NCBHP Archive Post

Hattie “Chatty Hatty” Leeper, a legendary Charlotte radio announcer, passed away at the age of 98 on October 13, 2026. She was the first Black female radio announcer in North Carolina, beginning her career in 1940 at age 14 with WGIV in Charlotte; by age 17, she had her own show. Leeper had an on-air career for 18 years with WGIV, WRPL, and WAYS, where she promoted and played some of the most influential R&B and Gospel artists in the 1940s and 50s, like Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Otis Redding. She was inducted into the Black Radio Hall of Fame in 1989 and eventually into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2025.