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Popular Culture Review
relationships or more serious problems with large bureaucracies. Still rehearsals
must eventually lead to action, and in Bandura’s third stage, motor reproduction,
those who have witnessed modeled behavior move on to attempt imitation. Such a
process includes both a period of “trial and error” and “feedback” that allows the
learners to grow more proficient (Tan, p. 248).
For Johnson’s listeners, the modeled behavior may begin with a phone call to
KKDA-AM, but the fuller consequences of this action are much larger. In a very
pragmatic sense, Johnson’s practice of putting people in touch with others models
a community-strengthening behavior or support and encouragement. One example
is Erma Griffin, a businesswoman, who says she has been listening to KKDA-AM
since the 1970s. Johnson’s “Dear Crooner” feature is a strong attraction. “It makes
my day...I listen to it because I have a 15-year-old son, and it gives me some
insights into the way people are thinking and some of the things that are going on,
enhancing me to do better [as a parent].”
Griffin has personally benefited from Johnson’s practice of helping listeners
in trouble. She said she was falsely ticketed for speeding. “I felt like I was in the
right and I didn’t have anyone to turn to. And so, he told me to correspond with a
sergeant [in the Dallas police department], and I got it taken care of. I got the ticket
thrown out completely,” she said.
Johnson’s weekly feature promoting African-American businesses in the DallasFort Worth area has also been helpful to Griffin: “I have had people walk into my
store and say, ‘You were here on Soul 73, Willis Johnson announced your location.’
I had at least four or five people come in.” Griffin said KKDA-AM helps to fill a
public information void for the African-American community in the Dallas area.
“It’s a [racial] mix on TV, and you might hear one thing, but if it comes from [Black]
radio, they take more heed” (E. Griffin, personal communication, Nov. 17, 1999).
Often, callers contact Johnson on behalf of others. A woman asks where to
find help for a young single mother. “A friend of my daughter just had a baby.... And
she was sick during the time she had the baby. So while she was in the hospital,
somebody broke in her apartment and took everything she had.” Johnson refers
the caller to a woman who leads a social-service agency. A male caller asks Johnson
where to find assistance in managing “disobedient children.” Johnson refers the
caller to the local “First Offender Program.” “It is an excellent program, and I’ve
seen it work,” Johnson tells the caller. A concerned parent calls to say that a gang
is harassing her son and his friends. “If we have other parents out there that are
concerned about their children...we really need to get involved in getting these
boys [the gang members] out of that school,” she says. At Johnson’s prompting,
she asks other parents to call her.
In the end, information is Johnson’s stock and trade—valuable capital that
was always seen as the primary purpose for mass media. And even his most