New Orleans
Wendell Pierce — New Orleans native, Juilliard-trained actor, and WBOK owner — invites remarkable people into the studio for the kind of conversation that rarely makes it to air anywhere else. His guests share their insights on culture, current events, the state of Black America, and the work that defines their lives.
Pierce has spent decades in the rooms where history gets made — on the set of The Wire, on Broadway, in the streets of New Orleans after Katrina, and in the boardrooms where WBOK’s future was rebuilt. That breadth of experience makes him a host unlike any other: equally comfortable discussing jazz, systemic inequality, Hollywood, and the particular genius it takes to be Black and successful in America.
Profiles airs live at noon and is rebroadcast on weekends. Listen live on WBOK 1230 AM or stream at wbok1230.com.
Wendell Edward Pierce was born and raised in Pontchartrain Park, New Orleans — the first African American postwar suburb in the United States. He trained at the Juilliard School and built one of the most distinguished acting careers of his generation, earning recognition for his roles in The Wire, Treme, Suits, and Jack Ryan. As a 16-year-old, Pierce first learned radio at WYLD under broadcaster Brute Bailey. Today, as a co-owner of WBOK 1230 AM, he has come full circle — using the platform to give voice to the community he grew up in and has always fought for.