Life has a way of showing you how bad it can suck sometimes. Coming after two great weeks on the final leg of our Fall Tour I was met with the news that I was no longer on the air in my hometown of Dallas.
Every market where the TJMS is aired is important to me for all kinds of reasons—all 100 of them. But Dallas is the home of Reach Media, the company my partner David Kantor and I formed and the company that my two sons help me run. It’s the company that among other things, syndicates The Tom Joyner Morning Show, The DL Hughley Show and radio shows hosted by Rickey Smiley, Yolanda Adams, Russ Parr and more.
We’re now majority owned by Radio One.
But long before that I was part of the Dallas community and super-served it for more than 25 years. My children were raised here and their children are being raised in DFW as well.
My hard working crew, staff and their families live here. Many have re-located from various parts of the country just to work at what we refer to as the Mother Ship. We call it that because it’s home base for Reach Media Inc., BlackAmericaWeb.com, The Tom Joyner Foundation and of course, the Tom Joyner Morning Show and our Red Velvet Cake Studios, where we produce the In Studio Jams that have featured everyone from Al Jarreau to Salt N Pepa.
Not being heard on radio in our own home city is almost like being an athlete and never being able to play in front of your home crowd.
I would have loved to have had the chance to say goodbye to my faithful Dallas listeners and to let ME thank them for their loyalty over the years.
Twenty years ago when we started the nationally syndicated TJMS, wait, we don’t have to go back that far, 5 years ago, if we were taken off the air, we would be silenced until we could find another affiliate in that market. But thanks to technology, things are a lot different. We can still be heard on our stream 24 hours and via the TJMS app.
So whether you’re at home, in the car, at work, on your phone, it doesn’t matter, we’re a click away…and truth be told, the show audio will sound like I’m sitting next to you – so dress your best, you got company this morning!
Believe me, this isn’t the way I wanted to go out and it’s going to take me a while to get over it. Thank you for all your nice text messages and words of concern and support.
The Party with a Purpose continues every morning as a meaningful and exciting way start to every day for me and most importantly, I hope for you.
So, it isn’t really goodbye to Dallas, it’s just goodbye to Dallas’ radio airwaves. For now.
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(Photo Source: Courtesy)
