For Years, He’s Delivered Love’s Doctrine to the Masses

He’s called “Baby” Love, but if you expect his broadcasts to consist of fast-talking, soul-styled rap, think again. Walt “Baby” Love may be one of urban radio’s true veterans--his “The Countdown With Walt ‘Baby’ Love” recently won its sixth Billboard magazine award for best R&B; syndicated show--but he’s a man who is walking his own path, in his own way.

Love is, for one thing, a firmly committed Christian and an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. For the past 2 1/2 years he has been minister of media for the First A.M.E. Church here.

“I even preach a bit when the Rev. Dr. Cecil L. ‘Chip’ Murray gives me the chance,” Love said. “A week or so ago I got to preach at an A.M.E. church in Ohio. The subject was about how God can shake your world through prayer, and I titled it ‘Shake, Rattle and Stroll.’ ”

The three-time nominee to the Radio Hall of Fame is also a columnist for Radio & Records and syndicates three radio shows from his Los Angeles studio, with “The Countdown” joined by “Gospel Traxx” and “African Americans Making History Today.”

“Countdown,” which surveys the 25 chart-topping songs of the week in contemporary urban music and offers in-studio interviews with performers such as Whitney Houston, Babyface and Patti LaBelle, is carried by roughly 130 stations nationally, as well as 75 countries. In Los Angeles, it’s carried by KJLH-FM (102.3).

“Gospel Traxx,” a gospel music showcase that blends recordings and live interviews, is syndicated to more than 180 stations worldwide, including KKBT-FM (92.3) in L.A.

“African Americans Making History Today” is a series of 60-second audio snapshots of individuals making positive changes in their communities, emphasizing doctors, lawyers and educators rather than entertainers and athletes.

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The fiftysomething Love (he prefers to describe himself as a “mature gentleman”) was born in a small town near Pittsburgh, where he was a high school All-American in football and basketball. After majoring in sociology at Gannon University, he served in Vietnam as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division. But radio beckoned while he was still in college.

“My first job was at Erie’s WWYN,” he recalls. “I was playing Eydie Gorme, Les Elgart, Andre Kostelanetz and Lawrence Welk. But it was a chance to be on the radio, as a black person, proving that I could articulate whatever was necessary without having someone say, ‘Oh, that’s the black guy.’ ”

Later in his career, during a stint at a station in Houston, Love was on the air for six months before his image was featured in a series of billboards, identifying him for the first time--to the surprise of his audience--as an African American.

“Everybody in my family has been college-educated, and everybody speaks pretty much the way I do,” Love says. “There is no ethnicity to the sound and quality of our speech patterns.

“The problem is that this sometimes raises a dual problem. Not only are we fighting racism in white America, we’re fighting racism and jealousy in the black community. Plenty of blacks say to me, ‘Well, who do you think you are? Do you think you’re somebody white? You trying to speak like them?’ And I just say, ‘Wait a minute. Articulation and good speech don’t have anything to do with color. You’re either intelligent or you’re ignorant.’ ”

There’s not much doubt, however, that Love’s voice contributed to his rise in radio. At Houston’s KILT he was the first African American to work for the Lin Broadcasting chain of stations in the South. (Love’s nickname traces to this period in his career, when a fellow DJ introduced him by playing the Supremes’ “Baby Love.”) A few years later, he became the first African American to work for RKO radio.

“I had no idea I was breaking barriers. I just felt God was offering me an opportunity,” Love says. “And having been raised in the Christian faith, I believed that you have to always be prepared so that when an opportunity comes and a door opens, you can step through, as opposed to making excuses about not being allowed through it because of racism.

“I was lucky enough to meet people who didn’t care about my color. They cared about whether or not I could garner an audience. And that, I always could do.”

When major syndicator Westwood One asked Love if he had any programming ideas, he was quick to respond.

“I told them I wanted to do a high-quality, syndicated black countdown program,” he says. “And they said, ‘All right. How much do you want to be paid?’ I said, ‘I don’t want to be paid anything. I want to own it, with you. Because you’re already millionaires, and if this works, then someday I will be too.’ They agreed. And they came up with the money, even before there were sponsors.”

“Gospel Traxx” was a riskier effort, in part because he lost his joint-venture partner when Westwood One decided to pass on the idea of a gospel music show. With the help of his wife, Sonya (who programs all the music on “Gospel Traxx”), he made a demo and shipped it out to 150 stations.

“My wife and I prayed about it,” he says, “and it worked. We started as a one-hour show on 96 radio stations, just as the result of those mailings and the phone calls we made. To me, that epitomizes the Scripture that says, ‘If God is for you, who can be against you?’ ”

More than three years ago, Love was stricken with kidney cancer and given a 50-50 chance of survival. The removal of one kidney has made him cancer-free. But the experience also solidified his bonds with his wife, his son Stephan and his faith.

“When it’s all said and done, when I’ve got to do what we’ve all got to do, which is to die in this life and move on to everlasting life with Jesus Christ, I want God to say, ‘All right, Walter. You did a good job.’ I really want that.”

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“The Countdown With Walt ‘Baby’ Love” can be heard 9-11 p.m. on KJLH-FM (102.3). “Gospel Traxx” can be heard at 5-7 a.m. on KKBT-FM (92.3) in L.A.