There was absolutely no way that urban radio would have been shut out of the Philadelphia Daily News Sexy Singles contest. On the last day, the newspaper reveals Summer Barlow, known as "Summer in the City" on the air at WUSL Power 99, has made the list. Summer is a weekend personality, who previously worked at 106.7 WAMO in Pittsburgh.
Edie Huggins died yesterday at age 72. Here's WCAU TV's tribute to "Miss Edie". She was a reporter and anchor for over 40 years in Philadelphia. She used her position to make a positive contribution to the community. ...but I started thinking... what about Trudy Haynes at KYW TV?
What did I find? Trudy Haynes became the first black in the United States to broadcast the weather on television, when she was hired by WXYZ-TV in 1963, the ABC affiliate in Detroit. Two years later, she became the first black American to report the news on a television station: KYW-TV. Edie Huggins, was a nurse living in New York City, who became an actress on the soap opera "The Doctors" in 1965. She was hired to be a reporter and anchor at WCAU-TV in 1966.
From an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer today: During an interview two years ago, when the city declared "Edie Huggins Day" to celebrate her 40th year with the station, the reporter, known for her humility and disarming candor, said she was hired despite an embarrassing lack of on-air experience. The reason, she said, was not so much that she had wowed the station manager, but that WCAU was competing against the NBC affiliate (at the time KYW was an NBC affiliate and WCAU was a CBS affiliate), which had just hired its first black woman reporter, Trudy Haynes.
What's the point? Edie Huggins was one of the first African Americans to report the news. Of course it sounds better to write, "she was the first" -- Wouldn't that make you want to read the story? Why did Black America Web write a, if not sensational, clearly inaccurate headline? Besides, in her own words, Edie Huggins wanted to be remembered as "Someone Who Cared."
T.I. comes off in this interview as a guy who really should have known better than to get caught up in the mess, (the gun charges) he did earlier this year.
From the AJC Frank Ski and Wanda Smith are going to get some love on TV, thanks to CW-69. The CW affiliate will air at 11 p.m. a half hour “best of” show with five HD cameras. V-103’s morning show, which is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary in town this fall.
“Now people can not just hear us but see us,” said Smith.
But won’t this mean the morning crew will now have to dress up? “I need an endorsement for some clothes!” she joked. Tom Canedo, the general manager for the CW, said he thinks many viewers who watch his station listen to Frank and Wanda. The morning show draws about 440,000 [listeners] a week, No. 2 in Atlanta only behind WSB-AM. Read more>>
It's not really Late Night at 11pm, but if you ever experienced Atlanta's morning commute, then you need to be in bed at 8PM so you can get up at 2:30 for the morning commute!
Can you believe not one radio personality makes the Philadelphia Daily News Sexy Singles List for 2008? Almost every year since the Daily News has started this feature, there has been at least one urban radio personality on the list? 
Black Radio on Obama; Is Left’s Answer to Limbaugh 
The thousands of fans who filed into Morgan State University's auditorium for Khia Edgerton's funeral yesterday could recite her accomplishments: recording artist, radio personality, leader of an underground music movement. But during the two-hour music-filled ceremony, those fans learned how Edgerton rose from spinning records in her family's Randallstown basement to become "K-Swift," leader of Baltimore's club music scene. The story is a by-the-book lesson on the value of hard work. "She's didn't talk about building an entertainment empire - she just did it," said Marc Clarke, of radio station 92Q, where Edgerton was the first female DJ. "She didn't talk about losing 170 pounds. She just did it. And she didn't rely on a man to build her dreams. ... She didn't bat her eyes." Read more>>
Jay-Z explains the hood life: ‘I think it’s more important for me to be in touch with who I am than in touch with the streets, per se,’ he says. ‘Being in touch with the streets, keeping it real, that’s become a lie and a cliche. I’m not hanging on the corner in the Bed-Stuy. I hate it when rappers say, “I’m keeping it ‘hood.” I’m like, “Why? What do you mean? No one’s there by choice! You’re in the hood, by choice?”‘
Bling he feels was misinterpreted by the media as tasteless showing off, when really it was a celebration of success by people who had enjoyed precious little of that before. ‘These people came from nothing,’ he says. ‘No-thing. The bottom. And when they got money and cars and houses it was a party.
The Keith Sweat Hotel signs on with Urban AC Station Mix 106.1 (WRRX) in Pensacola, FL.
Big Boy's Neighborhood has landed two affiliates in Louisiana: urban Q-95.5 (KRRQ) in Lafayette beginning July 28 and New Orlean's rhythmic Power 102.9 (KKND) beginning August 4.
What do ya think? True love or Mid-Life Crisis
Clear Channel Communications announced today that, based on a preliminary vote count, Clear Channel shareholders approved the merger agreement with a group led by Bain Capital Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.
Super Radio syndicated The Old Skool Show with MC Serch adds another affiliate Urban 103 JAMZ in Norfolk. The show has also recently been added at Hot 102.7 Detroit and Power 98.3 Phoenix.
As far as the show goes, it's getting a Six Week Sneak Peak in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Detroit, as it's quickly becoming must see TV. Why? For the simple fact that Wendy is a personality that has mastered the ability of relating to the audience. Aw-right. It doesn't hurt that she has developed a following on the radio. If Tempestt Bledsoe, Ananda Lewis, and Queen Latifah can get a talk show, why not Wendy?
CNN Black in America Tonight and tomorrow night at 9 ET. Shouldn't this special be on BET? Something tells me I'll never see anything like this on BET.
The year long investigation of success, struggle, pain and pride will air Wednesday & Thursday night, 9 p.m. with host Soledad O'Brien. Don Lemon interviews V103's Frank Ski, The Spirit of Hip-Hop's Co Co Brotha, and WKYS' Russ Parr as part of the Black in America series.
“Disappearing Voices – The Decline of Black Radio”New film on the decreasing numbers of Black owned radio stationsVeteran radio broadcaster Bob Law has partnered with independent film director U-Savior and Black Waxx Multimedia, Inc. to produce a new documentary film that explores the realities of Black radio ownership. At the time of the making of the film the U.S. Census Bureau reported that out of 10,315 commercial AM and FM radio stations in the United States, only 168 are Black-owned – and even that number is declining. Most of those 168 are owned by Radio One.
The film claims: ... in the late 1960’s a shift began when Madison Avenue started realizing just how much influence Black radio had over its audience. White-owned stations featuring Black disc jockeys got scared that these jocks were becoming bigger than the station itself and therefore in the position to demand more money. Thus, in the 1970’s something called “urban contemporary” came into being, co-opting Black music and phasing out Black radio in favor of a supposedly colorless society.
We respectfully disagree with this point. Legendary disc jockey Frankie Crocker coined the phrase and format "urban contemporary" at WBLS in New York in the 1970's to distinguish itself from the soul music radio heard on AM radio. Most people listened to AM radio back then and that was his hook to get listeners to switch over to the under used radio band called "FM ". This format was copied all over the United States by both Black and white owned stations playing Black music.The film is being shown in and around the New York City-New Jersey metro area. It will also be shown at upcoming African American film festivals in Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and in Germany. -7/9/08
A radio DJ hardly ever gets a chance to say goodbye to their listeners after being terminated. The rare exception of course is Miss Jones this week at Hot 97. A little more than a month ago Colby Colb was let go by 100.3 The Beat as program director and afternoon host. However with the advent of the internet, Colb uses the technology to thank the listeners in Philly, Jersey and Delaware for supporting him over the years. Colby started in radio at Power 99 as an intern, moved over to Power 105 in New York a few years later as program director and on-air host. He returned to Philadelphia on WPHI in 2002. -7/1/08
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