[1] His parents died when he was young, and he grew up in Washington, D.C., where he was raised by relatives; he attended Howard University, but did not get a degree.
[2] Jackson began his career as a sportswriter, covering local and national black sporting events for the Washington DC Afro-American.
Four million listeners tuned in nightly to hear Jackson's mix of music and conversations with jazz and show business celebrities.
[6] In 1971, Jackson and Percy Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, co-founded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation (ICBC), which acquired WLIB — becoming the first African-American owned-and-operated station in New York.
[7][8] The following year, ICBC acquired WLIB-FM, changing its call letters to WBLS ("the total Black experience in Sound").