WDAS-FM is a commercial radio station that is widely regarded as the originator of the adult urban contemporary format, originally mixing album-oriented, rhythm & blues hits along with blue-eyed soul, and for the last 40 years a mix of contemporary R&B. On Sept. 1, 1959, WDAS-FM signed on the air, joining its sister station, WDAS-AM, which was already a powerful music and news voice throughout the region and nation. The two stations were owned by Max Leon, who had acquired WDAS in 1950.

One of the unlikely stars in WDAS history is journalist and author Wynne Alexander, who has been a champion for many decades of causes important to the Black community and social justice activists.

For example, Alexander is the author of the civil rights history book and study guide, “Get It From The Drums,” believed to be the first musically infused civil rights curriculum in the United States. The book also includes a 15-song CD produced by Alexander to accompany the text, and features interviews with and music by many music luminaries.

Alexander convinced 17 music legends to donate their lyric and sound rights to better illustrate the curriculum. Leading artists featured on the CD were Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Nina Simone, Buffalo Springfield, Curtis Mayfield, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Edwin Starr, Country Joe and the Fish, The Chambers Brothers, Barry McGuire, Phil Ochs, the O’Jays, and Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.

The book’s historical narrative also included in-depth interviews with Mrs. Thurgood Marshall and Adam Clayton Powell III. Alexander also wrote “Jazz in the City: The Legends of Philadelphia’s Jazz Machine,” chronicling Philadelphia’s contributions to jazz history along with producing a 10-song CD which accompanies the text.

Alexander grew up in Lower Merion and Wynnefield and attended Friends Central High School. Her career in broadcasting began in her late teens as an anchor and political reporter at WDAS, where her grandfather Max Leon owned the station and father Bob Klein was the general manager.

When asked how she entered the legendary WDAS newsroom while still 18 years old, she said, “It’s helpful to have talent and also a grandfather in broadcasting. I did a mini-documentary on how an opera is produced, ‘Faust,’ at the Academy of Music. And it caught Max Leon’s eye.”

The family’s business, love of music and community involvement helped nurture Alexander’s interests.

“I had a very special education between the music my grandfather, mother and father were participating in, then steeped in history books by my father starting in seventh grade, music theory and composition starting in ninth grade, graduated from high school and then graduated from the University of WDAS,” she told the Local last week. “I began working on the ‘Get It From The Drums’ civil rights book in late 2004. It took two years to complete, counting the recording contracts I had to negotiate.”

The book hit PBS and Philly classrooms between 2006 and 2008. It became part of the Philadelphia School District’s curriculum, mostly for seniors. It was routinely used in three different school departments — history, English and music.

Alexander is also a talented singer/songwriter who has played for Pearl S. Buck, of Nobel and Pulitzer Prize fame, and the prime minister of Sri Lanka. She says that training in a newsroom was the best music conservatory possible.

Alexander has made numerous TV and radio appearances discussing various facets of her career, which a tribute from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives called “her life’s work at the intersection of music, civil rights and journalism.” Former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. has called her “a leading voice for social justice.”

Kenny Gamble, two-time Grammy winner, who along with Leon A. Huff were a songwriting and production duo credited with developing the Philadelphia soul music genre of the 1970s, said in an earlier interview, “One word, ‘strong,’ best describes Wynne’s music, her performances and lyrics … Her record as a voice for social justice is equally bold and impressive.”

The Northwest was an important part of the WDAS audience and general manager Klein was part of the Northwest Political Alliance. The region was also important to Alexander’s development as a journalist.

“The news department was always reaching out to the community. Germantown was very important to our listeners, and [Germantown community activist] Mattie Humphrey was extremely important to WDAS. Mattie took me around to introduce me to community organizations in Chestnut Hill, Mt. Airy and Germantown, all through the city.

“She ‘arranged’ my first press conference, which was at the State Office Building. She was very active in trying to save Philadelphia General Hospital, and the meeting that day was with Gov. Milton Shapp and health activists. I was the only reporter,” Alexander continued. “Mattie was a visionary human rights and health advocate and was also the station’s on-air public service program director. She guided me around town in those first years on the air. That press conference also focused on high health insurance prices, the same issue we have today.”

Asked about WDAS fostering political and social change, Alexander said, “Yes, there sure was lot of that. I was the third generation of ’DAS trying to get political leadership to reflect the neighborhood. Legislative seats in Black neighborhoods were then still held by whites. Klein and Leon created news platforms which helped Black candidates become better known. We helped the state legislature and City Council reflect the real residential constituency. We helped put in place one Black-held seat after another.”

Another area of grave concern was Mayor Frank Rizzo. “We held him accountable to the facts,” she said. “He did not like us. He also had a police brutality problem, he was not a good mayor and harmed the city in many structural ways as well. We derailed his attempted City Charter change that would have allowed him to run for a third term and crown himself king. As Sister Falaka Fattah said, ‘WDAS was the hub of the anti-Rizzo forces, Western Union Telegram and the internet combined.’ At the time, Rizzo and plenty of pundits were quite sure he was going to win. We reported his years as mayor and police commissioner were terrible and that he should lose, and we also launched a voter registration drive to seal things up for a victory. For the first time, there were more registered Black Democrats than white Democrats.”

And Rizzo lost.

Alexander is currently working on a book, “The Most Humane-Based Enlightened 30 years in American History, 1950-80.”

“It was a time of human rights emphasis; civil rights-charged legislation and laws of accountability were passed, and ways of doing business changed,” she said. “Ways of looking at the world changed, and the overall goodness quotient went up. We genuinely helped change things for the better.”

For more information, visit wynnealexander.com or WDASHistory.org. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.