Radio One Shifts Direction on Washington DC Morning Drive

Story by Inside Radio

Radio One is reshuffling its morning show lineup in Washington DC, in a bid to grow audiences and better align talent with formats. All told, three of its DC stations will change AM drive talent, starting Tuesday, Jan. 19.

The domino-like effect begins with the move of “The FAM with Lil Mo and DJ QuickSilva” from afternoons on Radio One urban “92-Q” WERQ-FM Baltimore to mornings on urban “93.9 Kiss FM” WKYS Washington. The younger-skewing show is presumably a better fit for the hip-hop music on WKYS than “The Russ Parr Morning Show,” which currently occupies that position.

Parr, a longtime mainstay in the DC community, will move from WKYS to mornings on urban AC “Majic 102.3” WMMJ Washington. Parr’s three-hour weekend show “On the Air” will continue on WKYS on Saturday mornings.

Parr’s arrival bumps “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” from “Majic” to “NewsTalk 1450” WOL. Joyner will be simulcast on the HD2 channels of sister stations “Praise 104.1” WPRS, WKYS and WMMJ. Current WOL morning man Carl Nelson will move to afternoon drive. Joyner’s two-hour weekend show “Right Back Atcha” will continue to air on “Majic” Saturday mornings.

The morning show realignment better matches the demographic appeal of the hosts with Radio One’s stations. Lil Mo is an R&B singer and costar of TV One’s R&B Divas of Hollywood; DJ QuickSilva is a celebrity DJ known as “The Party Kingpin” who started his career at age 14. Vernon Kelson, program director for Radio One-Baltimore will replace them in afternoon drive on WERQ-FM.

Parr and Joyner are both nationally syndicated by Reach Media, which Radio One owns a majority stake in.

“To get what you’ve never had, you have to do what you’ve never done,” said Jeff Wilson, senior regional VP/GM, Radio One DC. “We are excited for the unique opportunity to expand our audience and promote fresh new talent on WKYS with The FAM with Lil Mo and DJ QuickSilva while serving our loyal listeners and keeping the momentum we have with Russ Parr, Tom Joyner and Carl Nelson in the market.”