weren't that many black writers allowed into the writer room, but writer's room, but your formative experiences with black TV. |
| 1:22.0 | Right, so I grew up on, you know, your formative experiences with black TV. |
| 1:23.0 | Right, so I grew up on, you know, Family Matters, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WBUR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WBUR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.