Arthur Bernard Leaner (June 30, 1908 – September 6, 1978), who was known professionally as Al Benson, was an American radio DJ, music promoter and record label owner in Chicago between the 1940s and 1960s.
He learned tap dancing with his father's jazz band as a child,[2] and worked in vaudeville shows before moving with his parents in 1923 to Chicago.
There, he founded a storefront church, and worked in a wide variety of jobs including cook and probation officer, as well as becoming an established figure in Congressman William Dawson's political machine.
[3] In 1945, using the pseudonym Al Benson, he started broadcasting a regular weekly one-hour secular show on WGES, in a different slot in which – unlike in the religious program – he was allowed to advertise products.
[5] He became popular among both local and national advertisers for his ability to sell the products that they were marketing, former WGES executive Elizabeth Hinzman describing him as "the greatest salesman that I have ever known".
The labels recorded such musicians as T-Bone Walker, J.B. Lenoir, Sunnyland Slim, Albert King, Willie Mabon, Coleman Hawkins, Lorez Alexandria, and, later in the 1960s, Magic Sam and others.
[1] Although changing tastes and Benson's "flamboyant and self-willed" character eventually undermined his popularity,[2] he remained actively involved in the civil rights movement, ensuring the integration of nightclubs that had refused to serve black customers, and on one occasion in 1956 hiring an airplane to drop 5,000 copies of the United States Bill of Rights over Mississippi.
[1][2][6] Benson retired from broadcasting at WVON in 1963, and for a time returned to being a pastor while maintaining some of his business interests and moving to live in Three Oaks, Michigan.
In later life he encountered problems and became ill with poor blood circulation, causing amputation of his legs,[8] thus limiting his ability to work and pay taxes, resulting in the IRS taking his home.