In the shocker news of the year in the radio industry, a media outlet has reported that the incomparable, legendary Tom Joyner Morning Show will be forced off the air in 2017.
The report states that Joyner, the first African American to ever become syndicated nationwide, will have his unceremonious ouster coincide with the end of President Obama’s second term in the White House, which will officially conclude in January 2017.
What’s the rationale for such an alleged power play against Joyner?
Radio One, inside sources say, wants to go with a younger host. Joyner, 65, is to allegedly be replaced by Russ Parr, 56.
Now here’s the shocker: the source said that the decision to get rid of Joyner was made by former business associate and best friend David Kantor.
Kantor, whom this writer interviewed this past spring while aboard the Tom Joyner Cruise (officially known as the “Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage”), is said to have encouraged Joyner to sell shares of his company in Reach Media to radio conglomerate Radio One. Kantor, of course, gave no indication during that interview that such a seismic move was underway.
Another shocker is that the story claims that Radio One plans to move syndicated host Russ Parr, 56, into Joyner’s time slots in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore starting in January 2016, a year before Joyner is supposed to be supplanted by the younger man.
This is all news to Joyner, who has used his vast platform of 8 million listeners in 105 markets daily to advocate for social uplift, particularly when it comes to black history and education. Joyner is unarguably America’s premiere and fiercest protector of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and uses the Tom Joyner Cruise as one of the main vehicles to raise money for students to attend such schools.
‘Tom isn’t ready to go and hasn’t even made plans for life after radio. Radio is his passion and it’s all he knows,’ a source told industry insiders.
Joyner also took to social media to vehemently refute the reports, according to Straight From the A:
We will all be waiting with bated breath for the word for the godfather of black radio on his official status with Radio One now and into the future.
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