The Rev. Al Sharpton and MSNBC are being attacked by critics for the network’s recent hiring of Sharpton to replace weekday host Cenk Uygur.

We at NewsOne always liked Uygur, even before his MSNBC show. We consider ourselves to be political progressives. We like MSNBC’s forward lean, in word and often in deed. And we like Sharpton, who has been a strong voice for Black America, and a friend to us here at NewsOne.

But there is something quite hypocritical about the current criticism coming from Uygur, from his liberal colleagues at the Huffington Post, and from investigative reporters at The Daily Beast charging that Sharpton’s ascension at MSNBC is nothing more than a reward for publicly supporting the NBC-Comcast merger, in an alleged mutual back-scratching scheme for his current employer, Radio One.

Sharpton’s critics should know better. In this emerging, merging Web 2.0 media world, we are all in a tangled web of relationships.  NewsOne, for those who don’t already know, is owned by Radio One. The Rev. Al Sharpton is a blogger on our platform. Readers may have reason to believe that we’d be predisposed to support Sharpton because of our relationship to him. But Uygur’s colleague at the Huffington Post, Jason Linkins, fulminated at Sharpton and MSNBC without once disclosing that the Huffington Post also provides a platform for Uygur. To make matters more complex, both the Huffington Post and The Daily Beast have cordial relationships with Radio One websites to exchange links to articles on our sites. And Radio One has just solidified a sales partnership with a site that was until now a competitor of ours, TheGrio.com, which is a part of NBC News.

In the new media world, we are all related. The test of journalism in the 21st century is whether news organizations are committed to telling the truth regardless of those relationships.

So let’s tell some truth.

In dumping Uygur for Sharpton, MSNBC has been assailed  for dropping a progressive critic of Obama in favor of someone who has stated his support for the president — not his unmitigated support, not his uncritical support, but support nonetheless. What’s missing in this analysis is that Sharpton largely mirrors the Black American viewpoint on this. And until Sharpton, how many Black commentators with their own, branded show did cable news have?

Zero.

So while we lament that one progressive voice was dimmed to make way for Sharpton, we are disappointed that white American critics who call themselves “progressive” seem to forget that we still are in need of a lot of progress when it comes to Black viewpoints being expressed in mainstream channels, and Black talent being given an equal chance to shine.

Progressives are equally critical on this point. Linkins called Sharpton a non-talent. Others claim that Sharpton is not qualified for the host chair because he is not a journalist.

Of course, Sharpton isn’t a journalist — but neither are many of the hosts of successful cable news shows. These hosts are employed because they can articulate an opinion and galvanize an audience. And Sharpton, even as a replacement host,  has been killing it in the ratings, handily beating folks like CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. This current ratings success is of course not cited in these media critics’ essays. As for talent, anyone who has seen Sharpton take on his opponents — whether in live debate or tearing into Tea Partiers on MSNBC — would know that Sharpton is indeed the real thing. Linkins stated that he was out of the country when the Uygur-Sharpton switch went down, so perhaps he needs to catch up on his viewing.

Then there are the charges of conflict of interest. Leave aside the aforementioned tangle of relationships, and let’s look at the argument on its merits. NBC and Comcast wished to merge. Whenever large corporations merge, corporations must be accountable to the laws regarding fair and unfair competition; and thus the public and special interests have an opportunity to influence these behemoths to extract concessions that might normally be impossible to get. Sharpton and his National Action Network have, many times in the past, used these occasions to advance the cause of Black American economic well being, for both Black labor and Black capital. And Sharpton, on the occasion of this proposed merger, loudly supported a proposal to mandate a combined NBCU/Comcast entity that will fund several African-American and minority-owned cable networks, a stipulation that has become part of the deal.

That function is Sharpton’s real job — always has been, always will be, no matter how many radio or TV shows he hosts. And yet Wayne Barrett intimates that Sharpton endorsed the deal mainly to enrich his “employer” Radio One (with whom Sharpton has a contract to host a show).

Sharpton would — and has — put it in simpler terms. The NBC-Comcast merger was good for Black business and Black people, period. And if progressives point to Sharpton’s relationship to Radio One as a bad thing, one might ask them this: Wouldn’t a Black-owned media company be crazy not to offer a platform to the most renowned Black political commentator and activist who is not actually a politician? And in a world where their own so-called progressive political platforms give so little of their own platforms to Black commentators and activists, how can they possibly fault Sharpton for taking a good offer? Until the CNNs and FOXes and other media companies follow NBC-Comcast’s decent example of diversity (not just with Sharpton’s MSNBC show, but also with the NBC News-backed site, The Grio), they really have no high ground on which to mount their high horse.

Progressives have long sneered at Sharpton’s tactics to bring corporate America to the bargaining table when it comes to diversity. But when even so-called progressives can’t be counted on to see things from the perspective of the ethnic groups they purport to embrace, is it any wonder that Sharpton makes no apologies?

We, at least, never had to wonder.

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MSNBC Chief Praises Rev. Al Sharpton But No Job Offer Yet

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in conjuction with the National Bar Association awarded Ms. Hughes, who spoke of her commitment to helping the organization safegaurd the right to vote.

Read more at wolbbaltimore.com.

RELATED:

Radio One Founder Cathy Hughes Talks About New Christian Website

Radio One Founder Cathy Hughes Speaks On Black Women In Film

The Daily Beast Reports:

Hughes, who will be the recipient of McDonald’s 365 Black Award at the upcoming Essence Music Festival, said she hopes to get started on the book before the end of the year.

The media tycoon said her new website, Christian5xTimers.com, played a significant part in her decision to share her story.

“Everyone said, ‘Write about your career in Black radio, but it wasn’t until we launched [the site] that I really felt this need,” Hughes said. Christian5xTimers seeks to enjoin Christian believers to pray for peace for a minimum of five times a day.

“[I] realized praying five times a day has opened my eyes to the fact that maybe I do have information that I need to share in writing.”

In 1980, Hughes started Radio One in Washington with only one station. Today, Radio One owns 53 stations in 16 cities. The company, which owns TV One and Interactive One, partnered with Joyner’s Reach Media, becoming one of the leading African-American media companies in the country.

On air, Hughes venerated the partnership’s precedence in media and Black culture.

“For Reach Media and Radio One to form a partnership was very significant in Black History, period, but totally a defining moment in Black radio,” she said. “Future students of the communications industry will study the merger between [these two companies].”

Hughes will be honored on the Essence Music Festival stage alongside Mary J. Blige, Ruby Dee and NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Jealous.

*NewsOne is also owned by Radio One.

Listen To Audio On RnBPhilly.com

RELATED:

Cathy Hughes Speaks On Images Of Black Women In Film

Here are NewsOne’s top 20 Black radio jockeys of all time, picked for their pioneering spirit and influence.

[DJs who made their name before becoming radio personalities have been excluded, but honorable mentions must go to folks like Steve Harvey, Rickey Smiley, and Yolanda Adams].

Related: Samples of History: Inheriting Prince’s Funk

1) Jack L. Cooper

Widely considered to be the first African-American radio announcer, Jack L. Cooper’s “All Negro” radio show aired in the 1930s on Chicago’s WSBC. Cooper was succeeded in Black Chicago radio by very important air personalities like Al Benson — who brought the blues and jazz to Chicago on WGES — and his colleague Herb Kent, who made his mark after his move to WVON, where he was a strong voice for progress during the tumultuous Civil Rights movement.

2) Jack “The Rapper” Gibson
Gibson got his start on the very first Black owned radio station, Atlanta’s WERD, in 1949. Embodying the fast talking style for which he was named, Gibson also went on to create one of the first Black radio trades, “Jack The Rapper,” and the infamous Black music convention of the same name.

3) Rufus Thomas
Rufus Thomas was the preeminent DJ of Memphis’ WDIA, the nation’s first radio station with an all-Black air staff. A triple-threat performer of song, dance, and comedy, Thomas’ nighttime show, “Hoot and Holler,” was an influential source of blues and R&B for a generation of white and Black listeners alike. Thomas also hosted amateur talent shows on Memphis’ famed Beale Street, premiering young talents like B.B. King, Ike Turner, and Bobby “Blue” Bland.

4) Jocko Henderson
A legendary disc jockey on the airwaves of Philadelphia and New York in the 1950s and 1960s, Douglas Wendell “Jocko” Henderson was a pioneer of the slick-talking, rapid-fire radio patter that influenced Black and White jockeys nationwide and laid a cultural foundation for “rap” music.

5) Petey Greene
Known as one of the original shock-jocks, Greene was a trailblazer of talk radio; and his influence was such that he has been credited with quashing the riots in Washington, D.C. in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Greene got an unusual start to his broadcasting career when he began DJing for the Virginia prison in which he was serving a five year sentence for armed robbery. Upon his release when he was hired to host his own show, Rapping With Petey Greene, at WOL in Washington D.C. His success led him to television where he hosted his own Emmy Award-winning show, Petey Greene’s Washington, on local WDCA-TV and BET.

6) Melvin Lindsey
Almost twenty years after his death, WHUR jock Marvin Lindsey’s “Quiet Storm” playlist remains an inspiration for imitators at radio stations across the country. Lindsey started out interning at Howard University’s WHUR, and got his first break filling in for a DJ who couldn’t make it in. The positive response for Lindsey’s impromptu show led WHUR station manager (and now Radio One founder) Cathy Hughes to give him his own time slot. Christening the show “Quiet Storm” after a hit single from Smokey Robinson, Lindsey’s smooth soulful playlist was an instant success, and may well have influenced the growth of the “smooth Jazz” sector of the music and radio business.

7) Dyanna Williams
Dynanna Williams is one of the earliest and most influential female air personalities in Black radio. Using the name “Ebony Moonbeams,” Williams started her career in broadcasting in 1973 when she was hired at Howard University’s WHUR. Two years later, Frankie Crocker hired Williams at WBLS-FM in her hometown, New York City. In 1978 she became the first African American woman rock DJ at WRQX-FM in Washington DC. In 1990 Williams launched the Association of African American Music Foundation to promote African American musicians, and currently hosts a weekly broadcast, “Soulful Sunday,” on Radio One’s 107.9 WRNB in Philadelphia.

8) Chuck Leonard
Leonard, another pioneer of Black jocks’ move into the mainstream, was the first African-American disc jockey on landmark pop station WABC-AM, where he stayed for 14 years doing late-night shifts before moving through a string of New York stations like WRKS, WBLS, and WJUX. Leonard caught the radio bug in college as program director of University of Illinois station WPGU.

9) Frankie Crocker
Crocker first became a household name on New York’s Black station, WWRL. But after becoming one of the first Black jocks to “cross over” into more mainstream radio (as one of WMCA’s “Good Guys”), Crocker crossed back when a Black-owned consortium hired him for a new FM station in New York called WBLS. Crocker assembled a huge, multiracial audience, and had a great influence on the mainstreaming of disco. Though resistant to rap, he played some of the first hip-hop records and hired hip-hop’s first legendary radio jock, Mr.Magic.

10) Mr. Magic
When John “Mr. Magic” Rivas created “Disco Showcase” in 1979 on a small pay-for-time FM station in New York called WHBI, he didn’t know he was starting what would become the very first rap radio show. A few years later, Magic took his “Rap Attack” to commercial station WBLS, and fostered the careers of producer Marley Marl, and artists like Biz Markie and Big Daddy Kane. Mr. Magic brought the first rap show to commercial radio on New York’s WBLS.

11) Red Alert
New York rival 98.7 Kiss-FM answered Frankie Crocker’s hiring of Mr. Magic when they asked Kool DJ Red Alert to craft his own rap show on weekends. Self-effacing where Magic was brash, Red Alert became a beloved figure of listeners and rappers alike. Red Alert fostered the careers of acts such as KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah and A Tribe Called Quest.

12) Greg Mack
Mack was already a successful air personality in Houston when a small AM station in Los Angeles called KDAY hired him to be disc jockey and music director. But Mack’s aggressive programming of rap music made KDAY the first station to embrace rap as a core part of its programming, and helped launch the L.A. rap scene. Mack gave the first airplay to now legendary acts like the LA Dream Team, Egyptian Lover, World Class Wreckin’ Cru, Dr. Dre, Eazy E, Ice T, Ice Cube, NWA, Tone Loc and dozens more.

13) Tom Joyner
In 1985, Tom Joyner earned his stripes as “The Hardest Working Man In Radio,” juggling two top-rated shows in separate cities over a thousand miles apart. For eight years Joyner would do a weekly morning show at K-104 in Dallas, and fly to Chicago every weekday afternoon for a show at WGCI. In 1994, “The Fly Jock” became the one of the first nationally syndicated Black DJs when was hired to host his own program, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, which spread to 29 stations. In 1998, Joyner became the first African-American inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

14) Russ Parr
Russ Parr began his career as a stand-up comedian in California, and got his start in radio on Los Angeles’s famed KDAY. In the mid-1980s Parr also recorded with his band “Bobby Jimmy and The Critters.” In 1996, he became the second African-American giant of syndication in 1996 when his Russ Parr Morning Show on Radio One’s WKYS-FM became the base of operations for a network that eventually reached more than 3 million listeners daily on over 40 radio stations.

15) Robin Quivers
As the long-running Black female sidekick of white shock-jock Howard Stern, Quivers has held her own in a predominately male atmosphere for thirty years. Part cohost and part cosigner, Quivers has maintained a precarious and controversial role as foil for Stern’s arguably racist rants: Does her presence give Stern a “pass,” or does she keep him in check? Either way, Quivers has become one of the most recognized female radio personalities in the country.

16) Wendy Williams
Referring to herself as the “Queen of All Media,” Wendy Williams’ trademark mixture of oversized personality and merciless celebrity gossip created a new radio archetype and captured millions of fans. After college, Williams started her career in radio as an intern for Kiss 108 in Boston, and made the move to New York City’s Kiss-FM, where she eventually landed her own air shift; and then on to New York’s Hot 97. Williams was Billboard’s Best On-Air Radio Personality in 1993, and became the second African-American woman inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. Williams currently hosts her own daytime TV talk show.

17) Electrifying Mojo
Broadcasting first on WGPR in Detroit, Mojo challenged ideas about the role of a radio jockey. His unbridled and unusual music selection inspired legions of fans in Detroit, and Mojo is recognized for having introduced listeners to a number of artists that include Prince, The B-52’s, and Kraftwerk. Mojo was well known for his habit of playing lengthy recordings without interruption, and was hugely influential in the formation of the Detroit techno scene.

18) Star & Buc Wild
Star (Troi Torain) and his stepbrother Buc Wild (Timothy Joseph) started their radio journey in March of 2000 hosting the morning show on Hot 97 in New York City. Their aggressive and culturally mixed personas quickly surpassed Howard Stern for the number one spot among young listeners. Though often contentious, the show continues to capture new supporters while proving to be at the forefront of today’s changing media landscape. Star & Buc Wild currently host the morning show on Philadelphia ’s 100.3 The Beat.

19) David “Davey D” Cook
A nationally renowned pioneer blending hip-hop, radio and community activism, David Cook moved from the Bronx to the Bay Area shortly after the dawn of the hip-hop era. Cook eventually landed a radio show on Berkeley’s KALX. With his Bronx Science high school colleague Kevvy Kev Montague over at Stanford’s KZSU, and a number of other important DJs and shows at college and community stations across the Bay, Cook eventually became the ringleader of the Bay Area Hip-Hop Coalition, the first rap radio deejay collective in the world, with more hours of hip-hop on air than in any area of the country. When local pop station KMEL started playing hip-hop aggressively, Cook pioneered a new kind of prime time community affairs program, blending music with activism.

20) Sway
Sway Calloway, along with his partner King Tech, became the first to host a hip-hop radio show on a pop station when his Wake Up Show debuted on San Francisco’s KMEL-FM in 1990. The Wake Up Show eventually became internationally syndicated, reaching more than 20 different markets in five countries. Sway himself became the morning personality on KMEL-FM, and then was hired by MTV as an on-air host and journalist. Sway now hosts the morning show on Sirius satellite radio’s Shade 45.

Related: Top 9 Black Television Talk Show Hosts

Related: 25 Reasons We Love Arsenio Hall

From WashingtonPost.com:

The Lanham company said it earned $14.2 million (25 cents a share) in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $266.1 million ($2.81) a year earlier. The results for the year-ago period were affected by a one-time write-down of $337.9 million on the value of its broadcasting licenses.

Shares of Radio One jumped more than 27 percent on the news, gaining 39 cents to close at $1.83.

“It’s a pretty decent result,” said industry analyst Mark R. Fratrik of BIA Financial. “They are moving in the right direction. But like every other radio company, there are both long-term and short-term challenges.”

Founded in 1980, Radio One owns and operates 53 radio stations across the United States aimed at African American and urban listeners. The company has struggled in recent years, and the recession has magnified its difficulties.

However, this summer, Radio One ended a six-quarter losing streak by reporting a $7.2 million profit for the April-through-June period, as it reduced operating expenses.

Click here to read more.

[Disclosure: NewsOne.com is part of the Interactive One family of websites, which are owned by parent company Radio One.]

Radio One, Inc. Founder & Chairperson, Cathy Hughes received the Kappa Alpha Psi Humanitarian Award along with President Barack Obama, Senator Mary Landrieu (LA), and Dr. Ian Smith at the Kappa Annual Convention in Washington, DC on August 4, 2009.

It was standing room only in the main ballroom of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in the Nation’s Capital with over 5000 Grand Kappa Fraternity Brothers and their Sweethearts and fellow Pan Hellenic Members for the opening session of the largest annual convention in Kappa Alpha Psi history. Opening night ceremonies provided the occasion for the awarding of the highest honors that the 98-year old Fraternity bestows.

The Laurel Wreath Awards, which are the highest honor for the members of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, this year, were awarded to Dr. Carl Anderson, Ralph J. Bryson, Nathaniel R. Jones and Thomas A. Moorehead. Humanitarian Awards (the highest honor for non-members) were bestowed upon President Barack Ohama, Senator Mary Landrieu, Dr. Ian Smith and Cathy Hughes. The President came to the convention to personally receive his Humanitarian Award from the Kappas. Also in attendance at the convention was the Kappa Mayor of Washington, DC, Adrian Fenty and the current Kappa members of Congress, Alcee Hastings, Lacy Clay, Sanford Bishop, and John Conyers and former Kappa members of Congress, Representative Walter Fauntroy and Louis Stokes.
In accepting her Humanitarian Award from Kappa Alpha Psi, Cathy Hughes thanked the Fraternity for their ongoing support of the Piney Woods School. The 100-year old school in Piney Woods, Mississippi was the recipient of a $1 million dollar contribution from Kappa Alpha Psi during their fundraiser on August 6, 2009. The Founder of the school, Dr. Laurence C. Jones, was one of the very first African American college graduates in this country and one of the early members of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and is the maternal grandfather of Cathy Hughes. The presentation to Piney Woods School was made by Grand Polemarch Dwayne M. Murray who noted that the four presidents of Piney Woods School have all been Kappa Alpha Psi active members. Cathy Hughes credited much of her success to the Kappa men whom she “had been blessed to have in her life.” She also expressed her gratitude to the Fraternity for including her in the distinguished company of the President of the United States, Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, and Dr. Ian Smith of the 50 Million Pound Challenge.

The evening’s Award presentations were spectacularly handled by Grand Polemarch Dwayne M. Murray, Executive Director/COO Richard Lee Snow and National Committee Chairman Kevin J. Johnson. The evening’s Public Meeting was perfectly staged with dramatic sound, light and video effects. Live performances included the vocal artistry of Kappa Brother Jonathan Hicks and comic great Cheryl Underwood brought the house down when she protested her two minute limit on remarks as the International Grand Basileus of Zeta Phi Beta, proclaiming that “there is nothing a Zeta sister can do with a Kappa brother in two minutes” and then demanded that they “reset the clock,” which they graciously did. However, when other speakers started to run “well” over their allotted time – Academy Awards sounding music started to play softly in the background and the audience loved the reactions of the speakers who sometimes just as graciously ignored it.

Cathy Hughes described her view from the stage of the Public Meeting as “a sea of strong, brilliant, committed, college educated, good looking black men, from all walks of life, nattily attired in varying shades of Crimson and Cream with creases in their trousers and a shine on their shoes that paled in comparison to the illuminating smiles on their faces.” “Awesome is the right description of the entire Kappa Convention,” she went on to add.

From bizjournals.com:

Clear Channel Radio has agreed to donate stations and equipment to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council as part of a move to increase diversity in media ownership.

Clear Channel Radio will donate a number of AM station to the council through the MMTC-Clear Channel Ownership Diversity Initiative. Initially, Clear Channel Radio plans to donate AM radio stations KYHN in Fort Smith, Ark.; WTFX in Winchester, Va.; KMFX in Rochester, Minn.; and WHJA in Laurel, Miss.

The council will work with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Education Foundation’s Broadcast Leadership Training Program to use these radio stations for training purposes as well as incubate a new generation of minority and women broadcast owners, says David Honig, president and executive director of the council.

Click here for full report.

WANT TO BE A PART OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY GALA? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW!!!

The Apollo Theater will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a benefit tribute concert and an awards ceremony, among other festivities, on June 8 at the historic venue.

Hosted by comedian/actor/radio personality Steve Harvey, the gala will feature the induction of Quincy Jones and Patti LaBelle, who will be presented with their awards by Jamie Foxx and Mariah Carey. Past inductees into the Apollo Legends Hall of Fame include Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Little Richard and Ella Fitzgerald.

That will be followed by the Ruby Dee & Ossie Davis Arts and Humanitarian Award presented this year to Bill and Camille Cosby. This award, named after the late Ossie Davis and his wife, is given annually to a couple who have shown a commitment to their community and a strong bond amongst each other and their families. Previous award recipients have included Pauletta and Denzel Washington; Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon; Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance; and Tonya Lewis Lee and Spike Lee. The theater’s annual corporate award recognizing superior corporate leadership will be presented to The Coca-Cola Company for its ongoing commitment to the Apollo and the Harlem community.

WANT TO BE A PART OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY GALA? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW!!!

The evening will also feature a performance by the O’Jays. Ray Chew, musical director for the Inaugural Neighborhood Ball television special (ABC-TV), NBC’s “The Singing Bee,” “Showtime At The Apollo” and the weekly Amateur Night show, will serve as the night’s musical director.

The event will culminate with the Apollo Supper Club, a lounge created by designer David Monn, where DJ D-Nice will provide music.

The Gala’s sponsors include The Coca Cola Company and sponsors Bloomberg, TV One, Belvedere, Hennessy and Moet & Chandon.

Individual tickets for the Apollo’s 75th Anniversary Gala are $1,000 (tax deductible amount $850).

To purchase tickets, or to make a donation to the Apollo Theater Foundation CLICK HERE

Or call 800.618.3444

WANT TO BE A PART OF THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY GALA? CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT HOW!!!

This event is the Apollo’s largest annual fundraiser and all proceeds of the event will benefit the Apollo Theater Foundation, Inc., a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, dedicated to preserving and developing the Apollo Theater and its initiatives for performing artists, educational programs, and community outreach efforts in New York City and beyond. From Billboardbiz.com.

Radio One owner Cathy Hughes is trying hard to keep her company above water in the midst of this recession, having already cut folks’ pay by as much as 10 percent and reduced office hours at the company’s Maryland headquarters, reports Redding News.

“We are closing every other Friday,” Hughes told XM 169′s Joe Madison during a radio interview last week. “We’ve all taken three, five, seven or 10 percent pay cuts depending on what category your annual compensation was. We’ve voluntarily turned in vacation time, we furloughed and now we’re closing corporate – we’re closing Lanham – every other Friday to stay afloat.”

Hughes made her remarks while speaking out against Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, who is behind a bill requiring all radio stations to pay performance royalties to artists for playing their music, which Satellite radio currently does.

Radio observers say that the performance royalties may put a third of black-owned stations out of business.

Source: EURweb.com

Full Disclosure: NewsOne is a Radio One subsidiary.

UPDATE:  To all our Radio One / Interactive One family, I am urgently calling on YOUR SUPPORT to help save BLACK RADIO!!

Today, there will be a demonstration/rally Opposing Congressman Conyers Bill H.R. 848 – Performance Tax that will “KILL” Black Radio

Wednesday, May 12, 2009

Time:  12:00pm EST

Location:

John Conyers Office (outside)  “The Federal Building”

669 Federal Building

231 W. Lafayette

Detroit, MI 48226

313.961.5670 Office

313.226.2085 Fax

Please show up to support Black Radio!!

TO MY RADIO ONE FAMILY:

The Honorable John Conyers, our 80 year old African-American Congressman is the sponsor of a new bill that could put many black owned radio stations out of business. And force others to abandon their commitment to provide free music, entertainment, news, information, and money losing formats like gospel and black talk.

This is Cathy Hughes, founder and chairperson of Radio One with an urgent call to our Radio Family.

The John Conyers Performance Tax Bill is the brain child of the foreign owned record industry who would receive at least 50% of the revenue that would be charged to radio stations in order for them to play music. The music that you now receive free from us – we would have to pay millions of dollars for.

And in the midst of this economic depression, black radio stations simply do not have that financial ability.

There has been only one hearing on the bill and that hearing did not have any black ownership representation. Black radio owners and community leaders including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Dick Gregory, Tom Joyner, and myself have all begged Conyers to at least allow us the opportunity for a hearing. He has flatly refused.

We now ask you, our radio family, to assist us in saving the future of black radio. Please call or email or visit the offices of John Conyers today.

His phone numbers are 202-225-5126 and 313-961-5670 and his email address is john.conyers@mail.house.gov

TELL HIM that you oppose this bill that would murder Black owned radio and the free music that you now hear on all free radio stations. In the midst of an American economic recession, it is not the right time to send millions of dollars to foreign owned record companies that don’t even pay taxes like you and me in this country. This bill is not in the interest of Black people! Please help us save Black radio!

WANT TO LEARN MORE? See below why it is IMPERATIVE that we act to save Black radio:

1. The promotional value of free local radio airplay translates into significant revenues for artists and record labels:

• According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), record sales in the United States in 2007 were approximately $10.4 billion;
• Touring revenue in 2007 in the U.S. was approximately $5 billion;
• The above figures exclude the several billion dollars derived annually from merchandise, songwriting royalties and licensing deals for commercials, films, etc.; and
• Also excluded is the boost that U.S. popularity provides for foreign sales and concerts.

2. Local radio also actively promotes artists by:

• Devoting considerable and valuable airtime to promoting artists’ concerts;
• Featuring artist weekends
• Providing opportunities for live in-studio performances; and
• Creating buzz through on-air ticket and album giveaways, helping to drive concert and merchandising revenue.

Without doubt, the engine driving these billions of dollars into the pockets of the record labels and artists is free, local radio promotion.

Artist Examples of Increased Sales From Local Radio Airplay

Each of the next graphs details and compares the spins on over-the-air radio (highlighted in red on each graph) with the retail sales and downloads of the artists’ releases (highlighted in blue on each graph). The results are consistent in every artist example: Significant play on radio results in significant sales of the artist’s song, demonstrating the significant promotional and economic impact that free, local radio provides to the recording industry.

The recording industry suggests that the Internet and viral marketing is now the way to break a new artist.  However, despite numerous new methods for artists to showcase their music, such as MySpace.com, retail outlets, etc., radio’s promotional value in spiking and sustaining sales is clearly demonstrated by the information included below.

Kanye West

Kanye West is an American record producer and is a multiple Grammy Award-winning rapper and singer who rose to fame in the mid 2000s.

Albums

He released his debut album “The College Dropout” in 2004, his second album “Late Registration” in 2005 and his third album “Graduation” in 2007. His first three albums have received numerous awards (including nine Grammys), critical acclaim and commercial success. The first two singles from “Late Registration” sold over 860,000 copies in its first week, and earned him eight Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year and Record of the Year for the song “Gold Digger.” His first three albums have certified sales of three million, three million and two million copies respectively by the RIAA.

Tours

Kanye West headlined 190 concerts between 2004 and 2007, grossing an average of $244,669 and selling an average of 5,235 tickets per date. (Source: Pollstar Artist Profile Report, © 2007)

50 Cent

50 Cent is an American rapper.

Albums

He rose to fame with the release of his albums “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” (2003) and “The Massacre” (2005). Both albums achieved multi-platinum success, selling over 21 million records worldwide, including 11 million RIAA certified sales in the United States.

The lead single from “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” “In da Club,” which The Source noted for its “blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps” broke a Billboard record as the most listened-to song in radio history within a week.

Tours

50 Cent headlined 199 concerts worldwide between 2002 and 2007, grossing an average of $632,272 and selling an average of 11,406 tickets per date between 2005 and 2007. (Source: Pollstar Artist Profile Report, © 2007)

Fully supported by Radio One Founder and Chairperson Cathy Hughes (Radio One Inc. is the parent company of NewsOne.com), VA entrepreneur Earl Stafford has successfully launched the People’s Inaugural Project, bringing together disadvantaged citizens to Washington to participate in the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

From USA Today:

WASHINGTON — They arrive Sunday from 22 states for a luxurious three-night stay in the nation’s capital.

They’ll occupy more than 335 rooms with 37-inch flat-panel TVs, 300-count sheets, down comforters and feather pillows at the JW Marriott Washington with unobstructed views of Tuesday’s Inaugural Parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from a heated, glass-enclosed 12th-floor terrace.

They’ll select gowns and tuxedos from racks of formalwear wheeled in just for them.

The tab for all that: zero.

Stafford, by his own estimate, has written checks for more than $1.6 million to underwrite his People’s Inaugural Project — a sprawling effort to bring more than 400 disadvantaged citizens to Washington to participate in the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.

He expects the final tally to be $2 million by the time he finishes hosting the three-day gathering for people he describes as “marginalized” by society — disabled veterans, indigent children, the terminally ill, battered women, the disadvantaged, the homeless and the elderly. “When things are good, people don’t need philanthropy as much. It’s when the economy has a great downturn, as today, that businesses need to step up,” says Stafford, the son of a Baptist minister who is motivated by his Christian faith. “People are hurting, and no one is bailing out the people. We must become our brothers’ keepers, indeed.”

Seminars for attendees mixed in with the fun

In addition to providing transportation, lodging and food and even barbers and beauticians for the underserved, Stafford has shelled out thousands more to make sure his guests are as comfortable as possible in the rarefied air of ceremonial Washington. He’ll host about 1,000 people or more at four events, including a prayer breakfast and a luncheon on Monday, at which Martin Luther King III will speak, and two Inaugural Balls on Tuesday — one for youth, the other for adults. “We just want to be obedient to what the Lord wants us to do,” he says.

At every event, at least one-third of the attendees will be disadvantaged. The rest will be people of “means” — business leaders, community leaders, celebrities and politicians invited by Stafford. The goal: to bring together people from all strata of society. “We want those with millions in the bank interacting and worshipping and celebrating with those who only have pennies in their pockets.”

The oldest attendee, Rachel Tucker of nearby Alexandria, Va., will get the royal treatment complete with a limousine ride from her home to the hotel and head-to-toe outfit provided by Nordstrom.

Over the three days, the People’s Inaugural Project will offer seminars on topics ranging from budgeting, to life and work skills, to health care. Stafford will have counselors, doctors, social workers and business people assisting those who come. “It would be a sin if we brought these people in their distressed situations and brought them to a party, to festivities and celebrations, and sent them home in the same condition as they came. We would be patronizing and using these people,” he says.

Once his guests return home, they’ll continue to be supported by the non-profit Stafford Foundation, as well as service organizations in their home communities. Stafford says his foundation will stay in touch with them “as much as possible” and connect them with resources as needed.

Stafford, 60, will remain chairman of the foundation but will focus much of his time on his new venture funding start-up, the Wentworth Group in Reston, Va., that will — among other things — help the underserved go into business for themselves.

Stafford sold his previous company, Unitech, a Centreville, Va., company that provides military weapons and training simulations, to Lockheed Martin for an undisclosed sum. The company had estimated revenue of $150 million in 2008. The sale closed last Friday.

And he sold the business while working 16-hour days alongside his coalition partners and family to bring the People’s Inaugural Project to fruition.

How a $1 million idea came about

The project started small, just the germ of an idea that came to him last March — that he should direct a chunk of his fortune to helping the underserved. In August, he cornered the presidential suite at the Hay-Adams Hotel, just across Lafayette Park from the White House to host a party for the underserved on Inauguration Day. “Get some food, have it catered, make it nice and then we’d go on our way,” he thought.

That all changed two months later at home in his kitchen when his brother-in-law told him about an inaugural package offered by the JW Marriott Washington: Pay $1 million and get 300 rooms, four suites, $200,000 of food and drinks and a protected rooftop view of the Inaugural Parade route. The next day, Stafford bought the package. “As a company, we’re honored that Mr. Stafford chose this hotel for such a selfless act as helping other people,” says Erick Speight, Marriott senior sales executive.

Once news of his plans to include the underserved was out, Stafford and his foundation were overwhelmed. More than 7,000 calls, e-mails and messages came into his non-profit foundation either requesting tickets, nominating individuals or offering to support the cause by volunteering. Hundreds even rang his home, some just to thank him.

Stafford, who refused to take money from lobbyists, estimates that individuals have donated $25,000 to $30,000 to the project. “We had so many volunteers that there was no way to accommodate them all,” he says.

To spread word of the project and identify people to bring to Washington, Stafford enlisted the help of several organizations that are working with him pro bono, including media company Radio One, public affairs company DCI Group, the National Urban League, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Institute for Responsible Citizenship.

Through contacts at more than three dozen community groups with outreach efforts around the country, the coalition culled a list of the disadvantaged who would be invited to Washington.

Cathy Hughes, founder and chairperson of Radio One, is thrilled to be part of the People’s Inaugural Project because “it is in the same vein as our mission statement” since the company’s beginnings in 1980. For years, Radio One hosted a similar event in the Washington area called the Dream Feast, a catered meal where up to 500 homeless people would dine and interact with business and community leaders.

“Exposing individuals to various things that their plight in life normally excludes them from is the very best inspiration for them,” she says. Hughes, whose company donated a variety of media and entertainment services to the project, will attend the ball with nationally syndicated radio host and philanthropist Tom Joyner and singer James Ingram.

Stafford, who donated to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, says the People’s Inaugural Project is not about politics, it’s about helping others and putting faith into action. “People today who are in need, who are losing their homes, who have no jobs, who are homeless, they don’t care about your political affiliation, they just need your help. Corporate America has to wake up to that call.”

Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies President Ralph Everett believes that more businesses will get involved with faith-based organizations in response to Obama’s efforts to encourage service to others. “It takes everybody.”

In the midst of the worst economic recession in more than 70 years and a downturn in individual and corporate giving, Virginia businessman and entrepreneur Earl Stafford is bucking the trend. Instead of cutting back, he’s giving big to those who have the least.

After Chernin, COO of News Corp, and Cuban, who sold his business to Yahoo! for $5.9 billion, a recent ZD Net poll ranked Tim Armstrong (Google), Susan Decker (Yahoo!) and Marc Andreessen (formerly of Netscape) as top contenders. Valleywag and Predictify showed ex-ebay chief Meg Whitman as the front-runner, and AlleyInsider gave a nod to former AOL head of sales and operations Mike Kelly, who was instrumental in bringing AOL back from the brink.

One thing missing from all these predictions are any African-American candidates.  So, in the spirit of Obama, here are some additional suggestions:

David C. Drummond Chief Legal Officer, Google
David Drummond joined Google in 2002, initially as vice president of corporate development. Today as senior vice president and chief legal officer, he leads Google’s global teams for legal, government relations, corporate development (M&A and investment projects) and new business development (strategic partnerships and licensing opportunities). David worked with a wide variety of technology companies to help them manage complex transactions such as mergers, acquisitions and initial public offerings.

Kenneth Chenault, CEO, American Express
Ken Chenault was a leader by example and reenergized his company’s brand, increased its market share, and won back many of the merchants who had abandoned the firm because of its high fees. He inspired fierce loyalty in his employees, boosting morale in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Richard Parsons, Former CEO, TimeWarner
He is the Chairman of the Board of Time Warner. He stepped down as CEO of Time Warner on December 31 2007 [1]. He is also on the board of directors of Citigroup. His economic and business savvy shows through the success of AOL TimeWarner, which has been renamed TimeWarner. He is also part of the movement of ‘change’ as a member of the economic advisory team for President-elect Barack Obama.

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