A popular morning radio show in St. Louis highlights the need for greater African-American media access
I
am a radio kid. I was raised on
radio. Especially morning radio. I grew up in the 1960s and morning radio was
the only media to get local news, weather, traffic and sports information. My mother was an avid weekday morning drive
radio listener and more often than not, KMOX 1120 AM
was the station of choice. KMOX is a
50,000 watt radio station that goes clear channel every evening at 6 pm and at that time can be heard
in 44
states and 4 countries (Canada,
Mexico, Puerto Rico and Cuba). KMOX was and still is a CBS O & O (owned and operated)
station and was run by the legendary Robert Hyland. Mr. Hyland was an innovator, a risk taker a
skilled negotiator and knew radio. His
greatest attribute was his knack for
recognizing and developing talent. KMOX was the birthplace of the call-in talk
show format and that was Mr. Hyland’s idea.
Some of the most influential and prominent broadcasters in history have
worked at KMOX – Harry Caray, Jack Buck, Joe Garagiola, Bill White,
Bob Costas, Dan Kelly, Gary Bender,
Dan Dierdorf and Russ Mitchell just to name some national names. However, names that may not be nationally
known but were known locally and regionally were no less talented. Jack Carney,
Bob Hardy, Bill Wilkerson (the first
professional broadcast partner of Bob Costas and the guy who jump started my
radio career), Mike Shannon, Jim White, Anne Keefe and Carol Daniel. This is the cream of the crop in radio. I’m certainly leaving some names out. But the point is made – KMOX was and still is
an influential radio station and the late Robert Hyland built this radio
empire. I did an internship in the KMOX
Sports Department back in the day and spent a lot of time there. I got the chance to get to know Robert Hyland
a little, which was not easy to do. Mr.
Hyland regularly checked into his office at 3 am EVERY morning and the
best time for outsiders to meet with him was between 3:30 and 4:00 am. He was as focused on his work as anyone I
have ever met in my life. He was,
without a doubt, one of the most influential radio executives in history.
I’m
not so sure how Mr. Hyland would feel about his surrogate child these days. On second thought, I am sure. He would be disgusted. Although it is still owned and operated by
the CBS Radio Network,
the station has become as conservative slanted as the Fox News Channel where the
majority of the hosts are conservative hacks and sycophants. Rush Limbaugh’s show is carried on KMOX and
Robert Hyland would have NEVER allowed such a polarizing
radio show on the KMOX airwaves. NEVER. The audience has always been conservative but
it was never allowed or encouraged to spew such one sided vitriol and bigoted
comments on the air as it is allowed and encouraged to do these days. It is safe to assume the majority of the
broadcasters from its Golden Era were just as conservative, if not more so,
than current broadcasters but listeners never knew it. Those broadcasters were as OBJECTIVE
as they were needed and expected to be.
These days, the majority of the talk show hosts and programmers are
conservative hacks and are proud of it.
Robert Hyland must be turning in his grave. All this week (November 3-November 7), the
morning talk show that airs from 8:30 – 11:00 am Monday through Friday has
broadcast live from businesses in Ferguson in an effort to highlight and
support businesses that have been affected by the unrest in Ferguson since Mike Brown was killed. The host of the show has expressed his
disgust with the protests and protesters because of the impact their actions
have had on businesses in Ferguson since the beginning of the unrest. He apparently convinced the powers that be at
the station to allow him to take his show on the road and prop up businesses he
felt were unfairly taking financial hits because of the protests he personally
has become disgusted with. It must be
nice to have such influence. The problem
I have with this radio sojourn and liberation is that it has taken place in the
“safe” area of Ferguson – on the Florissant Road corridor within close proximity of the Ferguson Police Department. Where the REAL financial hits
businesses in Ferguson have taken are the businesses on the West Florissant Avenue corridor. This host has not bothered to mention any of
those businesses, let alone broadcast from one or more of them. If he had a TRUE concern for the most
effected businesses in Ferguson, at least one of his shows would have
originated from one of the many businesses on the West Florissant Avenue
corridor. The impact those broadcasts
would have on those businesses would have gone a long way toward their bottom
lines. A popular radio show in St. Louis
highlights the need for greater African-American media access.
 |
| Bernie Hayes |
In
his book “The Death of Black Radio”,
St. Louis based media icon Bernie Hayes outlines the woes of black radio in particular
and black media in general. Mr. Hayes, a
60 year media veteran whose career has included stints in radio, television,
newspaper, the recording industry and academia, is more than qualified to
dissect this issue. Mr. Hayes has also
been known to take a phone call or two from a guy named Craig Riggins seeking advice on career moves and life moves. In his book, Bernie Hayes discusses the
importance to and impact on the African-American community radio historically
has enjoyed. Black people got
entertainment, information and spiritual outreach via radio and those
components remain to this day. He also
talks about how black announcers have been silenced by losing their jobs
because of having tremendous influence over their audience. He also discusses how few radio outlets in
particular and media outlets in general are owned by black people. He also discusses the responsibilities the
radio outlets that are black owned have to the black community and how some prominent
black announcers on the radio today are squandering the opportunities they have
to forward the black listening audience.
As is the case in many influential professions, African-Americans in the
media have basically been frozen out of the mix. The percentage of African-American ownership in media is miniscule. Very few radio, television and major newspapers are black owned. There are several well run black owned and operated weekly news
publications in the country. In fact, there is one in my neck of the woods – the St. Louis American. What African-Americans could really benefit is from a strong DAILY newspaper. The late Bob Maynard purchased the Oakland Tribune – a mainstream publication, no doubt – where as Publisher, he set the editorial tone for the paper. There were also several award winning African-American reporters and columnists on the staff of the Oakland Tribune which added much needed diversity in reporting and points of view. When Bob Maynard passed away Bay Area News Group bought the paper.
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| Bob Maynard |
Whenever
this subject comes up in conversation, Radio One is often referenced. That company is a black owned radio
conglomerate founded by Cathy Hughes. Her personal story is inspirational. She was a single mother when she bought her first
station, WOL-AM, in Washington, D.C.
back in 1980. She and her young son,
Alfred Liggins, actually lived in the radio station. She didn’t just wear several hats at the
station. She wore ALL of the hats. She sold time, she hosted shows, she
programmed the station – again, she wore ALL the hats. Radio One once owned 77 radio properties
across the country. It has downsized to
55 properties. As successful as the
company has been, when checking the formats of the stations under its umbrella,
there is not ONE exclusive news/talk station. Others will point to African-American
celebrity announcers. Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, Rickey Smiley and Michael Baisden come to mind.
Now ALL of these hosts are wealthier than I and they obviously have been
successful in monetizing their talents.
However, they offer up a variety show type formats with an emphasis on buffoonery
that emphasizes laughing as often as they can and as loud and uncontrollably as
possible. Michael Baisden, to a degree,
doesn’t lean too heavily on buffoonery as the others but he is short on
substance, too. Some will say
African-Americans don’t WANT substance based talk radio and
prefer radio buffoonery. That is
absolute POPPYCOCK. Black radio
listeners want substance based news/talk radio formats. If there were a nationally syndicated news/talk/political
format radio show with credible black announcers who could book the newsmakers
of the day as guests, black people would be all over that. The problem is there appears to be NO such radio program on the
horizon. The REAL solution is for
blacks to OWN more radio stations.
Black ownership would have control of the content and the talent. One obstacle would be to find advertisers COURAGEOUS
enough to sponsor substance based black information radio. All it would take is one courageous
advertiser and the rest would follow. Black
people spend between $500-$600 BILLION each and
every year and there would be competition between advertisers in gobbling up
all available advertising inventory on a radio show like that. All it takes is ONE and many would follow in
a hurry.
 |
| Cathy Hughes |
What
the KMOX host did this past week was good public service and that is not only a
fundamental obligation of radio and television stations, it is what the FCC requires them to do. In fairness to the host, the final show of
the week was broadcast from a black owned restaurant in Ferguson. My issue is KMOX missed the opportunity to
broadcast from businesses that were REALLY effected by the unrest in
Ferguson – the businesses along the West Florissant Avenue corridor that are
mostly minority owned. Is it reasonable
to expect a CBS Radio Network owned and operated station with an older, whiter,
conservative audience to show real concern for the solvency of minority
businesses in Ferguson? Probably not. That would be the responsibility of a BLACK
owned and operated radio station with a BLACK audience. Black people need to OWN radio stations that
can and will empower black people. It’s
just that simple. Or is it?
A popular morning radio show in
St. Louis highlights the need for greater African-American media access.
Peace, peace.
Craig Riggins
Facebook: The Riggins Report
Twitter: @CraigRiggins
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