‘It’s in your blood:’ Radio legend still has much to say

COURTESY HATTIE LEEPER

Hattie “Chatty Hatty” Leeper, a legendary broadcaster at WGIV during the golden era of Black radio in the 1960s and ‘70s, hugs White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a visit to Washington, D.C., in April. Leeper was in Washington by invitation of the Library of Congress Radio Preservation Task Force’s National Recording Preservation Board.

Hattie Leeper still has plenty to say.

The legendary Charlotte broadcaster is still sought after for perspective on her career when Black-oriented radio was at its zenith. In April, the Library of Congress’ Radio Preservation Task Force hosted Leeper and other groundbreaking women of color as part of its Black Women in Radio Historic Collection and Oral History Project.  

“Oh, those women can talk,” Leeper said. “You thought I can talk.”

Leeper, 89, can still chat with the best of them. And there are people who still reach out to publicly acknowledge her impact as “Chatty Hatty” at WGIV decades after signing off. She admits it’s good to be remembered.

“It’s amazing how the word of mouth spread,” Leeper said. “[I] don’t go out looking for publicity. It’s always referral. Somebody will say, ‘Have you ever met that lady that talks a lot, that’s on the microphone that lives in Charlotte? What was her name?’ And then they'll say, ‘Oh, yes, Chatty Hatty. That’s it. Do you know how to get in touch with her?’”

‘It’s in your blood’

During a time when legal and social segregation pushed Black people to the margins, Leeper was a star at WGIV, where she grew into one of the top voices in southern radio.

As the only woman on the station’s otherwise all-male deejay lineup, Leeper more than held her own with the likes of hall of fame inductees “Genial Gene” Potts, “Rocking Ray” Gooding and “Hound Dog” Pete Toomey, who broadcast to a predominantly Black audience.

Before satellite radio and corporate takeovers, locally owned stations gave voice to communities and made stars of on-air personalities.  

COURTESY HATTIE LEEPER

"Chatty Hatty" Leeper at the control board at WGIV in the 1960s. Decades after she signed off as a radio personality, Leepeer is recognized as a broadcast pioneer for opening doors for women in the industry.

“Absolutely, because it’s in your blood,” said Leeper, who started at WGIV as a 14-year-old Second Ward High School student. “You don’t ever get it out if you’re sincere, if you like what you’re doing, and you didn’t feel that it was tiring. It wasn’t work. It was a fabulous thing to say, ‘I’m on my way to WGIV – 1600 at the top of your dial – where listening is always worth your while.’ You get off on stuff like that and every time you hit the airwaves, something new will come to you.

“It is just a part of your career. It’s just a part of how you feel good about making somebody else happy on their birthday – a happy birthday song coming for Earl or Mabel or whomever, you know? Birthday, anniversary, I’m playing this. I’m dedicating this song to you. That was the joy of my life – making other people happy on their day.”

Recognition galore

Accolades accumulated as a result. There are halls of fame and organizations large and small reaching out at home and beyond. There was last year’s parade in St. Louis for the National Black Radio Hall of Fame. April’s trip to the White House with the Library of Congress.

Leeper’s west Charlotte home is covered with plaques and artifacts to her career. There is the hall of fame trophies: North Carolina Association of Broadcasters, Black Radio, Carolina Beach Music. Mementos from music greats Diana Ross, Jackie Wilson and Otis Redding.  

Chatty Hatty and famous friends

In addition to playing records, Leeper and her contemporaries were music promoters. Because North Carolina law barred Black people from accessing accommodations in white-owned restaurants and hotels, deejays often hosted big-name gospel and R&B entertainers at their homes. As a result, they struck friendships.

“Segregation was real rampant during that era,” Leeper said. “No fine hotels. They could not check in downtown. They will come to Charlotte – you would know their schedule because we would advertise on the air we’ll be at the Coliseum at blah, blah, blah time. Not the fabulous coliseum [that’s now Bojangles’ Arena]. The auditorium was the Grady Cole Center on Seventh Street right behind Central Piedmont. … They would come in on a raggedy bus, then they would come to Chatty Hatty’s house first. My mother would have soul food cooked. They could come in, wash their hands, and my mother would feed them until they dropped.  

“The girls like Tina Turner, Mary Wells, Gladys Knight, Laverne Baker, they would come in the house, and they would decide this is their house and take over because they were used to coming and they knew that this was home to them away from home.”  

Leeper’s at home no matter where she goes. She’s an usher at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church and entertains family and friends. She still has fans from the WGIV days or know her accomplishments as a Black woman breaking barriers when they didn’t have much of a footprint in a male-dominated industry. It is good to be Chatty Hatty, and she sees no reason to stop.   

“I get to meet a lot of people and everybody I meet they say, ‘I’ve heard of you,’” she said. “They’ll say ‘you’re Chatty Hatty? I thought you were deceased.’ And I go ‘oh my God, give me hug.’ … That’s why it’s so necessary, I think, to keep in touch.”   

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