WURD, a black-owned radio show based in Philadelphia, has officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, four days before the general election.

“WURD Radio is a marketplace for ideas, conversations and public dialogue. “However, we are also acutely aware of the extraordinary risks of the current presidential election and the clear and present threat that Donald Trump represents to our society.” A statement published on the website Friday. “That’s why we decided to take the unprecedented step of endorsing Kamala Harris.”

WURD had not endorsed a political candidate at any level since its founding in 2003 by physician Walter P. Lomax; The organization said it “stayed away” from this decision until Friday.

WURD said its decision was partly motivated by recent developments Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos And Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times They are pressuring editorial boards not to endorse Harris. Both newspapers, with the influence of the Post, saw massive pushback on the decisions. Losing over 200,000 subscribers following disapproval.

“We are witnessing how democracy dies in the dark pockets of greedy owners,” WURD said.

The radio station is the only Black-owned talk radio station in Pennsylvania, as well as only one of three remaining nationally. According to WURD, he also took this statistic into consideration before getting the approval.

While President Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, WURD radio host Andrea Lawful leaves the station After it was revealed that Lawful used a series of questions provided by the Biden campaign to interview the president live on air in July. The interview came after Biden’s poor debate performance. experts, Democratic operatives and Biden’s own staff The question is whether Biden will stay in the race.

” READ MORE: Andrea Lawful-Sanders leaves WURD after Biden campaign submits questions for Joe Biden interview

“It is not an uncommon practice for interviewees to share their preferred topics,” a Biden campaign spokesman said. he told the Washington Post In that case. But WURD president and CEO Sara Lomax said using agreed-upon questions “violates our practice of remaining an independent media organization accountable to our listeners,” jeopardizes trust and is “not a practice in which WURD Radio participates or supports.” it is a matter of practice or official policy.”

Lawful had arranged the interview and reviewed the list of questions without the knowledge of WURD management.

Before making the endorsement, WURD said it considered how Harris and former President Donald Trump would address issues important to Philadelphia’s Black community, such as reproductive freedom and maternal mortality, student loan forgiveness and the causes of systemic poverty. While non-Hispanic Black women accounted for 43 percent of births in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2018, they accounted for more than 73 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in Philadelphia. A 2022 study from the City of Philadelphia. Historically, Philly residents are paying more student loan debt than college graduates living in other major American cities.

“These policies that impact our community are issues that the Harris-Walz campaign has committed to implementing,” WURD said.

” READ MORE: Opinion: Vice President Harris’s interview with the National Association of Black Journalists was a subdued one, in sharp contrast to Trump’s wild session.

WURD’s statement also likened this moment to the election of Barack Obama in 2008, stating that Harris’ identity “will mark a new era of possibility for young women everywhere, especially Black and Brown women and girls.”

“We have seen how the Black community has been vilified and underestimated during this election,” the station said. “WURD Radio has managed to present a counter-narrative… This is our work day and night.”