Anyone Miss The Tom Joyner Morning Show?

Anyone miss the Tom Joyner Morning Show? It's been almost 7 years without him in syndication. The show kept listeners informed with Sybil Wilkes and it was funny also with J. Anthony Brown. He also garnered different perspectives from Tavis Smiley, Roland Martin, and many others. (Even though it was syndicated, it still felt local). Joyner also interviewed a variety of guests that we will call "Black" famous. Think of people like the late Frankie Beverly or the late KiKi Shepherd, or even the vey much alive comedian Earthquake or gospel singer Shirley Caesar (not sure if he interviewed all of them, but he probably has and you get the point.) Check out the Earthquake interview below.

Going on the road to other cities for his HBCU shows or his capacity filled Sky Shows was a great strategy that Joyner used to make his show come alive. A live audience and a radio audience both engaged. Then in later years, after the travel became too much, he used The Red Velvet Cake Studio for live performances. Kids, grown folks now, still remember sitting in the back seat, "Oh, Oh, Oh, It's The Tom Joyner Morning Show."

Here are some criticism of what's available on the urban radio landscape as far as syndicated radio goes. The Breakfast Club really feels like internet content that is repackaged for radio. (They've become the number one streaming podcast on Netflix.) The Steve Harvey Morning Show feels like no one is in the building at 6:00 AM...Why? Maybe because they record their show the day before or days before. Don't even think they do interviews any longer... Steve Harvey ain't getting up at 3:30 AM to do morning radio. It seems like they are just mailing it in now that there is no competition from Tom Joyner. The Rickey Smiley Morning Show still feels like it's geared towards the southern part of the United States, which leaves out certain segments of Black audiences. 

As veteran Baltimore radio personality Marc Clarke said recently, "Young people don't give a damn about radio." Therein lies a problem with other syndicated shows like "The Morning Hustle" or "DeDe in the Morning." I would define young people in terms of radio as anyone under 40. They could care less about radio, so therefore, format wise, those shows don't hit like they would have had it been 10 or 15 years ago. DeDe's syndicated segments don't hit as well on Urban AC stations and are more geared towards younger audiences. Those shows walk a fine line when it comes to talking urban pop culture. For the people tuning in, would they rather hear about the Joe VERZUZ Donell Jones showdown... or pick something, news about NBA Young Boy, Chrisean Rock, Yung Miami, or Kai Cenat.

Is there an ideal syndicated morning show out there right now? Nope. But you sure can find a podcast. And that's what media companies are banking their future on.

Earthquake on the Tom Joyner Morning Show 8 years ago. 

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