As we reflect on recent years in entertainment, one question seems to keep cropping up: Are we neglecting the process of nurturing new talent? We’ve seen the likes of Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, and Keith Sweat, all above 60, continuously recycled in urban and CHR radio, overshadowing any potential for the younger generation to break into the scene. The industry seems to be stuck in a time warp, with an urgent need for a fresh, youthful energy to shake things up. The old adage of “paying your dues” to gain recognition seems out of touch with today’s rapid-paced, youth-driven industry. So, where are the young, promising voices ready to take the stage? Let’s delve into this pressing issue.
Tom Joyner: A Radio Vet Losing Touch?
Despite being a dedicated community activist, Tom Joyner seems to be losing his radio touch. His show, characterized by forced laughter and outdated 70’s humor, struggles to resonate with contemporary audiences. Despite his experience, a youthful perspective is sorely missing from his show.
Steve Harvey: An Old Show That Needs Revamping
Similarly, Steve Harvey’s show also fails to engage modern listeners. Although it has had its moments of humor, it lacks the pull to keep audiences tuning in. Most of the team on the show has been in the industry for decades, leading to a stagnant and dated feel.
Keith Sweat: A Host with Limited Appeal
Keith Sweat’s show, heavily marketed towards women, has been criticized as being uninteresting, particularly to male listeners. With many programmers wary of its quality, the show seems to have limited appeal.
A Call for Fresh Talent
As the old guard of radio hosts continues to dominate, opportunities for fresh talent are dwindling. The industry needs to reevaluate its approach and prioritize nurturing new talent. Let’s champion the rise of professional announcers and make way for the next generation of radio hosts.
For the love of urban radio, let’s stop looking back and start planning ahead. There’s a wealth of talent out there waiting to be discovered, and it’s high time they were given the chance to shine. The good old days of the 70s may have been great, but there’s so much more to look forward to. Let’s embrace the new, the unfamiliar, and the exciting – because isn’t that what radio is all about?
#UrbanRadio #NewTalent #MusicIndustry #RadioRevolution #NextGenVoices
YES IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE JUST LIKE OUR NEW PRESIDENT IS CALLING FOR. I AM SOO TIRED OF PEOPLE OVERHYPING BURNT OUT TALENT, I KNOW THERE ARE SOME UP AND COMING TALENT THAT WOULD MURDER THE ABOVE TALENT MENTIONED…RADIO STATIONS NEED TO REALLY REALIZE THEY DONT NEED TO HIRE WASHED UP RECYCLED TALENT JUST FOR NAME SAKE, PROGRAM DIRECTORS NEED TO LET THIER NUTS HANG AND DONT BE AFRIAD TO HIRE AND PUT ON LOCAL TALENT AND DONT BE AFRAID TO GIVE THAT STREET TEAMER THAT YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE HAS TALENT A CHANCE TO DO OVERNIGHTS, BY THE WAY BRING OVERNIGHT SHIFTS BACK, IT WAS A GREAT BREEDING GROUND TO NATURE NEW TALENT
Kevin,
As the saying goes you “went in”..Like most trendsetters you said what others wont or are afraid to say.
Although i agree with you on certain points.I think at the end of the day it’s about competition.Case in Point my radio partner Dave Sanborn and i went up against Joyner (radio one) in Philly in 2004 and after 7 months we beat him,only to have iHeartmedia (formerly Clear Channel) replace us with Harvey.BY THE WAY i’m 51…To me age aint nuthin but a number but thats me.
The “new”talent”is out there but most of it is UNTAMED.There are a few hitters but not many.It seems like companies are afraid of challengeing Tom or Steve i agree from our standpoint those shows dont seem like much but the audience has NOTHING to choose from.(with some exceptions like ATL or DC and even NYC where i am right now)
Once you put new talent on you gotta coach them properly and promote them as well those things NEVER go out of style
I don’t agree with much of that–seems to me talent rises to the top regardless of age/experience and that if you don’t hear/see it–it ain’t there. It’s a tad disingenuous to say Steve Harvey is inexperienced–last I looked he was a morning personality in Chicago for about 3 years, about 5 in LA and now, about 4 in NY. Seems to me that 12 years doing mornings in the top 3 markets–with #1-2-3 demo rankings is pretty experienced. And I’m pretty sure Tom Joyner was under 30 when he started at WJPC in Chicago, right? So talented youth rises. What it is, is, that our new President proves you can speak our fucking language, act and dress like a good family man and still be Black and real. Some ignorant misognistic punk with his goddamn pants hanging half down his ass barely covered by a too-big white T shirt and an arm full of self-hate and mutilaition in the form of tatoos carrying some stupid fuckin jug of Patron ain’t what mainstream Black America wants for its progeny. Music? C’mon, what music? Moans and groans through a keyboard? One hit wonders singin’ about the pu..y they can’t get and wouldn’t know what to do with if they ever met a REAL woman? Bullshit. Hats off to Stevie doing what the fuck he wants with his own station, shit after 20+ years it’s paid for–and I’m one of Guy Black’s biggest fans but he clearly ain’t young. When great talent arises they star. When great music pops up we play it, you hear it and go buy it. But the rest of that shit’s romance, not business. Oh yeah–don’t get it twisted–I’m Black and been around as a pro for a lot more time that I care to share in the circumstance. And I get paid big money for that free opinion I just gave you.
The most talented and rising stars are in Rhythmic radio not in Urban radio; I like Julian Nieh and J Niice. Julian was funny as hell in DC. Both are very entertaining without the thug swagga pimp hustler style.
Where’s the traiing ground? Board Op’ing is not going to get you there, you got to crack the mic.
After reading the comments, especially the last one, I can’t help but to wonder if our refusal as industry vets to connect with the younger generation will ever end and is it part of the problem? I agree, I have come across some of the most IGNORANT, uneducated, no good, young black folks but I have also come across some of the most greedy, selfish, inconsiderate, backstabbing dirty ass vets too (laugh). NONE of us are perfect.
Any announcer who has not started from scratch and paid dues, in my opinion as a radio pro, is not a REAL jock.. Steve Harvey is a comedian BEFORE he is a jock I dont’ give a shit if he’s been doing it for 30 years… and I guarantee you if a major network offered him a multi-million dollar TV show, which is likely with his best selling book, he’d drop radio or at least consider it (then again shit, so would I) The point I am trying to make is, radio is a profession, and it’s one that many people have worked very hard in.. to see so many doors open and so much money thrown at people who are doing it FOR the money only, I’m sure, bothers the true pros. To see so many doors close and opportunities dwindle for the TRUE pros bothers me and I’m willing to bet Keith, Steve, Rickey and even Tom to a certain extent, would find it more important to watch an egg boil and could care less (laugh). In the end we will have to adjust and make our own money but it would have been great if many of us could have seen this train coming when we started.. Shit, perhaps WE could have been comedians too! (laugh). I’m not mad at the syndicators for making money but don’t block the fucking door for others… ESPECIALLY RADIO PEOPLE who want to come in and join the party either.
For the record, on the national level, I’m a nobody that realized after 30 years of radio (commercial and non-commercial) I would not get to the mountain top. But I saw the other side 13 years ago when Bill Clinton signed into law the dagger (Telecommuications act of 96) that has created this mess we now call radio.
Radio doesn’t provide breeding grounds for new talent because it is too expensive. I’ve had owners tell me why pay some young hotshot all that cash + benefits when I can go get Tom, Keith or Ricky for half the money, not worry about them calling in sick and taking weeks of vacation time (which I have to pay for). I can get a computer to run my overnights and be programmed to sound like I have a person right there in the studio. Plus I can get some kid to voice track overnights in several markets for the price of one.
And at the end of the day, people will still listen to the radio no matter what weak crap is on the air. Companies will still buy radio because, well there are sales people telling them radio is the way to go.
That savings allows owners to create the iHeartmedia (formerly Clear Channel)s, Radio One’s, Cumulus, Citadel’s and other radio giants of the world.
Kevin you wrote in your response that radio is a profession. I don’t disagree, but I used to teach my students and those I mentor that radio is a passion, not just a profession . If you’re doing it for the money, the majority of you will be more disappointed than two hours of bad sex with a fine woman.
So why does Tom, Ricky, Keith, Don Imus, Mike & Mike in the Morning & these other cats get morning shows that are putting people out of work? Well, they are name personalities/comedians. It’s like taking a rapper and making them a movie star. If they were a rapper, woudl they get a movie role? Probably not. We are a fast paced world that no longer has time to groom anything. Why pay some local morning guy 100 grand a year to satisfy audiences in a top ten market, when I can get Tom J for around that amount and he will do the same thing? Even if he is 60, his jokes are dated, music is tired and he has more dead air than can fill a cemetary? People still listen. To a owner, that’s all that matters.
Radio vets (I know what I’m about to say is controversial but it needs to be said) are not without blame in this mess. We should have put in our years and then learned how to buy and own these stations, instead of letting the sales people of the world in corporate America figure out this gold mine we had in the industry. How many programmers actually make it in sales? or better, how many programmers came from those ranks to become General Managers. I bet there are not very many.
Corporate America bought radio stations, stripped them down and made serious cash from them until recently. Now they are trying to get out cause the money has dried up, leaving a shell of a business/industry with just a few talented jocks on the air and nobody around to replace them.
So how do you fix this problem? Give it time; it will fix itself. I said it 10 years ago and I still believe radio will evolve again back to new ownership that will bring the local/regional back to radio. The station may only be 5,000 watts, but it will be local and influential again. I love Cathy Hughes and respect her (and one day woudl like to meet her) but we need more people like she was in the beginning with WOL. Start with one station and build accordingly your programming, promotions and community involvement. That’s your breeding ground for young talent. When they move on, find another person to take their place for a few years.
Go back to how Donnie Simpson got his start in Detroit, Peety Greene in DC and others. They had a local following that allowed them to grow. It was their passion of radio that helped the station. Not the money.
When you breed young announcers like that, you may see a ripple effect that can pull up pants, reduce crime and give people hope in communities we haven’t seen radio give in a long time.
Think about it. If a riot were to happen in DC today, you think Tom Joyner and the crew could stop it they way the announcers at WOL did? Nope.
Well said Mike..I concur
Wow Mike Jay Said a lot of the same things i have been saying for years. Now I tried to buy a radio station years ago I tried with doug banks in the 80’s no dis to doug we just wanted to buy in different places. I was part of a team in 1996 trying to buy 95.5 in Minn/ St. Paul, well it came out in billboard that we could not buy because we would turn the station into greets & cornbreed so we upped the offer the president of minnsota public broadcasting said we did not have enought money to buy that station, now mind you we went in with a serious business plan that had Jerry boulding as GM jimmy & Terry support. and the station old a bond to the city for 12 mil and get this had not paid a dime on the bill for 5 years. now could we have done that no way so we offered them 16 mil they said no we went to 20 mil than to 24 million still no now they stood to double their moneywithout paying a dime for tha station. keeping us out well 5 t0 10 later Tony fieldsand crew went in and bout a station about 30 miles outside of town to service the area. later 2001 or 02 we tried to buy some of CC seal off we offered 648 million for 20 to 30 stations I was going in as president of radio operation, but radio one out bidded us & that is why they are the bigest in black owners today. I have not stoped looking but as i tried to get a PD job putting formats together that works but the white owners higher a women for the job she could be white or black but a women. case in point in Milwaukee wkkv,wjmr,wmcs all women one white pd. so where are we to go.
Now as for tom steve and others. I had a sencated show in the 80’s when no one though it would come to this as it is today. well I would like to get a show in a good market top 10 but i cant. I was bumped out before i did a show in Milwaukee by Doug Banks show it was a friend of mind that was the PD he called me told me he was sorry it was out of his hand management said why pay me 50 to 80 when they could get Doug for less. so I have not been on a every day show scence that time, well later Doug was droped now that none radio person Steve Harvey is on the air. wow he is not a radio person, Tom is across town on the other fmso. its tuff. Get this I tried to get willy davis stations to go up aganest them . no gutts thats indictive of the answer we are getting out here.
I also think Tom Doug Steve, & anyone else who have a line to the president should try to get someone who now about radio to set on the board of the FCC. one of them or me I would do it .We should bring back the tax credit we lost on bill conord and micheal powell watch. This would help some with more blacks becomming owners of radio stations.
I feel helpless for we are not owners if we where we could bring about some change.
I am so glade that Guy Black is gone. He was washed up rude to celeberties and others. He was a no body from the start , i don’t even know where he came from he just was not a good fit here in LA he had the short man complex he took things to serious.
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