Lorenzo Jelks

Obituary For Lorenzo Jelks

Celebration of Life Service for Mr. Lorenzo Jelks of Atlanta, GA, will be Saturday, March 11, 2023, at 11:00AM; Antioch Baptist Church North, 540 Cameron Alexander Blvd. NW., Atlanta, GA 30318.

A public viewing will be Friday, March 10, 2023, from 4:00PM - 8:00PM; Willie A. Watkins Historic West End Chapel, (404) 758-1731.

Inurnment; Georgia National Cemetery

Lorenzo “Lo” Jelks, a former WSB-TV reporter and Atlanta’s first Black television reporter, has died at the age of 83. Lo Jelks joined WSB-TV in 1967. He stayed with the station until 1976. Born in St. Petersburg, FL, Jelks got his start in radio. He ran a weekly music radio show as a high school student in 1995. He graduated from Clark College, now Clark Atlanta University, in 1961 and was operations manager at WIGO-AM, an R&B station, in Atlanta when he got the call from WSB-TV. Jelks later went on to build a carrier-current radio station (housed on the campus of Morehouse College), “WAUC -AM” Radio that served the Atlanta University Center (AUC). While providing meaningful opportunities for AUC students to work and learn the business of broadcasting, Jelks along with other staff launched The AUC Digest, originally as a newsletter publication to promote the radio station. However, after un-forecasted success, the newspaper began to attract advertisers and new opportunities for growth as a Monday morning newspaper serving the AUC. In addition to The AUC Digest newspaper, Mr. Jelks launched the National Association of Black College Broadcasters and hosted the Annual Black College Radio Convention in Atlanta for over 20 years. In 2022, he was inducted into the Atlanta Press Club Hall of Fame. Prior to his death, the Atlanta Press Club also established the 2023 Atlanta Press Club Lorenzo “Lo” Jelks Communications and Marketing Internship sponsored by the Georgia Power Foundation. His family has also set up the Lo Jelks Broadcast Journalism Endowed Scholarship at his alma mater, Clark Atlanta University.

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