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Tom Joyner Morning Show

Source: Courtesy of TJMS / Courtesy of TJMS

Everyone knows about the Fly Jock Tom Joyner who can be heard all across the nation.  Here’s a quick moment in Black History about a radio mentor and icon of DJ Dimepiece, Tom Joyner!

Via Wikipedia

Tom Joyner has opened alot of doors for alot of radio talent and inspired many to dream big enough to take a local radio show across the nation.  Joyner’s syndicated show, “Tom Joyner Morning Show” can be heard on several markets, including here in Columbus on our sister station, Magic 95.5! He’s called the fly jock because he’s everywhere! Here’s a quick spotlight on another radio icon that I look up to, Tom Joyner!

Joyner was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, the son of Frances and Hercules L. Joyner. Tom came from an educated family: his grandfather Oscar was one of only 3,000 black physicians in the United States, earning a degree in medicine in 1909.[2] Both of his parents were graduates of historically black colleges, and both Tom and his brother Albert attended Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University. Tom Joyner graduated with a degree insociology. [3] While a student at Tuskegee, Joyner joined the fraternity Omega Psi Phi. At first, his goal was to be a musician, and he joined a band, The Commodores, that included his college friend Lionel Richie, but the band did not make any money and his family encouraged him to seek another way to make a living.[4]

Joyner had been involved in college radio, and after graduation, he began his broadcasting career in Montgomery, Alabama immediately upon graduation, and worked at a number of radio stations in the South and Midwest, including stations in Memphis and St. Louis, before moving to Chicago in early 1978.[5] In Chicago, he first worked at WVON, doing the morning show, but left the station after only three months to work at a competitor, WBMX-FM.[6] By late July 1978, however, he had been hired away by Charles Mootry, general manager of station WJPC (AM) (now WNTD). This station, named for “Johnson Publishing Company,” was owned by John H. Johnson, owner of such black magazines as Jet and Ebony. [7]

In 1985, Joyner was simultaneously offered two positions: one for a morning show at KKDA-FM (K104) in Dallas and one for an afternoon show at WGCI-FM in Chicago. Instead of choosing between the two, Joyner chose to take both jobs, and for eight years, he commuted daily by plane between the two cities, earning the nicknames “The Fly Jock” and “The Hardest Working Man in Radio”.[8] He later told Radio Ink magazine that he racked up 7 million frequent flyer miles over the course of his employment at both stations.

In 1994, Joyner was signed by ABC Radio Networks to host a nationally syndicated program, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, featuring Joyner and a team of comedians and commentators reporting and discussing the latest news and sports of the day, and playing popular R&B songs from the 1970s through the 1990s as well as contemporary R&B hits. Also featured are celebrity guests, on-site remotes (called “Sky Shows”), and an on-air soap opera, It’s Your World which is currently not aired. Southwest Airlines is a prominent sponsor of the radio show, especially Joyner’s “Sky Shows,” and free round-trip airfare to any destination that Southwest flies to is a recurring giveaway on his show.

In 2005, a nationally syndicated television show, The Tom Joyner Show, was launched with Joyner as emcee of a one-hour comedy/variety show, combining sketch comedy featuring the Tom Joyner Show Players (his co-hosts from the radio show), talent contests, and musical performances by such artists as Earth, Wind and Fire, Brian McKnight, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and Toni Braxton. The show attracted advertisers such as McDonalds, Chrysler Corporation, WalMart and Southwest Airlines.

While the program achieved top ratings for a weekly syndicated program themed to African American viewers — even taking the number one show position, although it was in a late night time slot — in such markets as New York and Atlanta, affiliates in other markets were reluctant to upgrade the show to prime time for a targeted audience.[citation needed] Without the opportunity to reach a larger audience in earlier time slots and achieve greater revenues, the show had limited ability to offset the residuals and music clearances required by the many performers appearing on the show. Despite award recognition, in May 2006, Joyner decided not to continue due to production costs related to the music variety show concept.[citation needed] Re-runs are shown on TV One cable channel.[9] As for his radio career, Tom Joyner continues to be an influential broadcaster: the TJMS is heard live in over 100 cities, both on-air and via streaming audio, through its syndicator, Reach Media.[10]