Category Archives: radio

Easy Come………..

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

 

………..and so goes Syndication One.

Nice idea. But next time, if you want to make Baisden money, then hire a Baisden! LOL!

Meanwhile, Black America is still gonna need a Black news-talk radio network, particularly during the election. Any takers?

(HEARS CRICKETS CHIRP 😉 ) 

I thought not. No one has any McDonald’s money—for Black information, at least. Meanwhile, look at the total of annual Black spending.

And, as we process allathat, here’s something to check out.

OCTOBER 9th UPDATE: Sharpton may be staying. More on this as the facts come out.

OCTOBER 11 UPDATE: Richard Prince just sent me this. Okay, so Sharpton stays and the Stews go—along with any other talk.

————

For Immediate Release
Thursday, October 11, 2007

Contact Information
Maiya Hollie
Communications Manager
REACH Media Inc.
(972) 371-5851
maiya.hollie@reachmediainc.com

RICKEY SMILEY AND YOLANDA ADAMS FIRST OF NEW TALENT ADDED TO SYNDICATION ONE’S RADIO LINEUP

Radio One’s Syndication Network Announces Programming Expansion

(Black PR Wire)LANHAM, MD– October 11, 2007 – Syndication One announced today that it plans to expand its programming beginning with two feature weekday morning shows which include Rickey Smiley and Yolanda Adams.

Syndication One, a joint relationship between Radio One, Inc. and REACH Media Inc., has made programming changes in an effort to extend its lineup to include established talent that complement music based programming, as well as FM radio stations.

“The Al Sharpton Show, Keeping It Real,” which has proven to be a popular draw on weekdays addressing news and talk issues, will continue with Syndication One. Current radio shows, “The 2 Live Stews” and “The Warren Ballentine Show,” will end their run with Syndication One in December.

“We’re excited to be bringing additional creative and entertaining programming to the urban radio market place,” stated Alfred Liggins, President and CEO of Radio One. “Rickey Smiley and Yolanda Adams are proven talent that can be a morning show cornerstone for key stations.”

Popular comedian Rickey Smiley, who has already established rating success on Dallas’s KBFB 97.9 The Beat, a Radio One, Inc. station, has generated a number of inquiries that have prompted syndication opportunities. “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” has already been added on WHHL-FM in St. Louis and WFXA-FM in Augusta.

Grammy award winning gospel artist Yolanda Adams has developed an inviting morning show with a mix of praise and inspiration launched on Houston’s KROI Praise 92.1 FM. “The Yolanda Adams Show” is syndicated to twelve markets, including Praise 97.5 WPZE-FM in Atlanta, 94.1 WXEZ-FM in Norfolk and Praise 103.9 WPPZ-FM in Philadelphia.

About Syndication One

Syndication One is a joint relationship between Radio One Inc. and REACH Media Inc. and is designed to develop African American targeted programming. Over the past year, the programming has been at the center of the nation’s hottest issues engaging all viewpoints.

Syndication One currently features “The Al Sharpton Show,” “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show,” and “The Yolanda Adams Show.” REACH Media Inc. is the authorized sales representative firm for each of the radio shows.

Radio One, Inc. (http://www.radio-one.com) is the nation’s seventh largest radio broadcasting company (based on 2006 net broadcast revenue) and the largest radio broadcasting company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners.

Pro forma for recently announced transactions, Radio One owns and/or operates 55 radio stations located in 18 urban markets in the United States. Additionally, Radio One owns Magazine One, Inc. (d/b/a Giant Magazine) (http://www.giantmag.com), interests in TV One, LLC (http://www.tvoneonline.com), a cable/satellite network programming primarily to African Americans and REACH Media, Inc. (http://www.blackamericaweb.com), owner of The Tom Joyner Morning Show and other businesses associated with Tom Joyner. Radio One also operates the only nationwide African American news/talk network on free radio and programs “XM 169 The POWER,” an African-American news/talk channel, on XM Satellite Radio.

REACH Media Inc., founded by radio and television personality, philanthropist and entrepreneur Tom Joyner, is a multimedia company formed in January 2003. As the parent company of The Tom Joyner Morning Show, The Tom Joyner Show in television syndication, BlackAmericaWeb.com, The Tom Joyner Foundation and Tom Joyner signature events, REACH Media targets African Americans through radio, television, signature events and the internet. The Tom Joyner Morning Show is aired in more than 115 markets throughout the United States, reaching more than 8 million listeners every week.

BlackAmericaWeb.com, which has more than 1.3 million registered members, is a virtual town square for visitors to get daily news, learn about issues affecting the black community and listen to the Morning Show online.

For more information about the shows or to set up interviews with the hosts, contact Maiya Hollie, 972.371.5851, maiya.hollie@reachmediainc.com. Companies interested in obtaining any of the shows for broadcast should contact Melody Talkington, vice president, affiliate relations for REACH Media Inc., 972.371.5845,
melody.talkington@reachmediainc.com.

Book Review: "Sentences: The Life Of M.F. Grimm"

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

SENTENCES: The Life of MF Grimm
By Percy Carey and Ronald Wimberly
Vertigo Books/DC Comics
$19.99, ISBN: 978-1-4012-1046-5

He was thisclose to getting out of The Life for good before the bullets came for his spine. But Percy Carey himself makes it hard to feel sorry for him before and after he was paralyzed from the waist down. Carey grew up in the ‘Hood before it became glamorized in 1990s song and film, and rolled with it simultaneously on his own and its terms. So he simultaneously produced hiphop and pain, strife and glory, street legend status and a criminal record.

So goes “Sentences,” the story of MF Grimm, a.k.a. “The Grimm Reaper,” and his battles using guns on the New York City streets and using words onstage as a rapper with serious potential undercut by tragedy. Carey’s first-person account, published in graphic novel form by DC Comics’ Vertigo imprint, is awash with paradox: shootouts in the afternoon and MC battles that same night; the boring monotony of drug dealing, and the most powerful love mixed in with the most violent hate.

This kind of nonfiction genre’s usual suspects show up—anger, the informant, jail life, redemption, realization, determination. Along the way, the reader gets a bi-coastal idea of how hiphop formed from the days of Run-DMC’s label-approved party jams through MF Doom’s independent moves. Carey was clearly a player: he met Chuck D, once shared a stage with KRS-One, assisted several Death Row Record artists (including Snoop Dogg), and even once interviewed Nas for “Right On!” magazine. As Grimm himself doesn’t fail to point out, he got shot before Corporate Music America learned to pimp that as a marketing move.

Carey relays his tale with a stark power that would make Ernest Hemingway pause and Donald Goines smile. Unfortunately, the wheelchair-bound hiphop artist has no profound thoughts to deliver, only the typical I-couldn’t-resist-the-lure-of-the-streets-so-don’t-let-this-happen-to-you lessons. His memories, regardless, are painful to re-live, even (and perhaps especially) in cartoon form, thanks to Ronald Wimberly. The artist’s superbly realistic but cartoony style, coupled with his brilliant uses of black space, almost produces sound—especially that of the revolving beauty and pain of the author’s personal journey into moral purgatory. Carey seeks to, and succeeds in, understanding his own demons, and he seems glad to be back to square one, ready to make new journeys out of his life.

Mumia And His Lawyer Are Still Waiting

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

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Just got this today from Robert R. Bryan, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s lawyer.

Dear Friends:
 
We continue to await a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Philadelphia, concerning my client, Mumia Abu-Jamal.  This complex case was orally argued before a three-judge panel on May 17, 2007, following extensive litigation which included voluminous briefing and motions.  In my experience of successfully defending a large number of murder cases involving the death penalty, it was a great day.
 
It is impossible to know what the federal court ruling will be.  If the judges follow the law and fairly apply the U.S. Constitution, we will win.  As to when, long ago I projected a decision would be forthcoming this fall; it could come any day.  One thing is certain: whomever loses will seek a rehearing and petition the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
I have previously described the different rulings that the federal court could make.  Nevertheless some people have recently sent out e-mail containing false information.  Contrary to their claim, the federal court cannot impose a sentence of life in prison without parole.  Only a jury verdict could result in such an outcome, unless in the event of a penalty reversal the prosecution elected not to seek the death penalty.  Likewise the court unfortunately cannot order that Mumia be released, for that would require a new guilt-phase jury trial and a favorable verdict which is certainly our goal.  To once more clarify the legal situation, the scenarios of how the U.S. Court of Appeals might rule include:

  • Grant an entirely new jury trial of the guilt phase;
  • Order a new jury trial limited to the issue of life or death;
  • Remand the case back to the U.S. District Court for further proceedings; or
  • Deny all relief.

Racism, fraud, and politics are threads that have run through this case since Mumia’s 1981 arrest. The issues in this matter concern the right to a fair trial, the struggle against the death penalty, and the political repression of an outspoken journalist.
 
Mumia’s objective is a reversal of the murder conviction and death sentence, and the granting of an entirely new trial.  At the end of that jury trial I expect to win and see my client freed so that he can finally go home to his family.
 
Thank you for your interest in this campaign for human rights.
 
Yours very truly,
 
Robert R. Bryan
Law Offices of Robert R. Bryan
2088 Union Street, Suite 4
San Francisco, California 94123-4117 Lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal

P.S. Liked these comments Mumia made on writing.