Tales of Philadelphians told in public-radio series

Their stories range from that of a black family that became the first to move into an all-white neighborhood in the 1950s, to that of a Philly cop who worked undercover infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan.

The stories were recorded by StoryCorps, as part of a national archive of the lives of everyday Americans, and will air over the next 26 weeks on WHYY (90.9-FM).

The first, the story of Frank Moore Sr., an African-American who moved into an all-white neighborhood in the Northeast about 50 years ago, aired yesterday and can be heard again tomorrow at 5:45 p.m.

The same airing schedule, Wednesdays at 1:35 p.m. and Fridays at 5:45 p.m., during WHYY's "Day to Day" and "All Things Considered" broadcasts, will continue throughout the series of "oral histories," said Jeff Bundy, senior publicist at WHYY.

Some of the stories told to StoryCorps by Philadelphians also will be aired nationally on NPR's "Morning Edition."

Moore, 78, recounted that one set of neighbors never talked with the Moores during the 40 years the other family lived next to them.

Other local oral histories to be aired on WHYY include those of Mary Vanetta Chalmers, the roller-skating "grandma on wheels"; Benjamin Weiss, who recalls an old job he had vaccinating chickens, and Larry Schworer, a "polar bear," or someone brave enough to swim in freezing waters.

The story of a former Philly cop, now 72, who uses the alias Don Williams, recounts how he worked undercover for 10 years as a Klan "member," and that, after retiring, he gave his Klan robe, his membership card and a copy of the "Kloran," or KKK bible, to Philadelphia's African American Museum.

StoryCorps is a project of Sound Portraits Productions, in partnership with National Public Radio and the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.

About 120 StoryCorps interviews were done here last November. The life stories are recorded in interviews using a family member or friend as the questioner. *