Washington Informer

"Historically, Black radio ... fulfilled all functions Black people needed ... but now it's time to take a serious look and right the wrong of the mess we call Black radio today," says Dr. Todd Steven Burroughs, a lecturer in the Communication Studies Department at Morgan State University. Burroughs is demanding that the Federal Communications Commission investigate and intervene in the matter, saying "Black communities once again have been given symbolism instead of substance" and, that "back in the day, African-American DJs not only provided the community with the latest news and information, they played records of Black artists that served as the soundtracks of Black empowerment."

Although constituting 13 percent of the total population, African Americans own just 2 percent of all commercial broadcast licenses in America. But, Blacks need to coalesce around the idea that economic and political empowerment among us cannot be achieved without access and control over the mass media resources that impact us and the world.

Black radio has consistently been a reliable source of news, information and culture for local communities. North and South, Black radio was urbane, hip and the main source for all of Black culture. Black radio provided a voice to millions with unrivaled flair and theater. Black DJ's were an important part of the communities that stations were licensed to serve. Isn't it time we reflected on that unique mixture of news and music that were an integral part of Black communities' culture? In Atlanta in the early 1960s, on Black-owned station, WERD, "Jockey Jack" Gibson slipped political messages on air between songs. Martin Luther King Jr., who's Southern Christian Leadership Conference had offices beneath WERD's studios, would sometimes bang a broomstick on the ceiling to let Gibson know to lower a microphone out of the window so King could go on the air with a statement.

In the 1980s, "Information is Power" was Cathy Hughes' mantra. Now that the Hughes family, are owners of the Radio One Inc. conglomerate and among the wealthiest African Americans, her new theme may be: "Information is the Currency of Today's World." No longer a station owner that provided a sounding board for local issues and stage for local artists, today Hughes is at the helm of Black radio syndication programming that dumbs down African American audiences causing them to be 75 times more likely to hear syndicated programming than their White counterparts.

The media landscape has altered Black radio such that it no longer connects in the same intimate and powerful way it used to. Chains like Radio One have gradually eliminated news from their mix and have left us with syndication. Just 9 percent of African Americans use the radio as their news source, in comparison to nearly 18 percent of Whites. Syndication slowly began on Black radio music formats. Tom Joyner, Steve Harvey, Russ Parr and Michael Baisden ushered in Black radio's syndication era. These programs won audiences through stations owned by Radio One Inc.

Washington's WOL-AM is an all-talk station and a flagship of the nation's largest Black-owned broadcasting company, Radio One. Radio One, Inc. is led by Chairperson and Founder, Catherine L. Hughes, and her son, Alfred C. Liggins, III, CEO and president. Now estimated as worth more than $400 million combined, in 2011 Hughes was paid $750,000 and CEO Liggins pulled in $3.27 million.

Black Radio's First Family are successfully acquiring and turning around under-performing radio properties by targeting African American and urban consumers. The family business duo operates the premier multi-media entertainment and information content provider for African Americans. Hughes and Liggins control programming toward Blacks through investments in other complementary media properties. Other of their media interests include: controlling ownership interest in TV One, LLC, an African American targeted cable television network; 53.5 percent ownership interest in Reach Media, Inc., which operates the Tom Joyner Morning Show and online sites NewsOne and TheUrbanDaily.

Back in the day, Black radio was "the rock of the culture", will it ever be again?

William Reed is publisher of "Who's Who in Black Corporate America" and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org

"We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary." - Justice Sandra Day O' Connor, 2003."

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments regarding a longstanding racial controversy. So, in the traditional form of our time in America, the Black descendants of slaves will still be losers when the Fisher v. University of Texas case decision is handed down. The court's decision will affect relatively few students at Texas which admits most students through a system that doesn't factor in race. But a broad Supreme Court ruling will roll back Affirmative Action and be an earthquake at other campuses, and institutions that will mark the death of affirmative actions that use race toward instituting their plans and policies.

Instead of holding pity parties over the demise of Affirmative Action, it would be good if the descendants of slaves moved to "demand money to compensate them for their ancestors work as slaves." Blacks have been "disadvantaged" and "non-compensated" throughout our tenure in America. The majority of Black Americans have bought into the theory and culture of "American Exceptionalism" and "Mainstream Mindsets" that we are more than compensated for the damage of slavery by the good fortune we enjoy by living in America. Some African-American patriots say: "Every Black in the United States is much better off economically, legally, politically, and morally than any Black living in Africa."

It's time to accept the fact that the basic nature of America excludes parity for Blacks. From the beginning, this country has shown "a particular reluctance to absorb people of African descent." Because of White Americans intransigence, the little progress made toward racial parity has been slow, cautious, and incremental.

For more than four centuries, Blacks were subjected to the most heinous crimes ever committed. Though slavery has been abolished, to this day, no one has been brought to justice for those crimes. Racial disparities persist at nearly every level of society. From criminal justice to education, employment to housing, Black Americans continue to face an uphill battle toward social and economic equity.

Instead of a constant demand that America apologize for slavery and compensate us, Blacks gamely "go along to get along" in a system they know that's stacked against them. Most African Americans are oriented toward "mainstream" values and cultures and are eager to live in a "post-racial" society that requires no extraordinary affirmative actions. Over the past half-century, and to be good citizens, as they blended in, Black Americans blithely accepted Affirmative Action programs and policies as remediation for past injustices. Over its existence, Affirmative Action has been viewed by many as a "milestone" and others as a "millstone."

Let's be clear that racism still runs rampant across this nation and that the possibility of using Affirmative Action to redress the perpetration of past wrongs is in serious doubt. Whereas, Black Americans support Affirmative Action as a remedy or tool of social policy, the major item stifling the issue is that America's White majority sees nothing wrong with maintaining the status quo.

The "status quo" in America equates to disparate differences in prison populations and childhood mortality rates, biases in the application of capital punishment, and unequal access to education and health care. Systematic exclusion of slaves and their descendents from positions of political and economic power continues to haunt African Americans. Past iterations of Affirmative Action haven't helped us as racism continues to shape most Blacks' lives. Sixty-two percent of Americans say that the country should "make every possible effort to improve the conditions of Blacks ... even if it means giving them preferential treatment." We can wait for their acts, or institute reparations toward repairing damages inflicted by slavery and continuing racism. From now on, Blacks need to think of themselves as creditors seeking payment of an overdue debt, rather than as social supplicants seeking an undeserved preference.

(William Reed is president of the Business Exchange Network and available for projects via the BaileyGroup.org)