Talkers New Media Seminar Update

June 25th Update: More opinion about my appearance at the Talkers Magazine New Media Seminar and the Talk Radio & Race panel. The woman who wrote the piece is a right leaning talk show host who totally missed the point about how advertising dollars are spent or rather not spent on Black or urban radio. That point was made clearly by myself and several other panelist. Black radio wouldn't exist if it were not making somebody some money. But, while Black folks spend billions of dollars as consumers, urban radio doesn't garner the kind of quality advertising buys that other radio formats do. When the advertisers stop seeing Black, perhaps urban and talk radio can see more green.

To suggest that I was taking a swipe at Talkers Magazine and the New Media Seminar is ludicrous. I was a guest of Michael Harrison and being a properly brought up child, I learned early on not insult my host. And in this instance, I certainly had no reason to. What the writer ignored, was that I said, if you walk through the lobby of the convention center, the only faces on the cardboard cutouts of the sponsored or syndicated on-air talent were white faces. That was just a fact. In addition, you could count on one hand the number of African-American women in attendance. I know because I made a point of meeting each of them.

Black radio has always had an element of social consciousness about it. The issues haven't changed much, but the delivery system has. Syndicated radio has changed how, not just the Black community, but all communities get its news and information. BET failed at providing news to the Black community, NPR has taken several stabs at news delivered by a Black hosts but not necessarily Black news. There was Ed Gordon, then Tavis Smiley, who left NPR and is still as popular as ever and now Michel Martin's Tell Me More. I wish for the day when there is no such thing as "Black talk radio." I hope I can provide that kind of show for a radio station here in the Nation's Capital and even land my own syndication deal where I can be heard across the country. But let's be real, there are issues for us, about us, caused by us and imposed on us that don't get addressed on mainstream talk radio but should.  My own show covers a wide range of issues that are not necessarily about the Black and minority communities but affect us profoundly and to a greater degree than the rest of the population. I look forward to the day when talk radio conversation and discussion about black people or issues does not become a commentary on "nappy headed hoes."

Sunny