By Norris Knox
Atlanta, Georgia – Longtime Atlanta radio industry veteran, entrepreneur and community advocate Norris Knox, has been serving in the Atlanta and Cobb County communities for over 56 years combined, since moving from Fort Jackson, South Carolina in 1969 as a 9-year-old. Many years later he would go on to co-find a carrier-current radio station at age11, as well as establish his own low-powered radio station at age 22.
In 1999, he created My Brother’s Keepers Outreach International, a non-profit organization established to assist poor families and people who lived in the defunct Bankhead Courts Housing Community while a student at Beulah Heights University. His organization was a contracted service provider with the Atlanta Housing Authority, providing Substance Abuse Education and Mental Health Counseling programs, that were based on a wellness approach to health for women and their families. The non-profit served Atlanta and parts of Mableton and the Powder Springs from 1999 until 2016, both cities in Cobb County. In 2011 the organization teamed up with the former City of Powder Springs Police Community Affairs Officer Lieutenant Judy Collins, in 2011 assisting citizens who were experiencing a financial or mental health crisis. And again in 2016, he was asked to spearhead a Youth Summer Program by current Powder Springs Mayor Al Thurman.
Currently Knox is on the verge of releasing his first book after 30 years in the making, once realizing that so much misinformation was reported on the Atlanta Missing Children’s Murder’s key suspect Wayne Williams. Knox explained how he and Williams were next door neighbors and childhood friends for several years. He noted as a teenager in the early 1970s how he enjoyed listening to AM radio, which was the big thing back. Knox was a big fan of local radio stations in Atlanta and listened frequently to WAOK, WIGO and WXAP (formerly WERD).
And how he would listen on a clear night to radio stations out of state on his mother’s German made stereo system, he would tune in to radio stations like WLS-AM in Chicago and, WLAC-AM Nashville, WOWO-AM Fort Wayne, Indiana and WABC-AM New York City were among his favorites to listen to. On a hot summer afternoon during a summer break from school, Knox pitched the idea to Williams of starting their own radio station. “It’s still unbelievable,” said Knox in how young we were as 7th graders, still attending elementary school running a commercial radio station and making a little money as Disc- jockeys.
We began visiting many of the local radio stations and became friends with several local iconic “Boyd (Doctor Feelgood), David Smith (Z93), Harrison Smith, Chico Renfro, Jo Walker, Dee Robert Scott, Jerry Thompson, Larry Darnell (Night Train Lane), Alvin Pearson (The Jive Master), Hal Lamar and the one and only Scottie Andrews who created the V-103 on-air programming and was its first Program Director.
I know that brings back a lot of great memories for many native Atlantans over the age of fifty, says Knox who grew up listening to black AM radio Atlanta. As young teens would visit the SCLC Headquarters (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) in downtown Atlanta on Historic Auburn Avenue. We would visit Reverend Dr. Hosea Williams a Civil Rights icon and then National Communications Director Tyrone Brooks, who would later serve in the Georgia House of Representatives. We also would visit the offices of the Atlanta Daily World Newspaper and WXAP- AM radio station (formerly WERD-AM) the nation’s first black owned radio station, they were all in the same building.
When I returned to Atlanta from college in 1979, it was strange to hear the news of the Atlanta Child Murders once I went to my parents’ home. I had not talked with Williams in over four years and was very shocked to hear that Wayne Williams was identified as the key suspect in the Missing Children case. It has been more than four decades after his conviction; Wayne Bertram Williams is serving two life sentences at the Telfair State Prison in Georgia for killing two African American men. He was arrested on June 21,1981 at his parent’s home who both are deceased, with no prior criminal record Williams was never charged for the children murders, but law enforcement believed that Williams was connected in some way.
There are several younger adults living in Atlanta today, who were not born during the child murders who are not familiar with the tragic events that took place over 40 years ago. The name Wayne Williams is familiar to many of them, from hearing the many stories from older siblings and parents who lived through it. There are still several people who are now curious and very optimistic about if Williams acted alone, or if he committed the crimes at all.
For the first time in four decades a tell all book and soon to be released documentary will be available to the public about Wayne Williams and his early life. I know that many have seen on local television said Knox, newscasts and documentaries on NETFLIX, and other major television networks the stories that are being recycled from network to network. I’ve had many film production companies who have wanted to write my story, but I think it’s best that I tell my own story, said Knox.
To find out more information about the book and documentary send email inquiry to: Norris.Knox@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/norris-knox-sr-8a844045/
Last updated on July 8, 2024
