Friday, July 21, 2000
'Fly Jock' show free at Aronoff
By Earnest Winston
The Cincinnati Enquirer
He's part entertainer, part disc jockey and part social activist. He uses his microphone as a tool to raise money for historically black colleges, urge people to vote or influence institutions to treat blacks fairly.
As a result, he is among the most influential voices on radio and in the African-American community.
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JOYNER FILE
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Occupation: Dallas-based host of The Tom Joyner Morning Show, which can be heard 6-10 a.m. weekdays on WCIN—AM (1480).
Education: Bachelor's degree in sociology from Tuskegee (Ala.) Institute.
Family: Two children from previous marriage. Engaged to fitness expert Donna Richardson.
Awards: Four-time winner of Billboard magazine's best Urban Contemporary Air Personality; first African-American inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame; winner of Congressional Black Caucus Humanitarian Award.
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His name is Tom Joyner, but he calls himself “The Fly Jock.” That's because he racked up hundreds of thousands of frequent flier miles earlier in his career commuting daily between radio stations in Chicago and Dallas for eight years.
Now, his ABC Radio Networks syndicated show is heard daily on more than 100 stations around the United States. Seven million listeners, including more than 30,000 Tristate listeners on WCIN-AM (1480), tune in each week to hear R&B and '70s-era funk mu sic, as well as features, celebrity interviews, comedy bits and news.
Mr. Joyner brings his infectious on-air personality to the Aronoff Center 6-10 a.m.
today for a free live “sky show,” four hours of entertainment, interactive contests and a voter registration drive.
During his visit, he will receive a key to the city and a proclamation proclaiming July 21-23 “Tom Joyner Weekend in Ohio.” He's also scheduled to throw out the first pitch at Saturday's Reds game.
“He transcends many different kinds of formats, and thus many different kinds of lifestyles,” said Michael Harrison, editor of Massachusetts-based Talkers Magazine, the self-proclaimed “bible of talk radio.”
“He's a music personality, he's a talk-show host, he is a person who relates to the African-American community and brings it pride, but also bridges the gap between that community and the greater mix of American people,” Mr. Harrison said. “He's a bridge builder, and a positive social force. And most of all, he's very entertaining and very clever.”
Each morning, listeners of The Tom Joyner Morning Show hear the all-black soap opera set in the community of Wellington, where everyone does well, and “little known black history facts.”
They can also express themselves on such topics: “the best fight you've ever seen,” “who you know that changes their phone number all the time,” and “what is in your house that you will not let anyone touch.”
He is joined on the air by cohorts J. Anthony Brown, Sybil Wilkes, Ms. Dupree, Myra J. and Tavis Smiley.
Jordan Smith, 39, of Fairfield said she frequently listens to Mr. Joyner's show. “I always looked at him as motivational, always making a person feel encouraging and wanting to strive for the best.” Mr. Joyner says his show tries to “strike the match.”
“We're the match-striker that lights the fire of some 7 million listeners to try to make a change, be it politically or economically in the community, or educationally” with his foundation that has raised $2.5 million for historically black colleges and universities, he said. “We're the avenue to the people. We can reach more African-Americans on a daily basis in this country than any other source. With that responsibility, we try to take that resource and put it to good use.”
Mr. Joyner, who won't reveal his real age, emphasizes that his radio show isn't unique. Black radio traditionally has been a means of uniting the community. During the civil rights movement, listeners tuned in to learn where to protest, boycott and march, he said.
“It's intended to entertain, inform and empower our black community. That's what black radio has always been about,” Mr. Joyner said.
Joyner's crusades
Three years ago, he organized a protest against Christie's auction house in New York after learning the auction house was planning to auction off slave memorabilia. The company has a policy of not auctioning memorabilia from the Holocaust.
Listeners flooded Christie's with calls, and eventually the auction house and the consignor decided to donate the slave posters to a museum.
A Christie's spokeswoman said, “We received concerned feedback about this ... (and) we made the decision to withdraw the items.”
In 1998, Mr. Joyner campaigned against New York ad-buying firm Katz Media Group, after exposing an internal memo by the company urging its clients to avoid minority-owned radio stations because they want “prospects, not suspects.” Later, the president of the company apologized on Mr. Joyner's show.
In October, Mr. Joyner got involved in his murkiest campaign yet. He took to the air after receiving a faxed letter with CompUSA's letterhead degrading blacks. He criticized the computer retailer for failing to advertise to blacks, and urged listeners to send their receipts to the company. Although Mr. Joyner later learned the memo was a hoax, he continued to protest.
ABC threatened to unplug his show. Eventually, Mr. Joyner met with CompUSA's president, who appeared on the show and agreed to hire a black advertising agency.
“We have picked the battles that we thought we could win,” said the Tuskegee, Ala., native. “But that CompUSA one was a close one. That was tough. That went 10 weeks.”
"I'll do it'
Mr. Joyner says he “stumbled” into the radio business.
“I had done a weekend show in Tuskegee (in the late '60s) as a result of a protest that we had going on against the radio stations because they weren't playing any black music,” Mr. Joyner said. “The protest didn't last very long.”
The radio station owner came outside and told the protesters he'd let whoever was interested in hosting a show on Saturdays.
“I said, "I'll do it.'”
More than 30 years later, his passion to inform and crack jokes still burns.
“I'll be in some form of radio forever,” he said. “Radio is what I do. I got the face for it.”
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