Over and out: Tom Joyner calls it a career after five decades

Radio Hall Of Famer spent 16 years in Chicago radio

A T Dog Media Think Tank

When Tom Joyner signed off on December 13th, one of radio’s legendary personalities departed the medium.

But his departure – announced two years ago – leaves a deep void that won’t be easy to fill.

For one, Joyner did something many radio stars did and is connect with his audience. But it went much deeper than that. He used his radio show to better the African-American community, to raise money for HBCUs (Historically Black College and Universities, as Joyner is a Tuskagee Institute alum), and it was always a “party with a purpose”.

Even though his career began in his native Tuskagee, Ala. a little over 50 years ago, Chicago radio figured greatly into his resume. He came to the Windy City in the 1970s, working first an WVON-AM before jumping to WBMX-FM and then to Johnson Publishing’s WJPC-AM (950) where he rose to fame.

Before voice tracking let radio personalities to be heard in more than one market, Tom Joyner accomplished this in 1985 by flying back and forth to a morning job at KKDA-FM in Dallas and an afternoon one at WGCI-FM in Chicago – for eight years. He was known as “The Fly Jock”, a monkier bestowed on him by longtime Chicago urban radio personality Richard Pegue, racking up seven million frequent flyer miles in the process.

In 1994, Joyner became the first African-American to launch a syndicated morning show and became an instant success. At its peak, Joyner had 115 affiliates, including longtime outlet WVAZ-FM (V103) and attracting blue-chip advertisers to reach a black audience. Here, Joyner created events to bring together fans of the show in person including cruises, family reunions, and those live Friday “Sky Shows” (Chicago have hosted several during the show’s run.)

And his show has been influential in urging African-Americans to be active, whether if it’s taking a loved one to the doctor or registering to vote.

But today, times are different. In an interview with Billboard, Joyner expressed one of the reasons he decided to retire because like linear television – radio has become fragmented and isn’t as influential as it used to be.

“When I came along, you didn’t have a lot of listening choices. Now you can get anything you want, anytime you want, anywhere you want — and you don’t have to wait for radio or television to do it for you”, the 70-year old Radio Hall Of Famer said. “That’s why I decided to retire. Whatever happens to newspapers and magazines — I’m sorry to say it, but I think radio is next on the list. And we’ve done it to ourselves. We’re not relevant anymore. That’s across the board. Black radio has probably been more relevant than any other format because we concentrate on informing and empowering our community.”

There’s no doubt he’s right as consolidation and odd managerial decision-making has ate way at radio’s core. An example occurred two weeks ago as the out-of-town bosses who run Entercom’s WXRT – a station with a loyal audience- decided their morning daypart didn’t need a news anchor anymore, so they got rid of Mary Dixon – not to mention shifting Lin Brehmer to middays. And WGN-AM’s hot new star to replace Steve Cochran in morning drive is none other than Bob Sirott, who is roughly the same age as the retiring Joyner.

And when it came to Joyner’s former home market of Chicago, he was a victim of such actions.

In 2009 despite strong ratings, V103 decided to jettison Joyner from mornings after 15 years and replaced him with Steve Harvey’s syndicated show, moving over from sister station WGCI-FM (who replaced Howard McGee two years earlier.) For V103, the move was easy – in a stroke of vertical integration, Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia) shifted the show as the company owned the station and Harvey’s syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks. Joyner’s show was syndicated by the company he founded as Reach Media, owned by rival radio conglomerate Radio One.

Shortly afterward (and as this blog suggested), Crawford’s Soul 106.3 picked up Joyner for mornings and was also simulcasted for a short time on sister station Power 92 (WPWX-FM). However, ratings weren’t great (Soul 106.3’s signal doesn’t adequately cover the Chicago area) and was dropped for a new morning local show with former WGCI nightime jock Mike Love, who himself recently departed the station.

Joyner then had problems in other markets too, losing affiliates in Baltimore, Atlanta, and his home market of Dallas-Fort Worth, where his station flipped to a classic hip-hop format (it did return after the station dropped the format.) And the moves took pace despite Radio One owning some of those stations. Overall, Joyner’s affiliate lineup was cut by a third.

Later, Joyner lost two key figures of his morning program – Sheryl Underwood to CBS’ The Talk and longtime sidekick J. Anthony Brown to rival Harvey.

After his announced retirement, Joyner wound up on some rimshot station called Clubsteppin’ 95.1 FM, a translator who was recently sold. Unfortunately, the transition knocked Joyner off the air for weeks as contracts – for a show ending in mere months – wasn’t finalized.

What I just described – or at least tried to in the last paragraph – is exactly what Joyner was talking about and what this blog had been writing about for years. Radio hasn’t exactly done a great job attracting the next generation of listeners as young people – of all races – have gravitated to audio content through podcasts and other alternative forms. Certainly, Joyner and his local Chicago fans deserved better – especially in a market where he called home from 16 years, half of those part-time.

Despite the rough road in later years, Joyner has hung in there, thanks to his million of loyal listeners, either through terrestrial radio or online at his website, BlackAmericaweb.com. What made Joyner special is he wasn’t a comedian or a musician or a TV or movie star who lucked into a syndicated radio show. He was a radio guy, who got his start in the medium, rose through the ranks, and became a superstar.

Joyner leaves a legacy that probably won’t ever be matched. It is an end of an era – maybe in more ways than one.