The ''Tom Joyner Morning Show'' is an American nationally syndicated radio program, hosted by veteran broadcaster

Tom Joyner Thomas Joyner (born November 23, 1949) is an American retired radio host, former host of the nationally syndicated ''The Tom Joyner Morning Show'', and also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com. Early l ...

. The program, which aired on

Urban contemporary Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban conte ...

- and

Urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...

-formatted stations across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, ran from January 3, 1994 until December 13, 2019.

Overview

The program aired live Monday through Friday for four hours, beginning at 6:00 AM

Eastern time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small ...

and was based in

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, where Joyner was previously the local morning host at

KKDA-FM KKDA-FM (104.5 MHz), known as K104, has been a leading radio station in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex for 46 years. It is a longtime heritage urban contemporary formatted station. It is owned by Service Broadcasting Corporation alongside K ...

. The program remained in Dallas until the mid-2010s, when Joyner began hosting remotely from

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of ...

after relocating to that area. The show's format featured Joyner and various contributors reporting and discussing the latest news and sports of the day alongside popular R&B songs from the 1970s through the present-day. The weekly best-of compilation was offered to affiliated stations on weekends under the title ''Tom Joyner's Right Back at 'Cha''.

Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines Co., typically referred to as Southwest, is one of the major airlines of the United States and the world's largest low-cost carrier. It is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has scheduled service to 121 destinations in the U ...

was a prominent sponsor of the radio show, especially Joyner's on-site remotes (called "Sky Shows"), and offered free round-trip airfare to any destination that Southwest flew as a recurring giveaway on the show. Joyner attributed the national show's success to his complete refusal to serve non-black audiences. He stated in 2000: "We do a show for African Americans. That's what we do." In 2019 he stated: "Don't worry about crossover. Just super serve, super serve, super serve. Anything that affects African Americans, that's what you do."

History

Joyner, who was perhaps best known for commuting daily by plane between Dallas and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

while simultaneously hosting local radio programs in both cities, and as the first host of the syndicated television series ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...

/ Jet Showcase'', was signed by ABC Radio Networks in 1993 for a new national show to be distributed to Urban contemporary stations. The ''Tom Joyner Morning Show'' premiered on January 3, 1994. Joyner gained ownership of the program in 2003 when he co-founded his own company, Reach Media. The Black-owned media company Radio One (now

Urban One Urban One, Inc. (formerly Radio One) is a Silver Spring, Maryland-based American media conglomerate. Founded in 1980 by Cathy Hughes, the company primarily operates media properties targeting African Americans. It is the largest African-American- ...

) acquired majority ownership in Reach Media in November 2004, and took over syndication rights to the program in a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

. In 2017 Joyner announced that he would retire and that the show would end in 2019, its 25th anniversary in syndication. In the summer of 2019 Joyner announced that

Rickey Smiley Broderick Dornell Smiley (born August 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, television host, actor, and radio personality, known for his prank phone calls. The calls feature Smiley disguising his voice and carrying on a conversation with th ...

, who was hosting a competing syndicated morning program on Urban contemporary- and

Rhythmic adult contemporary Rhythmic adult contemporary, often abbreviated as rhythmic AC or RAC, is an adult contemporary radio format. The format focuses primarily on rhythmic hits aimed towards an adult audience, often resembling a mixture of the classic hits and hot adul ...

-formatted stations, would succeed him on Joyner's Urban AC affiliates. The final live episode of the ''Tom Joyner Morning Show'' aired on December 13, 2019. Joyner stated on his last program that his decision was made because of repeated salary cuts (claiming that successive cuts had reduced his salary nearly 90 percent); acknowledged that cultural changes and radicalization among black audiences ("I think we were more woke then than now") had reduced his influence and thus his listenership and affiliate count; and further stated that his own financial greed—about which he was unrepentant—drove much of his radio career. Following Joyner's sign-off, Reach Media and Urban One offered "best of" compilation programs until December 31, 2019. On January 2, 2020, many of Joyner's former affiliates began airing the reformatted ''Rickey Smiley Morning Show''.

Featured personalities

J Anthony Brown James Anthony Brown (born November 16, 1945 in Columbia, South Carolina) is an American comedian, actor and radio personality. He received the Peabody Award and the NAACP Image Award. Biography Early life Brown started his career in Atlanta, ...

(1996-2016) *Sybil Wilkes *Tyrell Zimmerman (On A Roll Catering, Newport News, VA) *

Others featured on the show

Jacque Reid Jacqueline Elaine "Jacque" Reid (born January 31, 1975, in Atlanta, Georgia ...

* Roland Martin * Kevin Frazier *

Jeff Johnson (BET personality) Jeffrey Johnson is a communications specialist and journalist. He appeared on the TV show ''Rap City'' on the BET cable network in the United States, where he spoke about such issues as violence and voting. Early life Born in the UK, but rais ...

Jawn Murray Jawn Murray is a Washington, DC-based American TV host, commentator, executive producer, pop culture expert, media personality and social media influencer best known for hosting TV shows for Travel Channel, EPIX and NFL Network, as well as app ...

(2006-2011) *

Sheryl Underwood Sheryl Patrice Underwood (born October 28, 1963) is an American comedian, actress and television host. She first rose to prominence in the comedy world as the first female finalist in 1989's Miller Lite Comedy Search. Currently, Underwood is one ...

(2006-2010). * Tavis Smiley (1996-2008) *

George Wallace George Corley Wallace Jr. (August 25, 1919 – September 13, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Alabama for four terms. A member of the Democratic Party, he is best remembered for his staunch segregationist a ...

D.L. Hughley Darryl Lynn Hughley (; born March 6, 1963) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Hughley is best known as the original host of BET's '' ComicView'' from 1992 to 1993, the eponymous character on the ABC/UPN sitcom ''The Hughleys'', and as ...

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...

Nikki Woods Nikki Woods is an American radio producer based in Dallas, Texas and best known for her work as the senior producer on the nationally syndicated ''Tom Joyner Morning Show''. She is also a personal branding coach, social media consultant, author, ...

*Myra J *Damon Williams (comedian) *Dominique (comedian) *Huggy Lowdown (celebrity snitch) *Chris Paul (The Morning Minute, The NFL Rap-Up, and The Cowboys Wake Up Show) *

Shaun King Jeffery Shaun King (born September 17, 1979) is an American writer, civil rights activist and co-founder of Real Justice PAC. King uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement. King was raised ...

References

External links

Listen online on TuneIn
{{Citadel Media American variety radio programs 1994 radio programme debuts 2019 radio programme endings