In the Chili’s Restaurant of Bala Cynwyd, PA (defunct) and during the night of one of the worst winter storms in Philadelphia’s history, seven people answered the call to start a fellowship of gospel music radio announcers. They called themselves PARC, The Philadelphia Area Religious Coterie. Among them was the convener, Rev. Clarence Blair, Geraldine Blair, Sis. Nitra Samuels, Linda Timmons, and several others. Their purpose was to unite so as to demand a more equitable treatment from the various recording companies. Prior to this, the representatives would subjectively choose which radio stations were serviced, which were not, and the order of servicing.

The group supported itself with dues and the proceeds from various sponsored music programs. Many local church musicians expressed an interest in the group, but their participation did not reflect the lip service at the time. They would later become influential in the trajectory of the group.

The group was successful for several years and was put into hibernation by the convener later on due to decreased interest and participation.

The group was resuscitated and halted several additional times until 20 October 2021 when the group was revived by Rev. Blair. Their temporary name reflected the membership at the time and a way to differentiate it from other on line music groups. After some time, the group decided to keep the name.

Their renewed purpose revolved around an initiative to harness the strength of all musicians via a union/coalition/guild that deals with the foibles of musicians, especially black church musicians. 

Currently, the members of the group gather weekly for a vlogcast over Zoom, on Wednesday evenings, 7 pm (Central). The motto is, “We agree to disagree.”

All are welcome.