Earlier this week, we were stunned with the news of Tom Joyner and Michael Baisden being taken off of the radio in New York. These two radio shows reached the largest listening block of African Americans in this country. These two shows educated the masses during a many political elections and sounded the alarm nationally for injustices like the Jena 6 racial incident and the most recent, the Trayvon Martin murder in Florida. Even though these two shows are still operating strong in other markets across the country, New York was really major. A little over a year ago, Michael Baisden was taken off the air here in Dallas when the station he was on changed formats. They went from current RnB and soul to old school RnB classics only.
So, what does this mean? Any thoughts? Well, it all sounds political to me. Whenever national elections, particularly the election of a congress, senate and the president come around, you will notice the right wing conservatives becoming very busy with silencing the voices and rights of minorities in this country. Have any of you been keeping up with the republican push to force everyone to have a state id present with their voter’s registration card on election day? Have you heard where states like Texas are trying to force college students from out of state (which will mainly affect the HBCU attending students in Texas) to go back to their home state to change their voter registration to Texas before they can vote in an election when this has never been the case? When I voted at in elections in the town of Grambling back in the day all I needed was my college id card. Texas republicans are working to change this policy to make it more difficult for Blacks and minorities to vote in state and national elections. It is called the republican voter suppression movement and it is definitely coming to a state near you.
THEY (Conservative Right-wing Republicans) don’t want to see Barack Obama re-elected as president in November. So, they are not playing any games or taking any short cuts. Politics is a dirty game. Next, you have the dumbing down of a people through the use of the media. Black talk radio in the past used to be the voice of the people. Now, it has become the voice of prank calls, a mad minute, coonery, buffoonery, sambo-ism, a man mimicking an old black woman reading church announcements, condescension towards callers, crude jokes, celebrity butt-kissing, along with forced, loud, over the top laugher with a gospel song being played in the midst of porno-graphic rap and RnB music.
Frankly, if “they” were to remove all of the current national black formatted early morning shows or afternoon drive shows, I would not care. Well, I would want to leave Tom Joyner because he does use his foundation and his celebrity status to support Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Black students. Michael Baiseden has become watered down over the past few years, but he does allow you to call in and shout your small business out. So, I would vote to keep him on with a few conditions. The main one I would have is for to stop his constant promotion of interracial dating between blacks and whites. I wish he concentrated more on the rebuilding of the Black family. He has never tried to bring white Jewish women and Palestinian men together on his or Nazi skin head men.
As far as Rickey Smiley and Steve Harvey…I don’t think that they should be removed completely from the airwaves all together. I think that they should just be moved over to satellite radio. So, for those who want to hear their brand of talk, they can pay a monthly subscription. It seems that all of the talk radio shows that we have are hosted by comedians, which is perfect for dumbing down a people. Comedians are non-threatening and people don’t take court jesters, fools, and comedians seriously. Well, what this really means is if Black people really want serious talk and real news from the radio, people like me will have to create our own media source that cannot be dedicated by the powers that want us to remain ignorant and laughing all of the damn time. However, for those in the Black community who want real radio, you must support it with not only your listenership, but with your finances as well. I am just saying.
You see, while we are busy laughing, the racial clock is being turn back. I wonder if the republican forces are going to go after the Yolanda Adams Morning Show or the Donnie McClurkin radio show. I doubt it. These are Christian/religious formatted radio/talk shows. Next to that laughing Black person, the religious Black person is even more non-threatening to the current republican power structure.
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