By Glenn Frizell
BLACK HISTORY, NOTABLE BROADCASTERS, FEB. 15; William Venoid Banks was the founder, President and General Manager of the first black-owned and black-operated television station, WGPR-TV in Detroit and WGPR-FM (which became Detroit’s first black radio station) . He was also a lawyer and a minister. Mr. Banks was born in Geneva, Ky., and graduated from Lincoln Institute of Kentucky. He earned degrees from what is now Wayne State University and from the Detroit College of Law. He also attended the Detroit Baptist Seminary and was ordained a minister in 1949. He was also the founder of the International free and accepted masons. A biography of Banks’ life, A Legacy of Dreams, was written by S. T. Gregory.
