Tony Cox Gets a New Show on NPR "Upfront"
Great news for fans of NPR's News and Notes... (which was cancelled in March) How did this happened? Well Michael Eric Dyson pulled another "Michael Eric Dyson."
Tony Cox, who has worked with Tavis Smiley, Ed Gordon and Farai Chideya as they attempted to carve out an African American talk-show niche at National Public Radio, is being given his own public radio show, Cox told Journal-isms on Tuesday night.The show will be part of the offerings of African American Public Radio Consortium, which in 2002 produced the Smiley show and in 2005 NPR's "News & Notes" program with first Gordon, then Chideya hosting. Cox worked on all three of those shows, and hosted the latter in its final days last year.
The consortium currently has "Tell Me More" with Michel Martin on NPR, and until now, "The Michael Eric Dyson Show," hosted by the Georgetown University professor and social critic, on 18 public radio stations.
"The Michael Eric Dyson show is no longer," Loretta Rucker, executive director of the consortium, told Journal-isms on Wednesday. "We had a good four months with Dr. Dyson but the arrangement eventually devolved over compensation."
Dyson a former midday host with Radio One's Syndication One talk network a few years ago, mysteriously disappeared from the line-up over money issues. The slot is now hosted by Warren Ballentine.
A Web site for Upfront with Tony Cox, http://www.upfrontnews.org/, is being constructed.
Read more in Richard Prince's Journal-isms
I have listened to all of the cited African-American programs and observed Tony Cox to have a most desirable and professional radio temperament and voice. He is also an astute and tactful speaker and host. His presence will hold and increase your listenership. He is an asset. I'm speaking objectively and have no personal connection with, directly or indirectly, Tony Cox. Listen for yourself to confirm my observations.
ReplyDelete