Happy 10th Anniversary of Nationally Syndicated Radio News-Talk Show "Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton!"
Happy 10th ANNIVERSARY to Nationally Syndicated Radio Show "KEEPING IT REAL WITH AL SHARPTON", which launched on January 30, 2006.
The 10th Anniversary special broadcast was celebrated on-air today from 1-4p eastern with many special guests wishing Sharpton a Happy 10th anniversary.
Special Guests Today Included:
* United States Senator Chuck Schumer(NY)
* Martin Luther King III
* Chief Adviser to President Obama Valarie Jarrett
* Radio Legend Tom Joyner
* Deanna Brown-Thomas - Daughter of Late Singer James Brown
* Chairwoman and Founder of Radio One Cathy Hughes
* Civil Rights Attorney Benjamin Crump
* Journalist George Curry
On the 10th anniversary show, we also featured archived interview clips from the 10 years from the likes of President Obama, Hillary Clinton, New York Fire Fighter Abdullah Granger from 9/11, and interview snips from those that have passed on - James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Senator Ted Kennedy. All made for a memorable three-hour 10th Anniversary show.
Many staffers have come and gone, but Executive Producer Fatiyn Muhammad and yours truly Director of Operations Kirk Tanter are two that have endured and benefited greatly from the "Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton" radio experience since its' January 2006 inception.
Other staffers on-board include:
* News Director Ebony McMorris
* Technical Producer Lorenzo Gamble
* Call Screener Brooke Thomas
* Social Media Director Brittany Sharpton
* Guest Host in New York Bob Slade
* Guest Host in Miami Andre Michael Eggletion
* Senior Director Radio Operations Tanita Myers
* Chief Engineer Greg Strickland
I also have to mention a few staffers that have passed-on in death that contributed to our show's success:
* News Director Sheila Stewart
* Assistant Program Director Teshima Walker
* VP of Corporate Sales Tony Washington
* Guest Host Indiana's own Amos Brown.
And the two that broke ground for the program, that have since moved on:
* V.P. of Operations Zemira Jones
* Program Director Lee Michaels
Personally, as "Keeping It Real With Al Sharpton's Director of Operation, it's a privilege and eye-opening on-the-ground experience to work daily with Al Sharpton for these 10 years. A plethora of historical events occurred during this timeframe, including witnessing Sharpton's own transformation, along with being a major force campaigning vigorously to elect (and re-elect) the First Black U.S. President.
We have covered:
* 2008 and 2012 Inaugurations
* Special coverage (day and night) of the 2008 and 2012 Democratic Conventions
* Annual Congressional Black Caucus Conventions
* Jena 6 March/Rally
* Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Dedication on the National Mall in Washington DC
* Broadcasted live from the White House
* The "March for Justice against Police Brutality" from Freedom Plaza to the US Capitol
* Voter Registration Drives in Swing States
* Annual National Action Network Conventions
* Families USA Health Conventions
* 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
* Special Election Night coverage for the Nation's First Black President
...and much more.
We have interviewed:
* President Barack Obama
* First Lady Michele Obama
* Oprah Winfrey
* Cicely Tyson
* Bill Cosby
* Former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter
* Senator, Secretary of State, and currently Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton
* Minister Louis Farrakhan
* Don Imus
* Ambassador and Atlanta's former Mayor Andrew Young
* Haitian Ambassador to the United States Raymond Joseph during the time of Haiti's devastating earthquake
* The late James Brown
* The late Michael Jackson
* The late Rodney King
* The late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
...to name a few.
Thank you Rev. Sharpton, and especially Radio One's Chairwoman/Founder Cathy Hughes and President/CEO Alfred Liggins for keeping a real, Informative, Down-To-Earth National News-Talk Community radio show on the airwaves that all can understand and feel free to debate.
Seeing up-close ten years of Sharpton's dedicated public service, both on-the-air in studio, and remote broadcasts from many events in varied cities.
We have broadcasted internationally from Africa, Europe, the Bahamas, Haiti, and Bermuda. And in many ways, we have re-shaped history being the match that lights up numerous policy changes, even adding a comprehensive agenda to both major Political Parties.
Sharpton keeps his ear to the streets, and consistently is a megaphone for the people. We wish many more years of "Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton".
___________________________________
"Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton" reaches out to a national audience on radio stations in New York (WLIB), Chicago (WVON), Washington DC (WOL), Atlanta (WAOK), Philadelphia (WURD), Detroit (WCHB), Cleveland (WERE & WJMO), Seattle (KZIZ), Cincinnati (WDBZ - The Buzz), Baltimore (WOLB), Flint Michigan (WOWE), Columbia S.C. (WGCV), New Orleans (WBOK)...to name a few. And also carried on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel 126.
"Keeping it Real with Al Sharpton" News-Talk Radio Show, is syndicated by Reach Media Inc. - A Division of Radio One.
Michael Jackson’s Legendary "Off The Wall" Album Set to Release with Spike Lee Directed Documentary
Story by Radio Facts
Written by Hassahn Liggins
On February 26, during Black History Month, the Estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Legacy Recordings will release exclusive CD/DVD and CD/Blu Ray editions of Michael Jackson’s revolutionary 1979 recording, Off The Wall. The package will include the original version of the album bundled with the new documentary Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall, directed by spike lee.
The documentary will make its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2016, and its world television premiere on SHOWTIME on Friday, February 5th at 9 P.M. ET/PT on-air, on demand and over the internet. After its premiere on SHOWTIME, it will be broadcast in territories around the world.
THE ALBUM – The importance of Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall cannot be overstated. Recorded when he was just 20 years old, the album heralded Michael’s stunning emancipation as a singular musical force and creative visionary. It smashed the ceiling on record sales for black artists, ushering in an exciting new era of R&B-to-pop crossover airplay, chart, marketing and sales trends not seen before in modern pop music. It’s the record that “invented modern pop as we know it,” wrote Rolling Stone. For fellow black artists of the day, Michael served as an illuminating inspiration.
To Black America, Off The Wall transcended music and entertainment altogether. The success of the album marked a level of national and international achievement that conjured pride in a culture that as late as the end of the 1970s was still fighting for the kind of social acceptance that Michael’s album received. Because of Off the Wall’s indelible influence, 21st century artists as disparate as Beyonce, Pharrell, Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd all have a blueprint they turned to for creating their superstardom.
Written by Michael Jackson, the first single from Off The Wall, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, was Michael’s first Grammy and first single to hit #1 in the U.S. and internationally as a solo artist. With the singles “Rock With You”, “Off the Wall” and “She’s Out of My Life” Jackson became the first solo artist in history to have four singles from the same album peak inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. The album was an enormous commercial success; as of 2014 it is certified eight times platinum in the United States and has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time.
The Music: “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”; “Rock With You”, “Workin’ Day and Night”; “Get on the Floor”; “Off the Wall”; “Girlfriend”; “She’s Out of My Life”; “I Can’t Help It”; ” It’s the Falling in Love”; “Burn This Disco Out”.
THE DOCUMENTARY – Produced by Spike Lee, John Branca and John McClain. For Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall, director spike lee assembles a wealth of archival footage, including material from Michael’s personal archive, interviews with contemporary talents and family members, and Michael’s own words and image to create this insightful chronicle from the star’s early rise to fame through the release of this seminal album. A look at a chapter of his career that is rarely examined, Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall allows audiences to travel with Michael as he gets his start at Motown, strikes a new path with CBS Records, and forges a relationship with legendary producer Quincy Jones. An illuminated portrait emerges of how an earnest, passionate, hard-working boy would become the “King of Pop.”
Partial list of interviews: Lee Daniels; The Weekend; Pharrell Williams; Misty Copeland, Kobe Bryant; Mark Ronson; John Legend; Questlove; Katherine Jackson; Joe Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Jackie Jackie L.A. Reid and more.
From the movie "Stormy Weather" (1943) featuring Cab Calloway and his orchestra performing "Jumpin Jive". After awhile they let the Nicholas Brothers jump in and lend their feet to the action.
Oregon Was Founded As a Racist Utopia - Illegal for Black People to move to Oregon until 1926 -
Story by Gizmodo
Written by Matt Novak
When Oregon was granted statehood in 1859, it was the only state in the Union admitted with a Constitution that forbade black people from living, working, or owning property there. It was illegal for black people even to move to the State until 1926. Oregon’s founding is part of the forgotten history of racism in the American West.
Waddles Coffee Shop in Portland, Oregon was a popular restaurant in the 1950s for both locals and travelers alike. The drive-in catered to America’s postwar obsession with car culture, allowing people to get coffee and a slice of pie without even leaving their vehicle. But if you happened to be Black, the owners of Waddles implored you to keep on driving. The restaurant had a sign outside with a very clear message: “White Trade Only — Please.”
It’s the kind of scene from the 1950s that’s so hard for many Americans to imagine happening outside of the Jim Crow South. How could a progressive, northern city like Portland have allowed a restaurant to exclude non-white patrons? This had to be an anomaly, right? In reality it was far too common in Oregon, a State that was explicitly founded as a kind of White Utopia.
America’s history of racial discrimination is most commonly taught as a southern issue. That’s certainly how I learned about it while going to Minnesota public schools in the 1980s and 90s. White people outside of the South seem to learn about the Civil War and Civil Rights Movements from an incredibly safe (and often judgmental) distance.
Racism was generally framed as something that happened in the past and almost always “down there.” We learned about the struggles for racial equality in cities like Birmingham and Selma and Montgomery. But what about the racism of Portland, Oregon, a City that is still overwhelmingly White? The struggles there were just as intense — though they are rarely identified in the history books.
According to Oregon’s founding Constitution, Black People were not permitted to live in the State. And that held true until 1926. The small number of Black People already living in the State in 1859, when it was admitted to the Union, were sometimes allowed to stay, but the next century of segregation and terrorism at the hands of angry racists made it clear that they were not welcome...
...Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the Struggle in Oregon
Cannady in a 1922 newspaper article with a rather cryptic note about her possible death, which the OREGON DAILY JOURNAL published above in small print "Mrs. Beatric Cannady, if she lives, will be the first colored woman ever admitted to the bar in the Northwest. Nothing but death could stop that quiet but confident little woman". Beatrice Morrow Cannady in an undated photo (Oregonian Archives)
“The way this history gets framed often shows People of Color as passive victims,” Imarisha tells me. “I think it’s important to frame it that People of Color are actually active change makers. The changes that would’ve moved Oregon forward, especially racially, would not have happened without the determination, fortitude, and sheer stubbornness of People of Color.”
One of those people was Beatrice Morrow Cannady. Born in Texas in 1889, Cannady hopped around the country a bit, attending schools in New Orleans and Houston before moving to the Portland in 1912, and before long she was writing for The Advocate, Oregon’s largest Black Newspaper. By 1914 Cannady was helping to found the Portland Chapter of the NAACP, and the following year was speaking out against D.W. Griffith’s feature length film "The Birth of a Nation" — a movie filled with hateful stereotypes and glorified the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan.
Cannady’s life was filled with personal and professional struggles that seemed never ending. She and her children were refused entry to the main floor of the Oriental Theatre in 1928. And it wasn’t even illegal. The Oregon Supreme Court had decided in the 1906 case Taylor v. Cohn that Black People could be legally segregated from Whites in public places. That particular ruling wasn’t struck down in Oregon until 1953, and even then limits on segregation in the state were only loosely enforced.
Kimberley Mangun’s 2010 biography of "Cannady, A Force For Change", is both inspiring and depressing. Cannady’s story is one of tiny victories hard fought over an incredibly long period of time. Frankly, that’s the overwhelming thing about all social and political change. Virtually nothing happens overnight.
But if Cannady’s story teaches us anything it’s that if you work your ass off and foster a community where people can be a force for good, you too can eventually (one day, maybe, possibly) see minor improvements in the world.
It was in small victories that Oregonians of color had to take solace in the first few decades of the 20th century. Because once the early 1920s hit, the battle for the future of Oregon would involve a group of terrorist who liked to dress up in bedsheets and burn up things.
The Kowards of the Klavern Arrive Frederick Louis Gifford, head of the Oregon KKK (1921-24) and a Klan pamphlet (Oregon History Project)
The arrival of the Ku Klux Klan in Oregon was swift and terrifying. In 1922 the Klan in Oregon boasted membership of over 14,000 men, with 9,000 of them living in Portland. And they were setting the State aflame. There were frequent cross burnings on the hills outside Portland and around greater Oregon.
The Klan held meetings, openly participated in parades, and held enormous gatherings for initiation ceremonies. One such gathering in 1923 at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in Salem attracted over 1,500 hooded klansmen. They reportedly burned an enormous cross, of course.
As David A. Horowitz explains in his book "Inside the Klavern: The Secret History of a Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s", the entire State was being terrorized. And politicians at every level of government from the State to County to City Officials were involved. In 1923, Oregon Governor, Walter M. Pierce, and Portland Mayor George L. Baker, attended and spoke at a dinner in honor of Grand Dragon Frederick L. Gifford’s birthday.
Both the Governor and Mayor would later claim that they didn’t know the event was sponsored by the Klan. Which, if true, is perhaps less vindication for the politicians and more an indictment of just how far the Klan had seeped into mainstream culture in Oregon. But there’s almost certainly no way that they were ignorant of what they were celebrating.
One reason to be skeptical? High ranking members of the Klan would meet with high ranking politicians in the state on matters of public policy. And we have the photos to prove it. Members of the Klan meeting with Portland officials in 1921 (North Coast Oregon)
FBI tells Bundy group to leave after fatal shooting
Occupiers - Citizens for Constitutional Reform aka The Bundy Group - of an Oregon Federal Wildlife (photo by Getty)
Story by The Hill
Written by Timothy Cama
The FBI is telling the remaining occupiers of an Oregon federal wildlife to leave the area after its leaders were arrested in a shootout with police.
Federal and local officials announced early Wednesday morning that Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who has served as a spokesman for the group, was killed Tuesday night by police during a traffic stop that turned violent about 50 miles from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Law enforcement officials did not released Finicum’s name initially. He had stated previously that he’d prefer to die than be arrested, according to The Oregonian.
Six others, including self-styled militia leader Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan Bundy, both sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, were arrested, and Ryan Bundy was also shot. Two others were arrested elsewhere.
Sources told The Oregonian that Finicum and Ryan Bundy had refused to cooperate with the officers and tried to run and that Finicum brandished weapons.
The traffic stop was the first direct confrontation between the group and law enforcement since armed men took over the refuge Jan. 2. They are protesting the punishment of two men who set fire to nearby federal land, and they generally oppose federal land ownership and want the refuge given to private landowners.
But the occupation is not over. About 40 people remained at the refuge earlier this week, and few have taken up the FBI’s suggestion to leave, The Oregonian reported.
“The rest have decided they're going to hold their ground,” Gary Hunt, one of the occupiers, told the newspaper. Hunt, like nearly all of the occupiers, is not local.
Law enforcement officers have set up roadblocks surrounding the refuge near Burns, Ore. Previously, the group moved freely into and out of the property.
Calls for police to take action against the group have been increasing. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) has appealed directly to United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch to intervene.
Meet Flint, Michigans' City Councilman Wantwaz Davis, who tried to save Flint's people from "Genocide", warning against switching to the contaminated Flint River for water usage
Story by Yahoo News
Written by Liz Goodwin
FLINT, Mich. – On a cloudy April day in 2014, Flint City Council members and other elected officials gathered in the city’s once-defunct water treatment plant to celebrate.
Dayne Walling, then the town’s mayor, ceremoniously pushed a button to stop the flow of treated Lake Huron water from Detroit for the first time in nearly 50 years. Water from the nearby Flint River began gushing into Flint’s 700-mile-long pipe system instead. The politicians raised glasses of water and toasted the historic change.
Wantwaz Davis — the recently elected city councilman from Flint’s 5th Ward — did not join in on the toast.
“I was in the corner like, ‘Nah, I’m not drinking that,” Davis recalls.
The councilman has been one of the fiercest opponents of the decision to switch to the more polluted and corrosive Flint River, made before he was elected, while the city was under the control of a State-Appointed Emergency Manager. His calls nearly two years ago for a federal investigation into the water crisis seemed like a long shot, but, then again, Davis’ entire political career has been improbable.
In 1991, when he was 17, Davis shot and killed Kenneth Morris, a man he suspected of sexually assaulting his mother. Davis said he didn’t intend to shoot him until he saw Morris reach for his pocket. But a judge sentenced him to up to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder. He grew up behind bars, teaching himself to read and write so he could understand the letters sent to him from family and friends.
When he emerged a free man 19 years later, in 2010, he was blown away by Flint’s decline.
“It was nothing that I remembered,” Davis said. “A lot of these homes were dilapidated. And crime was at the highest level that I ever imagined it to be in my city. And it just looked like a poor city.”
He struggled to get a job, crying to his grandmother when he was turned away again and again after interviews that seemed to go well until his criminal record came up. He felt like he was being discriminated against and would never be able to succeed.
That’s when Davis began showing up to City Council meetings and getting involved in local politics. He wanted to advocate for other felons in the city — by his estimate, 28 percent of the population — who were trying to move on from their past.
“After my five minutes was up, they used to throw me off the mic and say, ‘Your time is up, Mr. Davis,’” he recalls of the meetings. “So I would say, ‘OK. But I will run for City Council in the next election.’ They blew me off. They said, ‘Yeah, you’re a convicted murderer, whatever.”
Davis campaigned vigorously, knocking on thousands of doors, and eventually beat out five opponents for a surprise victory. The local Flint newspaper had never reported on Davis’ felony prior to the election, prompting a public apology from their editor. But Davis says he told everybody while out campaigning his entire life story, and that the newspaper didn’t write about his past because they didn’t take him seriously enough as a candidate to write much about him at all.
“I became the first person in the history of America to ever go to prison for murder and get elected in government,” Davis said. (We attempted to verify this with several political historians, but no one knew for sure. Former President Andrew Jackson killed at least one man in a duel but was never convicted of a crime.)
Davis was a controversial figure from the start. He seems entirely free from the political urge to be diplomatic and deferential. He referred to Flint’s water problems as “genocide” to the media and in letters to the U.S. Justice Department, Gov. Rick Snyder and the United Nations, long before anyone was paying attention. “People [were] texting me calling me a moron,” Davis said of that episode.
“The reason I used the word, it didn’t stem from a racial standpoint. It was more about class. It was more about the low- [and] moderate-income people. The poor people — whites, blacks, Hispanics, Chinese — we are the ones who are ill affected by this water. Not the people with the money. The people with the money can leave and come back. Or move to outside counties.”
Flint’s water issue is personal for Davis on several levels. His wife, Stephani, developed what looked like large black burns on her stomach last year. One expert told Davis the marks could have been caused by the high chlorine content in the Flint water, which was needed to kill the E. coli and other bacteria that popped up only a few months after the switch. Davis is also personally affected by Flint’s uniquely high water bills, a complaint I heard from nearly every resident I spoke to in the city. At one point, he owed $3,000 for water, which was placed as a lien on his house. He’s lowered the bill to $600 but worries for his poorer constituents who can’t pay their bills.
“This is by design,” Davis contends of the high cost of water. “To run them out of here systemically.”
Davis’ gut told him not to trust the river as a water source; as a resident he knew “what this water has been through.” At Flint’s height in the ’70s, tens of thousands of people worked for auto companies along the river, and local residents worry that industrial contaminants remain in the water. The councilman watched, horrified, as problem after problem surfaced. First, E. coli was discovered just a few months after the switch. In September 2014, another boil-water advisory was issued because of high levels of coliform. Last January, the city announced that there were too many cancer-causing trihalomethanes (TTHMs) in the water and that boiling the water only intensified their effects.
It wasn’t until last September that outside researchers said the corrosive Flint River water was causing the city’s old pipes to leach lead and iron into the tap water. Lead can cause brain damage and is especially harmful to children. The county also noticed a spike in Legionnaires’ disease.
Davis sought outside help again and again. Starting in June 2014, he sent the exact same letter to the Justice Department, addressed to then-Attorney General Eric Holder, every Monday morning.
“This letter is in deep regards of the atrocities the residents of the city of Flint, Michigan, have unconstitutionally and deliberately been placed under,” Davis wrote. He said the city emergency manager law forced Flint to live under a “dictatorship” and begged the federal government to intervene.
He received a reply several months later, telling him to contact the state police.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department announced it will investigate how and why Flint’s water was poisoned for so long. Gov. Rick Snyder has apologized several times. Water bottles and filters are being delivered to every home. The world is paying attention.
“Now they’re here. Now they’re doing a federal investigation. But nobody gives me credit,” Davis said. “I was fighting from day one.”
Inside Story: Why PM Drive Is Radio’s King—and a Brand Kingmaker
Story by Inside Radio
Radio stations have always made it a priority to corral listeners with strong morning drive shows that amp brand loyalty and ratings. It is, however, actually afternoon drive that draws the highest cume. This fact may not be a news flash to programmers, but the difference in audience between AM and PM drive is indeed profound—as are potential opportunities for stations to better mine the daypart.
“That huge line of cars going home is a goldmine,” says Brian Demay, PD of Cumulus AC “Lite Rock 105” WWLI, Providence, RI and a Westwood One afternoon AC personality. “Recycling into evenings is a key part of my show every afternoon. The afternoon commute starts earlier and ends a lot later than people think.”
Information provided to Inside Radio from Nielsen RADAR for December 2015 reveals that PM drive (3pm-7pm) reaps the highest percentage of radio listeners 12+, with 73.5% of all Americans tuning in. Compare that to AM drive, at 66.7%, middays at 69.5% and evenings at 48.2%.
Furthering the point, in the top-ranked New York City market, iHeartMedia’s 6+ leader AC “106.7 Lite FM” WLTW had an average 1.3 million monthly listeners in AM drive—and 2.2 million in PM drive—from May-July 2015. In market No. 2 Los Angeles for the same term, iHeart leader CHR KIIS-FM (102.7) averaged 1.0 million monthly listeners in AM drive and 1.6 million in PM drive.
Agreeing with Demay that those superlative PM drive numbers offer potential for stations to keep a hold on listeners from morning to night, Maurice DeVoe, corporate PD for Cumulus Kansas City and PD of urban AC “Magic 107.3” KMJK, says, “In some cities, drive-time goes into the early evenings when night shows are starting, so it’s to a station’s advantage to have the afternoon show promote what’s coming up at night to help recycle that audience.”
Keith Cunningham, PD of classic rock KLOS L.A. and Cumulus’ head of corporate programming for rock formats, agrees that the relationship between afternoons and mornings “is the larger goal. “Evening cume shrinks, as many listeners simply go home and park the car,” he says. “If a brand has them locked in when they pull into the garage, listeners start their morning with the brand when the engine fires up. Now repeat each day.”
Circling the clock of opportunities, consultant Pat Welsh with Pollack Media Group agrees that the bigger fish is reconnecting listeners from PM to AM drive. “The number of listeners drops dramatically after 6 pm. So if you’re going to invest time in promoting the station and encouraging tune-in occasions, you’ll get more of return backing into the big dayparts: mornings, middays and afternoons.”
Wall-to-wall weather. That’s the plan for Mid-Atlantic news and news/talk stations preparing for what looks like a potentially walloping snowstorm over the weekend. As much as two feet of the white stuff is forecast from Virginia through Washington and Maryland, up to Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Winter Storm Jonas looks to pack a punch—and predictions are it will also be a ratings shot in the arm for stations, who thrive during such events as vital community contacts.
Radio One's News-Talk radio stations in both Washington DC (WOL 1450am) and Baltimore (WOLB 1010am) are covering the storm and its affects on traffic, road closures, and travel to, from, and within the DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia areas.
“Simply put, it’s all hands on deck. We have brought in extra members of our team around the clock to help our listeners and readers in any way possible,” says Mike McMearty, PD of Hubbard’s all-news WTOP Washington, DC (103.5). “We’ve got extra on-air, Web, social media, traffic and weather staff to make sure we can cover every angle of this storm, which is shaping up to be historic.”
The station has already begun blanket coverage of Jonas, because “that’s what our listeners and readers want,” McMearty adds. “It will definitely be the only story this weekend and into next week if the storm lives up to its billing.” WTOP has no plans to bump spots for coverage. “Commercial breaks actually act as excellent moments to catch our breath and reset,” he says.
Likewise, Steve Butler, director of news & programming at Philly’s “NewsRadio” KYW (1060) and VP of radio news for CBS Radio, says that while his station is always wall-to-wall news, traffic and weather coverage, “in this case, nearly all of the news will be weather-related.” KYW has sold a sizable number of Storm Coverage sponsorships to clients.
News/talk/sports WBAL Baltimore (1090) is preparing for the storm’s arrival Friday with live news from 3pm-7pm “and if appropriate, we will stay on later in the evening, with arrangements for expanded local programming on Saturday,” says Scott Masteller, PD of the Hearst Corp. station. WBAL’s coverage will be augmented with a simulcast of sister WBAL-TV 11. “The key here is immediacy and updating elements as events develop,” Masteller says.
At Townsquare Media’s news/talk “New Jersey 101.5” WKXW Trenton, four traffic reports alongside four weather reports every hour are already in place. “We are also taking informative and entertaining and relevant listener calls, and top-of-the-hour newscasts and bulletins as needed,” says brand manager Eric Johnson. “Since the storm is on the weekend and we have had plenty of notice, we will relate to those hunkered down at home.”
Rally highlights Flint, Michigan Water, and Detroit Public Schools woes for President Obama visit
Story by Detroit Free Press
Written by Robert Allen
About 200 teachers,, nurses, and others are protesting outside Cobo Center today, demanding the ouster of Gov. Rick Snyder. Carrying signs criticizing Snyder for lead-tainted water in Flint and dangerous building conditions in Detroit public schools, the protesters timed the march to coincide with today's visit by President Barack Obama to the North American International Auto Show inside Cobo Center. Detroit police have not interfered with the protest, other than to tell marchers to keep moving and not block traffic.
Protesters march outside Cobo Center in Detroit, on Jan. 20, 2016.(Photo: Robert Allen, Detroit Free Press)
The protest began this morning with a rally of about 75 teachers outside the headquarters of AFSCME on Lafayette Boulevard where state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, D-Detroit, called Snyder's state reform school district, the Educational Achievement Authority, a "separate, unequal experiment on black children."
The rally came as 88 Detroit public schools were closed today by teacher sick-outs. Teachers have been calling in sick in recent weeks in an effort to highlight problems in the district including overcrowded classrooms and building conditions they say are dangerous for students and staffers.
DPS's emergency manager, Darnell Earley said earlier this month that the district could run out of cash by April or May if the State doesn't help. Last week, Snyder introduced legislation to help DPS, though critics insist it doesn't go far enough.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, not his staff, to release e-mails on Flint
Governor Rick Snyder addresses the Flint water crisis during his State of the State speech on Tuesday January 19, 2016 at the state Capitol Building in Lansing.(Photo: Ryan Garza Detroit Free Press)
Story by Detroit Free Press
Written by Kathleen Gray
Gov. Rick Snyder said this morning that he’ll release e-mails he sent and received in 2014-2015, but won’t make members of his administration publicly release their e-mails.
Speaking to Stephen Henderson, host of Detroit Today on WDET-FM (101.9) and editorial page editor for the Detroit Free Press, Snyder said. “The most relevant piece is for me to step up and say here are my personal e-mails, not only the ones I sent, but the ones I received. I made a personal decision to release my personal e-mails.”
The governor’s office and Legislature are exempt from Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, which requires public disclosure of records related to government.
As for members of his administration, Snyder said the FOIA exemption covers his entire executive staff, “and they had the perspective that they were under the umbrella and shield because they’re part of the executive office.”
Snyder also said he is working with Lt. Gov. Brian Calley to do a full review of transparency and accountability issues.
“I’m working with the Lieutenant Governor to see what we are going to do on this topic. But it wasn’t appropriate to talk about it last night,” he said.
Democrats wore buttons during Snyder’s State of the State speech Tuesday night that read “What did you know. When did you know it. #flintwatercrisis.”
Snyder said during the radio interview this morning that by releasing his e-mails from 2014-2015, people will get the answers to those questions.
“This is awful in terms of the situation in Flint. People’s lives were damaged and that’s not right,” he said “I had people working for me who contributed to that problem. I’m responsible because they work with me.”
President Obama to Meet with Flint Mayor Amid Water Crisis
FLINT, MI - JANUARY 17: Justin Roberson (L), age 6, of Flint, Michigan and Mychal Adams, age 1, of Flint wait on a stack of bottled water at a rally where the Rev. Jesse Jackson was speaking about about the water crises at the Heavenly Host Baptist Church January 17, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. U.S. President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency in Michigan, which will free up federal aid to help the city of Flint with lead contaminated drinking water. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder requested emergency and disaster declarations after activating the National Guard to help the American Red Cross distribute water to residents. Bill Pugliano—Getty Images
Story by Time
Written by Maya Rhodan
The Mayor is in Washington and is attending meetings at the White House, her office confirms
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that President Obama is likely to meet with the Mayor of Flint, Mich. at the White House on Tuesday.
Mayor Karen Weaver is in Washington this week for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and stopped by the White House on Tuesday for a series of meetings. Weaver has already met with White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Earnest said Tuesday a meeting with the president is also likely.
The White House did not say whether the president is scheduled will stop in Flint, Mich. during his visit Detroit on Jan. 20. Obama will be in Detroit for the 2016 North American International Auto Show where he hopes to tout strong auto sales and “experience firsthand the remarkable progress made by the City, its people and neighborhoods, and the American auto industry.”
Earnest gave reporters a sense of the White House’s involvement in the response to the water crisis, just days after Obama signed an emergency declaration on Saturday because of the significant levels of lead that have been found in the Flint water supply.
The Department of Health and Human Services has been deemed the lead agency in charge of the response, dispatching a team led by Dr. Nicole Lurie, the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, who will coordinate with state and local officials as well as identify areas where the Obama administration can help further. Overall, however, Earnest said the response should be led by the state.
How a Los Angeles DJ named 'Big Boy' caused Emmis' layoffs
Powerful U.S. morning show radio host Kurt "Big Boy" Alexander (Photo by Emmis)
Story by IndyStar
Written by James Briggs
Emmis is getting hammered after one of its star DJs defected for a competitor.
Now it's clear why Emmis Communications Corp. was willing to pay $3.5 million a year to a hip-hop DJ in Los Angeles.
The defection of Emmis' biggest star has walloped its most profitable radio station, resulting in the company's recent move to cut costs and lay off 3 percent of its workforce.
DJ Kurt "Big Boy" Alexander helped Emmis' KPWR-FM (105.9), better known as Power 106, dominate the Los Angeles ratings for close to two decades. But the station's market-leading run came to a halt when Big Boy jumped to iHeartMedia Inc. last year. That company flipped another station, KRRL-FM (92.3), into a hip-hop rival called Real 92.3.
Real 92.3 toppled Power 106 in the ratings in March and has been beating it ever since. But the long-term effects of Big Boy's departure are just coming into focus.
Emmis this month reported that it generated $59.6 million in revenue during its third fiscal quarter, down more than 5 percent from about $63 million in the same period a year ago. Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan told investors most of Emmis' third-quarter financial struggles can be attributed to the company's sudden competition in Los Angeles.
"This certainly has been a challenging quarter for us, which is not a surprise given the state of the industry and our particular challenges, especially in Los Angeles," Smulyan said in a conference call.
Power 106 was Los Angeles' fifth-most popular radio station in January 2015 with a 4.0 rating, according to Nielsen. By March, after Big Boy's morning show moved down the dial to Real 92.3, Power 106 fell to 14th place with a 2.8 rating, three spots below its new competition. Power 106 had a 2.6 rating in December, making it 16th overall in the market.
The notion that one DJ's departure could cause turmoil for an entire media company didn't come as a surprise to radio insiders or Emmis executives.
"Morning disc jockeys are very important," said Mark Fratrik, the chief economist for BIA/Kelsey, a Virginia media consulting firm that tracks the radio industry. Fratrik provided expert testimony on behalf of Emmis in litigation against Big Boy. "It's a very high usage of time. People are driving to work. In L.A., that's a significant chore. It's a very important part of radio stations' lineup. It's also sometimes the face of the station."
The prospect of Big Boy becoming the face of a competitor's station rattled Emmis a year ago. The company in February sued Big Boy for breach of contract for failing to honor a "right of first refusal" provision in his contract. Emmis also publicly disclosed that it was paying Big Boy $1.45 million a year and had agreed to match iHeartMedia's $3.5 million offer.
Emmis at the time issued a statement taking credit for Big Boy's rise, saying it "first discovered Alexander … working as a bodyguard more than 20 years ago, and has invested substantially over the years in helping him develop into the star that he is today." Smulyan called the conflict personal, adding he was "saddened by (Big Boy's) actions and the impact they will have on our brand and our people."
The worst of that impact came Jan. 6, when Emmis laid off 32 workers as part of a plan to cut $7.5 million from its budget. The layoffs included Mike Corbin, who was a news anchor and reporter for WIBC-FM (93.1) in Indianapolis.
Emmis President and Chief Operating Officer Patrick Walsh noted that stations in Los Angeles and New York generate more than half of the company's revenue. So, when one of those stations takes a hit, Emmis suffers.
"I think we've done a very good job competing with (Real 92.3), but whenever you have more choice in a market, I think that makes it a little more challenging for the incumbent to generate the same revenue and ratings as it did in the past," Walsh said.
Stevie Wonder, Black Radio, and the Fight for a Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday - Commentary by Dr. Don Mizell
President Ronald Reagan Sign's "MLK Day" PROCLAMATION(1983)
Story by The Grio
Commentary by Dr. Don Mizell - General Manager of Radio Station KJLH Compton (Ca.) in the 1980's (KJLH is Owned by Stevie Wonder)
When Stevie Wonder decided to take up the challenge of making sure that the memory of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not fade in the mists of time, and that his life’s work had not been in vain, there were only a few artists making music that reflected the consciousness of the freedom struggles of Dr. King’s time. But Stevie was perhaps the biggest pop music star in the world at that time, and that made all the difference.
I was working closely with him, consulting generally and running his newly purchased station, KJLH-FM in Los Angeles. So when he called me one day in 1980 and said he wanted me to help him in catalyzing a national effort to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday I was thrilled.
After all, I was a huge fan of Stevie’s precisely because of the way he often weaved his moral consciousness into his brilliant music. To have the opportunity to now bring to bear his megawatt star power to catalyze the community and the media by using his radio station, where I served as general manager, for such an historic endeavor was a great honor. To play even a small role was exhilarating.
Stevie Wonder is without question the single most important figure in the realization of an MLK National Holiday, because his inner vision, passion and perseverance were the driving force in galvanizing all the forces that came together to make it happen.
The strategy was to kick off the campaign with a huge national rally on the steps of the Capitol in D.C., with folks from all over the country responding primarily to the concerted calls from black and urban radio stations.
I led a delegation of three chartered planeloads of KJLH listeners to the rally where Stevie, Jesse Jackson and others would first speak, and then Stevie and other artists would perform to rally the crowd — a mega-media political and cultural music event, Dr. King style. This would kick off a nationwide tour headlined by Stevie barnstorming across the country to drum up further support that would encourage the media and lawmakers to take heed.
It worked like a charm.
Stevie had asked the legendary Bob Marley to co-headline the tour with him,- and Bob readily agreed. But Marley soon found out he would not be able to do so because he had been diagnosed with cancer, which took his life soon afterward. So Stevie turned to our friend, and my colleague from our college days, the brilliant rebel poet-musician Gil Scott-Heron, to join him.
On January 15, 1981, I remember being backstage with just Stevie, Jessie and Gil before we all went out on stage to a crowd of over 100,000 folks in the cold, January wind. Jessie spoke eloquently, stirring the crowd, and Gil performed some of the great work he and Brian Jackson had gained acclaim for, (and for which he will receive a Lifetime Grammy-Achievement Award posthumously, next month).
Stevie then gave the speech he had asked me to write for him: …“We ought to have a way to honor this human being and reaffirm the ideals he lived and died for; to honor him through a national holiday would also…represent another step forward in officially and symbolically embracing the lives and dreams of all the people who compose the American nation… For this dream, our dream, goes beyond politics, beyond oppression, beyond mere history… but not beyond hope or love, for this dream shall never die.”
But the whole event really took off when he began singing his magnificent Happy Birthday ode to Dr. King. The freezing crowd erupted in an explosion of joy and reverie that swept the cold away and warmed the hearts of everyone within earshot. From there Stevie, Gil and various other artists continued touring the country, proselytizing for the creation of the national holiday.
The follow up strategy over the next year was to try to get a few key states to make King Day a legal holiday, to create momentum toward its ratification throughout the country. New York,California, and Illinois were the primary targets. Black radio stations were to play a huge role in the effort. One morning my news director, Carl Nelson, came into my office and said he had just gotten an emergency call from then California State Senator Maxine Waters, telling him that the state legislature was scheduled to vote on the bill to make MLK birthday a legal holiday that day and the prospects did not look good that it would be ratified … would the station please do what it could to get the community involved?
I immediately wrote a one minute editorial on the situation asking all of our listeners to call a certain number at the legislative switchboard demanding that the bill be passed. We ran the editorial every fifteen minutes for the next three hours until we got a call from Ms. Waters’ office saying please tell the audience to stop calling because they had just about broken the switchboard down and now it looked like the bill would pass.
A few hours later, the bill did pass, making California one of the very first key states to do so. It created the momentum for other states to do so quickly as well, and that groundswell provided the foundation of support for eventual ratification of the congressional bill.
In 1983, after much inside-the-beltway maneuvering, empowered by the ongoing staunch support of the black community and others, and through the power of black radio, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill. The rest, as they say, is history.
Today, I can’t help thinking about the important, often crucial role that black pop music stars, and the black community media who showcased them, played in the struggles for equal rights and justice as they unfolded under Dr. King’s historic leadership.
Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and many others contributed mightily while he was alive. Then in the wake of his murder, the Herculean effort by Stevie Wonder and others who joined him to commemorate King’s life’s work on behalf of our nation, through the creation of the first national holiday celebrating the achievements of an African American citizen, speaks volumes indeed.
______________________________________________________________
Below is Stevie Wonder’s Martin Luther King Jr. speech, written by Don Mizell and delivered on Jan 15, 1981 at a rally/march in Washington, DC where Stevie officially launched the campaign to make Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday. There were more than 100,000 people in attendance. “Happy Birthday” would become the anthem for the movement. Reprinted in the Los Angeles Herald Examiner Sunday, February 22, 1981.
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY:
Welcome ladies and gentlemen. It is beautiful that we should all come together today for such an important purpose, and I want to thank you all with all my heart for remaining here today. For even though it is freezing cold and snowing and there are jobs to be done and money to be made, you have found the time, the energy, the necessary resources, the heart and the courage to step forward as Americans and as human beings on this day to seek a more full recognition for a great man and the great principles he has lived, fought, and died for. I am, of course, referring to our quest to make Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a legal holiday.
It is fitting and proper that we should gather here for this purpose in Washington DC, the nation’s capital, for it was almost two decades ago that some of us and many of our parents, families, friends and allies gathered for that now historic occasion, the march on Washington. Indeed, it is fitting that we should gather here, for it was here that Martin Luther King inspired the entire nation, indeed the world with his stirring words and his lofty vision, both challenging us and inspiring us with his great dream.
And even though he has since passed away, the words he spoke are still as vital and alive and true as the day he spoke them. For the words he spoke can never get old or die, or wither away, for they spring from that vast eternal ocean of great principles that have been the teachings and hallmark of all the heroic messengers of mankind down through the ages: the message of peace, of basic human dignity and freedom.
No assassination, no repression, no technological overkill can kill these great and classic values. They live forever in the hearts of free people everywhere, and for all time. It is because he best represents these principles that Martin Luther King is such a heroic figure. A man of his time. A man for all seasons. Certainly, a man America can be proud of. The depth of his compassion and of his courage cannot help but uplift us and move us to a greater understanding of ourselves, and of the need to unite into a melting pot of one.
Now there are those who say, all well and good. Dr. King was a great man. But, on national holidays we honor only presidents and great events, why honor Martin Luther King? He wasn’t an elected official; he was a rabble rouser and a disruptive force in the social fabric of American life. To those we say: Public holidays in the United States should be, and normally are, reserved for celebrating great traditions in the nation’s history and our highest ideals and leaders who have shaped out common destiny.
Dr. King lived and died for this national’s ideals of justice, honor, dignity and freedom. By practicing non-violent citizen acts, he embodied the best of the America political tradition with the original pilgrims of New England, continuing on with the Boston Tea Party and right through the American Revolution. Martin Luther King and the founding fathers had more than their basic equity as men in common. They were men of vision and courage. They were about the business of making a noble dream a reality and they have made our lives all the better because of it.
And though Dr. King was a great man, he was no saint. He was a man, a human being. And being no less ourselves, we should accept no less than what Dr. King fought for: a commitment from this nation to make available to all its citizens, the equality of opportunity to pursue the American dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with regard to the shackles of race, creed or color.
Those who regard Dr. King as the political leader of a narrow cause or the spokesman for a single group fail to share the spiritual vision of the oneness of all. Injustice in any form affecting anyone was viewed by Dr. King as a threat to everyone.
Oppression against one group is oppression against us all. His efforts reflected a moral drive to improve the life of all human beings. By commemorating Martin Luther King’s birthday, we do more than honor one man, however extraordinary: we honor the profound spirit of love and concern for humanity that give us life and inspires us all.
The significance of his life to us and to America may be found in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize: “Non-violence is the answer to the cultural, moral and political questions of our time – the need for man to overcome oppression and violence. I accept this award today for an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of all mankind.” Dr. King was truly a great American.
So let us commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., today, and let out hearts beat to the rhythm of this march for life. But how, in fact, can our hearts beat to the rhythm of our march for life if our soul cannot sing out to the sound of love. How can we sing out love, if our lips do not embrace the taste of peace and harmony and unity? But how can our lips embrace these great feelings, if our hands do not reach out and intermingle into a melting pot of one.
We ought to have a way to honor this human being and reaffirm the ideals he lived and died for; to honor him through a national holiday would also, of course, bestow a great honor on Black America by implicitly acknowledging him as a symbol of the tremendous contributions Black people have made to this country’s historical development.
It would also represent another step forward in officially and symbolically embracing the lives and dreams of all the people who compose the American nation. Designating his birthday a national holiday would create and event for all Americans, for Dr. King was a champion for justice and liberty.
So when you return to your cities, your homes, your jobs please carry on the vigil. For this dream our dream, goes beyond politics, beyond oppression, beyond mere history, but not beyond hope or love, for this dream shall never die.
Congressman Charles Rangel honors Dr. King and His Legacy
STATEMENT
CONGRESSMAN CHARLES RANGEL
http://rangel.house.gov (@cbrangel)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 18, 2016
Contact: Hannah Kim
202-225-4365
RANGEL HONORS DR. KING AND HIS LEGACY
New York, NY. - Congressman Charles B. Rangel, who represents the 13th Congressional District of New York that includes Upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, released the following statement in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, on January 18, 2016:
This picture is taken from the portrait hanging on his wall in the Washington office -- includes Rep. Rangel and Rep. Lewis on Selma photo
"On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, our nation honors the life of a remarkable man who dramatically changed our nation and the world for the better in the pursuit of justice, equality and freedom for all. Though his life was tragically cut short, his legacy continues to inspire us in our ongoing march towards a building a land where people would be judged by the content of their character, rather than their background.
Until his death in 1968, Dr. King led the Civil Rights Movement and helped spur passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. In 1965, I proudly marched from Selma to Montgomery with Dr. King and John Lewis, who would later become my friend and colleague in the House of Representatives. I witnessed Dr. King's faith, leadership and courage firsthand, which has been a constant source of strength and motivation through my 45 years serving in Congress.
As we honor the memory of Dr. King, who once said, 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice', let us keep working towards a world without prejudice and poverty. We must strive to improve income inequality, reduce gun violence, and increase access to education and healthcare if we are to achieve the dream poignantly laid out by Dr. King at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I will not stop working to make that dream a reality with President Obama in our final year in office. However, it will be up to all of us and those who come after to build upon our progress towards a better future."
Hannah Kim
Communications Director
Congressman Charles B. Rangel
2354 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4365
Rangel.House.Gov | FB.com/cbrangel | @cbrangel
Lack of Color in Oscar Nominations Frustrates Academy President
Story by Yahoo News
Written by Pete Hammond
Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs was diplomatic but clearly disappointed when I spoke to her at this morning’s Oscar nominations about the omission of African American-driven films like Straight Outta Compton, Concussion, and Beasts Of No Nation. “Of course I am disappointed, but this is not to take away the greatness (of the films nominated). This has been a great year in film, it really has across the board. You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it,” she told me, while acknowledging the Academy’s very public efforts at diversity are moving too slowly. “We have got to speed it up.”
Already the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag from last year’s glaring lack of diversity in the acting nominations is back in action, and you could see at this morning’s announcement for the 88th Annual Academy Awards that officials were bracing for another tsunami of bad press regarding the lack of diversity on the list, especially regarding black artists. And despite Ang Lee’s and Guillermo del Toro’s presence in reading the nominations today, there was little to cheer about in the Asian and Latino communities also (with the BIG exception of last year’s big Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s presence with The Revenant).
This is despite big efforts by all concerned to deliver those missing nominations. Netflix, for instance, put a huge campaign behind Idris Elba for Beasts, and Will Smith gave arguably the finest performance of his career in Concussion. Recent National Society Of Film Critics Best Actor winner Michael B. Jordan, star of Creed, was even passed over, even as his co-star Sylvester Stallone was nominated in the Supporting Actor race. Creed‘s young director Ryan Coogler was also overlooked in the directing contest.
The cast of Compton also failed to break through. In fact Compton — produced, directed, and starring a strong African American team — received only one nomination, Original Screenplay for Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus — who are all white. Universal, which distributed the film, also did a very costly print and television campaign for the film aimed at getting into the Best Picture race. It didn’t happen.
But is it fair to blame the Academy for this? They have certainly handed Oscars to many black performers in the past and just two years ago gave its Best Picture prize to 12 Years A Slave and Supporting Actress to Lupita Nyong’o. It wasn’t long ago when Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won the top two acting prizes in the same night. And the organization has really tried to shake things up in the membership, with many minorities, not just African Americans, gaining entrance to the exclusive club in recent years — particularly since Boone Isaacs became president and Dawn Hudson got the CEO job.
Boone Isaacs today pointed out the aforementioned presence among Latinos in today’s nominations with Gonzalez Iñárritu’s Revenant leading all movies with 12 nominations, as well as the high number of women producers and writers on the list this year. But there is no question the headlines hurt. And can the Academy really do anything about a democratic vote in which more than 6000 members cast a private ballot?
Much of the lack of nominees of color often is said to lay more at the hands of the industry and its employment practices and green lights for movies, rather than the Academy, which really is at the end of the filmmaking process and looking to honor quality wherever they may find it. I have to say I was impressed earlier in the fall when I participated in an all-day event at the Academy designed to encourage largely minority filmmakers in their efforts to break into the business. So this year then is particularly heartbreaking in this quest because the quality was clearly there on screen. This morning someone was overheard saying, “Perhaps this year’s Oscar shows theme line ‘We all dream in gold’ should be changed to ‘We all dream in white’. ” Ouch. And certainly not really fair.
Academy’s Board Of Governors in November gave quintessential black director Spike Lee an Honorary Oscar; Boone Isaacs is the first black president of the group and only the third woman to lead it; Chris Rock is back for his second stint hosting the Oscars this year; and one of its producers (with David Hill) is Reginald Hudlin, who, while also expressing enthusiasm for many of the nominees, told me this morning he was also disappointed.
“Of course. I thought there was an extraordinary amount of Oscar-worthy work by black artists and they all got overlooked,” he said. “That’s a lot, so it’s very disappointing. But that doesn’t change the fact that those movies are there, those movies are great, audiences love them and they were some of the biggest box office of the year. So America’s clear, the world is clear as they are celebrating them. I hope they are not being punished for their success.”
Of course they are also in good company today with directing snubs for Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg along with the likes of Johnny Depp, Aaron Sorkin and on and on. One person close to process recently predicted to me, “a lot of people will be disappointed on nomination morning.” He was right, but there always are those who get overlooked. You can’t help it.
Even the year’s biggest movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was blown off the Best Picture list and received just a handful of technical nominations despite Academy efforts to get more popular movies on the list , while the second biggest movie of the year, Jurassic World was blanked completely. There’s only so much you can do with a slow-moving organization that hands out memberships for life. Still the issue of diversity is one that isn’t going away this year, despite the Academy’s efforts to effect significant change and make the list of nominees look more like the world around us.
I've been to numerous funerals over the years, but today felt almost life-altering, attending the homegoing service for Ms. Natalie Cole at West Angeles Church of God in Christ in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, Ca.
Beautiful eulogies from Rev. Wade and her son Robbie along with tributes from David Foster, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, her longtime manager Howard Grossman, and her two sisters Timolin and Casey.
Stevie Wonder brought the house down with a lovely version of the Lord's Prayer, and of course the Kurt Carr singers took things to the next level, leaving everyone virtually in tears.
Other notables in attendance were Johnny Mathis (the man does not age), Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan (who did not sing due to a cold), Eddie Levert, Ledisi, Nat King Cole's brother Freddie (85 and looking great), actresses Angela Bassett and Latonya Jackson, as well as some local politicians, and hundreds of friends and family. What a send-off for Natalie.
My thanx to Kenneth R Reynolds for allowing me to be his guest.
Interiors of the 2017 Ford GT that's on display at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show.
The 2017 Ford GT, looking spectacular in white.
Story by Bloomberg
Written by Hannah Elliott
Photos by David Nicholson/Bloomberg
If you see one car at this year's Detroit Auto Show, make it the 2017 Ford GT.
This is the supercar Ford hasn't made since its initial 2005 version. It’s the one that can and will compete directly with the best European exotics, both on the track later this year and on the road next year. It's important because such halo cars are essential in creating an exciting, inspiring brand. They help develop and test new designs and technology. More important, they help people dream: Dreams sell expensive cars.
Do you like the McLaren 650S? The Lamborghini Huracan? The Ferrari LaFerrari? Then you're going to love the Ford GT. After one look at the front grill angled up at each end in a smart smirk, the tri-split rear spoiler, the quad tail pipes, and the ribs that run along the back arch of the roof, ponying up $400,000 when these cars go on sale next year will seem right on the mark. And unlike any of the show ponies we’ve seen since the GT's debut last year, Ford is showing the GT at Detroit in a brilliant beautiful white paint, rather than the customary racing blue.
The surprising thing about the GT is that it has “only” a V6 engine. This engine, however, is a 3.5-liter V6 that gets 650 horsepower and was created directly from Ford’s previous Daytona-winning sports racer. It is also set on a laser-quick rear-wheel-drive and double-clutch transmission; with that kind of power and tuning, you’re not going to miss anything from behind the wheel.
Meanwhile, the front and rear and most of the suspension are constructed mostly of aluminum. Inside, it’s narrow: The driver and passenger sit shoulder-to-shoulder in seats that sit super-low and close. (There's no back seat—don’t even ask!)
The initial attraction, especially with that white paint, is how stunning this GT looks from the outside. This is what it takes to revitalize a company. Ford has every right to be very, very proud. Production starts later this year. Fewer than 1,000 will be made.
Singer David Bowie: The Man Who Sold Royalties and Brought Music to Bonds, dies at 69
Song: Fame
Story by Bloomberg
Written by Alastair Marsh
The man behind “The Man Who Sold the World” was the first recording artist to go to Wall Street to tap the future earnings of his music, paving the way for a thriving market for esoteric securities backed by everything from racehorse stud rights to commercial washing machines.
David Bowie, who died from cancer at age 69 on Sunday, sold $55 million of bonds in 1997 that were tied to future royalties from hits including “Ziggy Stardust,” “Space Oddity” and “Changes.” Following his example were singers James Brown and Rod Stewart and the heavy-metal band Iron Maiden. Securities backed by royalties allow artists to raise money without selling the rights to their work or waiting years for payments to trickle in.
“Bowie’s bonds were as groundbreaking as his music,” said Rob Ford, a London-based money manager at TwentyFour Asset Management, which oversees 5.3 billion pounds ($7.7 billion). “Not only were they followed by a number of other artists, but they set the template for deals backed by a whole range of assets.”
The so-called Bowie bonds were sold privately to Prudential Insurance Co. of America. The securities were initially rated A3 rating by Moody’s Investors Service, the seventh-highest investment-grade rank. In the 2000s, Internet piracy led to a drop in sales and Moody’s cut the rating in 2004 to Baa3, one level above junk. The decline in worldwide recorded-music revenues slowed in 2014 as more people subscribed to streaming online services.
Paid Off
The Bowie bonds were paid off after 10 years and the ratings withdrawn, said Moody’s spokesman Thomas Lemmon. The New York-based company has also rated a music royalty transaction from the songwriting duo Ashford and Simpson, as well as a bond secured by a portfolio of Miramax films, including “Good Will Hunting” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary,” Lemmon said.
John Chartier, a spokesman for Prudential in Newark, New Jersey, declined to comment on the performance of the notes.
Song: Let's Dance
“David was extremely savvy and got things instantly,” David Pullman, the Los Angeles banker who arranged the Bowie bonds securitization, said in a phone interview Monday. “He heard what we were discussing and said why are we not doing this already?”
Underwriters in the U.S. led by Guggenheim Partners have helped expand the market for unusual securitization financing, which can provide issuers a lower cost of funds and achieve higher credit ratings than issuance of comparable company debt.
Comic Bonds
The market for securitizing intellectual property, which Bowie started, now includes film rights, pharmaceutical patents, restaurant franchises and the “Peanuts” comic strip.
It hasn’t always gone smoothly. Brown, “The Godfather of Soul” whose life and career was featured in the 2014 film “Get On Up,” sued to get out of his securitization arrangement in 2006, a year before his death.
Song: Under Pressure
Sales of esoteric securitizations made up 21 percent of all U.S. asset-backed issuance last year, and the sector grew faster than more traditional issuance, according to Barclays Plc data. Esoteric deal volume in the U.S. rose 16 percent to about $40 billion through November from a year earlier, Barclays analysts said in a November year-ahead outlook, forecasting at least $45 billion in sales in 2016.
While sales of esoteric deals have increased, they remain a small part of the wider asset-backed securities market. And bonds like Bowie’s remain limited by the number of artists able to reach the London-born singer-songwriter’s degree of success.
Bowie “changed the way people think about art and commerce," Pullman said.
"My Husband's Final State of the Union" - First Lady Michele Obama
Above Video, watch as several of the guests receive phone calls inviting them to sit in the First Lady's box tomorrow
First Lady Michele Obama: On Tuesday, my husband will deliver his seventh and final State of the Union address.
He'll be talking about making things better for you and your family right now -- and he'll also be sharing his vision for how, together we can make this country a better place for the next generation, and generations to come.
That's been his mission since the day he took office, and he'll be doing everything he can with every minute he has left as President to deliver on behalf of the American people.
This speech is for you, and we want to know you'll be there watching.
Say you'll join me and millions of other Americans on Tuesday to watch the State of the Union.
Each year, I have the honor of attending this address with a few of the many Americans who have inspired Barack -- and this year is no exception.
Braeden Mannering, after attending the White House Kids' "State Dinner," started his own nonprofit to provide healthy food to homeless and low-income individuals in his community. Formerly homeless Navy veteran Cindy Dias works with Veterans Village, a non-profit that has answered our Joining Forces call to End Veterans' Homelessness in Las Vegas.
Oscar Vasquez, an immigrant from Mexico, fought for the right to become an American citizen so that he could fulfill his dream of joining the U.S. Army. Refaai Hamo, a scientist and cancer survivor, fled Syria with his family hoping to "make a lasting contribution to humanity."
U.S. adds 2.65 million jobs in 2015 for 2nd best year since 1999
Story by CNN Money
Written by Patrick Gillespie
In the face of global fears, the U.S. economy is still gaining speed.
American employers added 292,000 jobs in December. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney predicted 211,000 jobs would be added.
For all of 2015, the economy added 2.65 million jobs, the second best year of jobs gains since 1999.
The unemployment rate stayed at 5% for the third straight month. That's near what most economists consider "full employment." Unemployment is down by half from its peak of 10% in 2009.
Americans saw their paychecks go up too. Wages grew 2.5% in December from a year ago, matching the annual gains in October, which were the best in six years. However, wages fell a penny compared to November.
Wages have been one of the last indicators to turn the corner in the U.S. recovery and they're finally gaining momentum. Growth in November was solid too.
"There are a lot of indicators that show the economy continues to move in the right direction," U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez told CNNMoney.
Most business areas added jobs, but the big winners in December were construction, health care and business services. Those three industries accounted for half of December's job gains.
Energy jobs, however, continued to fall as the collapse in oil prices kept up pressure on the industry. The industry cut back 8,000 jobs in December for a total of 130,000 jobs lost for all of 2015.
December's job gains are a reassuring sign that the U.S. economy has shown resiliency in the face of a slowdown in the global economy. Just this week, stock markets around the world panicked on fears that the global slowdown -- led China and falling oil prices -- is worsening.
Despite those headwinds -- which appeared to hold back job growth this summer -- America's economy keeps picking up momentum.
"After slowing in late summer, job growth has reaccelerated," says Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
The Federal Reserve sees the economy continuing to grow in 2016. In December, it gave its vote of confidence by raising its key interest rate for the first time in nearly a decade. The decision was mainly driven by the job market's progress.
America's economy made major progress on a number of measures last year. More people found full time jobs. The number of people who want a full-time job but can only find a part-time job -- called involuntary part-time workers -- fell by 760,000 workers over the year to 6 million in December. It's down from a peak of 9.2 million workers in 2010.
The number of people unemployed for six months or longer fell by over 600,000 last year too. High levels of long-term unemployed workers and part-time workers in recent years are partially why wage growth has been so sluggish.
Another bright spot was that black workers had an impressive month and year of jobs gains after suffering the most during the recession and recovery. The black unemployment rate fell to 8.3% in December from 9.4% in November. That's still much higher than other demographics but a year ago the black unemployment rate was at 10.4%.
All those signs of progress are reassuring at a time when there's renewed fears about the global economy. When jobs are added, people have more money in the wallets to spend, and American consumers are the major engine behind U.S. economic growth.
This year's gains "should keep the U.S. expansion on track despite downside risks from abroad," says Jesse Hurwtiz, senior U.S. economist at Barclays. On December: "Overall, it was a very strong report."
Song: "Peter Piper" by Run DMC - Mixed by DJ Jazzy Jeff
Story by Serato
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Arguably the first DJ to turn into a household name, DJ Jazzy Jeff is now synonymous with the art of turntablism. Raised in West Philadelphia, it was the regular summer block parties where his musical appetite blossomed and his path to DJing was set. Jeff soon developed his own following, and went on to popularize his characteristic “transformer scratch”, and won the first ever Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance as DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince for “Parents Just Don’t Understand”, and again for the ’91 anthem “Summertime”.
Since then, Jeff has donned an impressive number of hats. Over the length of his 30-year career he’s moved from DJing to acting, producing and songwriting, and all the way back to DJing. He was one of the first major DJ’s to make the switch from analog to digital, and says his non-stop touring schedule across the globe wouldn’t be possible without it. Regardless, it’s this pioneering spirit combined with his smooth selections that define him as a Serato Icon.
Radio is, once again, the nation’s top reach medium. But the real story is that’s only part of the bigger overall takeaway. The introduction of Nielsen’s second-ever Comparable Metrics report may help radio in the battle for a bigger slice of the ad pie.
That the finding was reported by Nielsen in its new Comparable Metrics Report using the same “apples to apples” metrics to measure TV, radio, TV-connected devices, PCs, smartphones and tablets should go down as the bigger headline.
First, the numbers: AM/FM radio reached over 90% of all adults in a given week during third-quarter 2015, a percentage that is consistent across demos—92% among 18-34 year-olds, 95% for 35-49-year-olds and 91% for persons 50+. TV is a close second, reaching 85% of all adults. Smartphones reach 74% of all adults—86% of persons 35-49. But after that there is a steep drop-off. PCs reach half of all adults, followed by TV-connected devices (40%) and tablets (29%).
“Radio is the only media platform that’s consistently delivering more than 90% of every adult demographic on a weekly basis. Not even TV is able to do that,” says Stacey Schulman, executive VP, strategy & analytics, Katz Media Group. “That’s phenomenal in a world where we’re constantly fighting for our fair share of dollars.”
The introduction of Nielsen’s second-ever Comparable Metrics report may help radio in the battle for a bigger slice of the ad pie. The report is a departure from siloed measurements that have made comparisons of one media to another difficult. It was “sorely needed,” Schulman says, because the new findings put radio “in the mix” of total media usage estimates for the first time. “This helps us understand the landscape better in an apples-to-apples way,” she says.
Natalie Cole and Gladys Knight & the Pips member William Guest funeral arrangements
* Natalie Cole's funeral service is Monday, January 11th at 11:00 a.m. at West Angeles Cathedral, 3600 Crenshaw Blvd, LA. It's open to the public.
* The Pips member, William Guest's funeral service is this Saturday, January 9th at 11:00 a.m. at Mount Moriah Baptist Church, 200 Joseph E Lowery Blvd SW, Atlanta, GA 30314. It's open to the public.
Miss Universe Pageant Invites Steve Harvey Back to Host the 2016 Pageant
Television personality Steve Harvey hosts the 2015 Miss Universe Pageant at The Axis at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on December 20, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Story by EUR Web
The Miss Universe folks just put an end to speculation that they’ll never hire Steve Harvey again after he announced the wrong winner.
In an interview on Jim Rome’s CBS Sports Radio Show, Mark Shapiro, chief content officer for “Miss Universe” owners WME | IMG, said the “Family Feud” host was “very remorseful” about the error and that Harvey was “absolutely” welcome back to host the 2016 pageant in Belize.
Shapiro said Harvey “did a great job. He was funny, he was informative, he’s high energy, he’s got a great following… I definitely want him back, and I would hate to see him not come back. He’s going to want a shot to redeem himself.”
The Belize Tourism Board is also hoping Harvey will return as host, stating it was impressed with the way he handled himself after the mistake and that it disagreed with speculation that the incident could slam the door on his future hosting opportunities.
Emmis New York chose not to renew Senior VP Deon Levingston's contract
Story by Inside Radio
Deon Levingston (left) has left Emmis Communications’ New York cluster after nearly two year as senior VP/market manager.
An Emmis spokesperson tells Inside Radio the company chose not to renew Levingston’s contract, which expired at the end of December. Emmis has not named a replacement and is working on interim management plans for its top market cluster.
Levingston managed Rhythmic CHR “Hot 97” WQHT, Urban AC WBLS (107.5) and Gospel WLIB (1190) for Emmis since March 2014. Before that he spent nearly a decade running WBLS and WLIB as VP/GM when the stations were owned by YMF Media and, before that, Inner City Broadcasting.
Levingston, who commuted weekly to New York from his home in Indianapolis, earlier held management and sales positions for Radio One in Indiana.
