Wilson

August Wilson was the most prolific black playwright ever to conquer American theater.  A lion of the stage, Wilson’s iconic ten plays — including the 1987 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner “Fences” — illuminated the black journey of struggle and triumph.  Wilson, who died in 2005 at age 60, was a known advocate for blacks in the theater who understood the hurdles black directors faced in the field.  He, in fact, had an unofficial rule of only wanting black directors to stage major productions of his plays.

So given Wilson’s cultural pedigree, Lincoln Center Theater’s decision—albeit with Wilson’s widow’s blessing—to choose its resident director Bartlett Sher, who is white, instead of a black director to direct the $1.7 million budgeted Broadway revival of Wilson’s 1988 play Joe Turner’s Come and Gone—which this week earned six Tony nominations including best director and best revival–has sparked a heated debate on the overall lack of diversity on Broadway with regard to African American directors.

Arguably, the biggest issue for most African Americans in the theater is not whether a white director should be able to helm a play by a black playwright–particularly a revival–the more cogent issue is the overall paucity of opportunities for blacks on Broadway. This season alone there are currently no black directors on The Great White Way, which contributes $5.1 billion to the New York City economy, according to the Broadway League’s 2008 biennial study. In fact, there have been a mere four black directors over the past ten years: Kenny Leon, Debbie Allen, Marion McClinton, and George C. Wolfe — a dearth that underscores a great need for change and new opportunities for directors of color.

“Joe Turner has come to Broadway and gone and come back again,” says actress, director and choreographer Debbie Allen, who directed last season’s hit all-black revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. “That’s the good news,” adds Allen of the play, which has grossed $1.2 million at the box office to date. “But the lack of opportunity can’t be weighted on one production,” adds Allen, who will soon direct the Tennessee Williams play in London’s West End.

Notwithstanding Wilson’s support of black directors, some suggest that his position was more nuanced. “August was not opposed to white directors directing his work,” says director Kenny Leon, who directed the Broadway productions of Wilson’s 2007 play “Radio Golf” and 2005’s “Gem of the Ocean,” both of which earned Tony nominations for best play. “He had white directors direct his plays when he was alive; however, he fought for opportunities for black directors to direct his plays because he felt it was not an equal playing field. We weren’t getting an opportunity to direct Arthur Miller or Eugene O’Neil.”

Artistic Freedom?

Furthermore, Leon and others, who had the privilege of working with Wilson, contend that white directors are allowed to express themselves artistically in a myriad of ways. Yet black directors are virtually pigeonholed into expressing themselves only in terms of their race, thereby limiting them solely to black productions and limiting their chances to direct on Broadway and at the regional level. That explains in part why the reaction to Lincoln Center’s decision to hire Sher, who won the Tony last year for the musical revival of South Pacific, has been so pronounced.

A scene from the $1.7 million budgeted Broadway revival of Wilson’s 1988 play "Joe Turner’s Come and Gone"

“If we were getting directing jobs, this wouldn’t be an issue. But it’s so hard for us to get a job, overall, and now we can’t even direct plays of our own milieu,” argues actor/producer Wendell Pierce who was a producer on “Radio Golf” and who starred on Broadway in “The Piano Lesson“. In addressing why the general Broadway hurdle exists, some attribute it to old-fashioned biases: “It’s racism. You hear the same argument that ‘we don’t know any black directors,’” says Pierce.

Of course, there have breakthrough exceptions to Broadway’s walls. George C. Wolfe, for example, has directed a range of work including the 2003 Tony winner for best play Take Me Out and 1996’s “Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk,” for which he won the Tony for best direction of a musical.

And while many see Wilson’s work as sacred, cultural masterpieces, which   must be handled deftly by a director of any ethnicity, few suggest that race should be a deciding factor when it comes to directors equipped to direct his work or that of any playwright. “The world of the arts is a world where cultural barriers should not exist,” argues Allen, who cites her production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof as an example of artistic freedom.

“The arts should not be wrapped in a ball and chain with cultural divisions, restrictions, or limitations,” she adds.

One group that must play a critical role in theater diversity going forward is the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC), the union representing nearly 2,000 theater directors and choreographers.  To date, the 50 year-old organization has, unfortunately, not found it necessary to collect any racial demographic information of its members; hence, the percentage of African American members is unknown.  “I can’t say right now that we are doing work in diversity, “ says Laura Penn, SSDC’s executive director.

“But I would say that we are creating a vision and some imperatives for ourselves.  There’s a lot of work to do,” adds Penn who acknowledges that anecdotally the membership of the union is largely male and Caucasian. Penn sees the collecting of empirical demographic data on its membership as a critical first step in addressing the diversity issue. Penn is also optimistic their initiatives will create access points to directors of varying backgrounds.

Creating Opportunities

Equal opportunity for blacks ultimately rests with the theaters and producers who have the power to stage productions and hire directors. In a largely clubby, collaborative and subjective business where relationships and word-of-mouth play a principal role in who gets hired, black directors frequently find themselves locked out of the network as demonstrated by their absence this season.

Furthermore, theater directors of every hue must compete in a field, which like other artistic careers, lacks any clearly defined career path. For theater directors—particularly for directors of color—- some see the field as the most impenetrable of the theater crafts. “Theater is extremely hard for everybody, but there are access points for the other crafts. Actors have auditions, designers have portfolios and writers have scripts they can submit. But directors only have their ideas and visions,” explains Penn.

For black directors, the Joe Turner situation has illuminatedan ongoing problem in theater and has begun what seems to be a serious discussion to address the matter. “The wonderful thing that has happened with this controversy is that it has caused a lot of people—mostly black directors—to call and write me, and I’ve invited them all to come and meet with me,” says Andre Bishop, executive director at Lincoln Center Theater.  I feel that Lincoln Center Theater is beginning—much too late but nonetheless—to have a dialogue with a lot a directors whom we haven’t worked with and that it will yield, in time, more opportunities than we’ve provided before.”
In recognizing black directors’ desire for work beyond the black experience, Bishop argues, “A major theater such as this one needs to do a sterling production by an African American director of something completely different than an African American play; that will lead the way just as my hope is that with Bart directing Joe Turner some people, who feel that a white director can’t direct August Wilson, will change their minds.”

Echoing Bishop, Sher, who in addition to his post at Lincoln Center Theater, also serves as the artistic director at Seattle’s Intiman Theater, emphasizes the role that people at the top of the theater chain can play in creating a broader range of opportunities for black directors. “I run a theater and we’ve done lots of African American work but I’ve also hired African American directors to do non-African American work,” says Sher. “You can’t solve all of the problems at once, but it’s important for theaters to develop long-term relationships with individual directors to give them opportunities.  I think this will start to happen all over where there will be African American directors doing the Chekovs, the Shakespeares and the August Wilsons.”

Joyner

To many African Americans, Tom Joyner is the king of black radio.  Based in Dallas, with a nationally syndicated radio show reaching some 115 markets and 8 million listeners across the country, Joyner is unquestionably a radio powerhouse.

So when Clear Channel, the San Antonio, Texas-based media conglomerate, unceremoniously announced in March that it was replacing “The Tom Joyner Morning Show“ with the nationally syndicated “Steve Harvey Morning Show“ at WVAZ-FM in Chicago, Joyner fans were outraged. After all, Chicago was the first market to ever carry Joyner’s show and WVAZ-FM had aired the show for 13 years. Many Chicagoans see Joyner as a part of the city’s fabric, a part of the family.

But you can’t keep a good man down.  Last week, after four weeks off the air, Joyner returned to the airwaves in the Windy City, this time on Soul 106. 3 FM (WSRB/WYRB), a Denver, Colorado-based Crawford Broadcasting station.

“People were very outspoken about the show leaving Chicago,” says Joyner, “so we went to Crawford and they gave us a proposal. But since we were on the street, it wasn’t much of a deal. We decided to buy the four hours completely, essentially becoming our own affiliate.”

Joyner would not disclose the financial terms of the transaction.

Clear Channel’s decision to replace Joyner with Harvey, the comedian and best-selling author whose popular show runs in more than 60 markets, underscores the pressures of the radio business in today’s challenging economic environment; radio had already and continues to face threats from alternative sources of audio entertainment like satellite radio, iPods and the Internet.

“The new media explosion makes it harder and harder for established stars and formats to aggregate audiences in an environment that is experiencing fragmentation and dispersion,” suggests Christopher H. Smith, professor at the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California. “Tom Joyner is not immune to the shifting dynamics,” he adds.

And it arguably did not help that Joyner’s show is owned by Reach Media, a division of Clear Channel competitor Radio One, the nation’s largest radio company targeting African Americans.

The stresses on the radio industry are readily apparent.  According to Chantilly, VA-based BIA Advisory Services, a media research and consultancy, 2008 radio revenues in the U.S. were $16.7 billion, down 8.5% from 2007. Additionally, 2009 revenues are expected to decrease 11%.

“Radio is taking it on the chin in the economic downturn,” says Mark R. Fratzik, Ph.D., senior vice president at BIA. “With Steve Harvey’s show being syndicated by Clear Channel-owned Premiere Radio, there’s always that incentive to air your own programming versus licensing other programming.

Even though Mr. Joyner is popular, Clear Channel probably had a reasonable alternative to his show that costs less.” In fact, upon sending Mr. Harvey to V103, WGCI’s new morning show is a locally-focused program hosted by Chicago radio veteran Tony Sculfield. “Tom is one of the classiest guys in the business,” says Earl Jones, president and market manager for Clear Channel Radio-Chicago. “Business drove our decision,” he adds.  To Jones’s point, Clear Channel clearly has not been exempt from the industry’s woes. Its radio revenues fell 7% in 2008 to $3.3 billion and declined 13% for the fourth quarter of 2008.  Jones would not disclose any estimated cost savings attributable to replacing Joyner.

Risky Proposition

By charting his own course back to Chi-Town, Joyner assumes the risk that would otherwise be absorbed by the station owner; he therefore is charged with not only creating a good show but also selling the advertising inventory, a daunting task given the economic climate Joyner likens his new Chicago business model to television deals in which a company buys time on an independent station to carry a show, which an affiliate station will not carry. While such a strategy is not unheard of in radio, according to BIA’s Fratzik, the scale and size of the Chicago market makes Joyner’s situation unique.

Speaking on the merits of Joyner’s move and acknowledging the station’s weak signal, Fratzik says, “I think he’s putting his money where his mouth is and it’s admirable that he’s willing to take the risk. It says that he’s confident that he can attract enough listeners.”

Joyner is banking that the popularity of his show—which based on Arbitron’s most recent PPM (portable people meter) ratings ranked as the #4 morning show (before the WVAZ cancellation) in the city in the 25-54 demographic group to Harvey’s No. 14—will garner him favorability with listeners and thereby win over coveted advertisers; Joyner had 292,200 listeners to Harvey’s 268,100 for listeners six and over.

“We stepped out on faith,” says Joyner, who found out he was being pushed off the air after returning from vacation.
“I’ve been fired a lot of different ways, but this ranks as one of the coldest,” he said recently. “I had to find some way to get back into the Chicago market. The station doesn’t have the greatest signal, but it’s on the South Side. And it gives us an opportunity to super-serve the community.”

As a part of Joyner’s strategy and commitment to the city, he will establish an internship program for media communications students at Chicago’s Kennedy-King College and when in the city will air from the campus.

Scott unveils the Butterfly Bra Collection

Grammy award-winning singer, actress, poet, author, and philanthropist Jill Scott is perhaps best known for her inspirational and seductive lyrics. But she’s also an entrepreneur, unveiling the Butterfly Collection Inspired by Jill Scott for Ashley Stewart, a bra line for plus-size women. Proceeds from the collection benefit Scott’s Blues Babe Foundation based in North Philadelphia, which encourages young people to excel artistically and academically.

Black Enterprise recently caught-up with the 37-year-old Philadelphia native about her foray into entrepreneurship, the importance of diversifying her revenue stream, and her recent role as series heroine Precious Ramotswe in the new HBO show The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency filmed in Botswana. Scott is the first African American woman to star in a series on the network and is set to be honored by the country with her own postage stamp.

How did the Ashley Stewart joint venture come about?

I never understood why department stores and boutiques don’t pay attention to this market. They are homeowners, they pay taxes, and they have money to spend. So it didn’t seem farfetched or odd to want to go into an area where I see that the need is great.

Every woman in my family is pretty voluptuous. They all have these dark marks and have suffered shoulder pain from bras. I spoke with my business partner and told him that I wanted to create a bra line and that Ashley Stewart would be a great place for it. We met with the company and I brought in bras, fabrics, and materials that I thought would work well. I explained the need and gave them my designs.

What were some of the challenges you faced creating the line?

It’s hard to find a bra that will give both support and shape. We went back to the drawing board many times. There’s a specific plate to make each cup. We went from foam to gel to a type of padding. It’s very intricate and specific. I would go into Ashley Stewart and say, “OK, this is good. This isn’t going to work. Let’s try this.” There was lots of starting over. There’s a science to it all. Making a bra is difficult.

The line faced some criticism because the sizes weren’t expansive enough for some women. Are you looking to expand the line?

Right now it’s a great bra, but it’s not for everybody. I’m going to do my best to take it from a 60th percentile to at least the 90th percentile in terms of meeting the needs of more women. So I’ll need to do bigger and smaller sizes, more colors and styles, as well as maternity bras and girdles.

What you’re doing is a reflection of artists diversifying their income streams. How important is that for artists?

You have to diversify because nothing is guaranteed. I learned this from my mother. She can sew, lay down hardwood floors, perform acupressure, and is also a dental hygienist. All of those things make her happy. That’s how I’ve wanted to live my life. If it happens to become something financially beneficial, then great. I sing, write, and act because I can’t help myself. I love being creative. Of course I want to make money to take care of my family and myself, but I want a livelihood that gives me internal pleasure.

In addition to redesigning bras, you’re also reshaping the mold for leading actresses. How did your new HBO series come about, and why is it important to see plus-size women on TV?

The more roles, the more diverse we can be, the better. The character I’m playing is a traditionally built woman. There are no hang-ups about her size in Africa because there’s a different mentality in terms of standards of beauty. She’s normal. She’s beautiful.

This story originally appeared in the May 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.

How do you think the U.S. economy tanking and the domino effect that followed made a difference in the way Americans voted in the election?
Leading up to the election, things were so bad that people knew the old way wouldn’t work anymore. Voters were looking for change. And for some, old white men represented the old way. It’s a bad time to be an old white politician right now.

You say voters wanted change, but you admit that you didn’t think Obama would win. Did race contribute to your cynicism?
I didn’t believe Obama could win or that America would elect a black as president. And now I feel ashamed of that. We are turning around as a country and I’m really proud to be an American. I’ve always loved my country, still it was never about how I loved it, but how it felt about me.

Many people saw Obama’s victory as a turning point for blacks in America. Did you see it that way as well?
The moment I heard he’d won, I felt a lot of things all at once: happy, relieved, proud, and sad. One of the reasons I felt sad was because of the view I’d had of America for years. Whenever I’d hear someone say, ‘You can be anything you want to be in America!’ I would always smirk and say, ‘Yeah, right.’ This country has forever been viewed by the world as a ‘whites only’ place. Blacks were viewed as second-class citizens who could only go so far. That idea of America is dead to me now. I think
America is a place where you can be anything you want to be, which is amazing.

Some argue that now blacks and other minorities have no excuse for not achieving what they want to achieve. What are your thoughts?
A lot of people were achieving great things before Obama was elected. I think that there are people who won’t be affected and there are people who will. The bottom line is that people have always found a way to be successful. I think that if we focus on education and being proud to be educated, and if we focus on fathers and being fathers, a lot of the other ancillary problems would go away. However, it’s unrealistic to believe that change is going to happen quickly.

Do you see Obama’s presidency as a sign that racism in America has ended?
No, because at the same time we still have young black men dying at an unprecedented rate. And the N-word has been around forever, and yet, Obama still managed to win. I’m not suggesting that the race problem is over at all. What I am saying is that America looks decidedly different now than I had
ever envisioned.

This story originally appeared in the January 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.

What’s been the greatest challenge in bringing African content to television in America?

Sensitizing people to Africa. America is a very insular place. The challenges are not just in reorienting the African American community and the white community—we still have to reorient the decision makers in cable at the local level who decide what channels get carried by the operator.

How have you generated interest in people who know Africa only through the lens of American media?

The news has portrayed a certain image of Africa that’s slanted toward war, famine, and abject poverty. We recognize that those things exist, but on the continent as a whole there are pockets of opportunity and excellence. African Americans can reconnect with the continent not only through tourism, but from a business and geopolitical standpoint. We are trying to shine a light on business opportunities, including real estate development, tourism, communications, and mining.

Would you say you have the job of correcting misinformation?

Absolutely. It’s about changing a mind-set. Reaching younger generations is key, because we’re not living in an isolated world anymore. Technology has broken down all barriers to connectivity. So if you’re an African American growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, life doesn’t begin and end in Little Rock. There’s a world of opportunities for you out there. And those opportunities may not be the United States. They may be in Africa.

Where would you like the network to be in the next few years?

http://content.blackenterprise.com/2008/08/11/one-on-one-with-michael-baisden/  

With a syndicated radio show in some 64 markets across the country, Michael Baisden is one of the nation’s most powerful radio voices. The major mastermind behind last year’s historic “Free Jena 6″ march, Baisden not only entertains his listeners with his daily afternoon drive show, but charges up the airwaves with healthy doses of relationship, business, and political information. It’s that perfect combination of fun, insightful discussion and advocacy radio that keeps listeners tuning in. Not content with just ruling the deejay booth, Baisden has also taken his brand to the tube with his late-night TV One variety show Baisden After Dark. This week, Baisden, who is featured in Black Enterprise’s August cover story on the future of black radio, talked to BlackEnterprise.com about his career and the dynamic radio industry.

BLACK ENTERPRISE: To what would you attribute your success in radio?
Michael Baisden: Wow. That’s a good question. It’s hard work and preparation. We put a lot of time into the show. I’m up until almost 2 a.m. every morning including Sundays. The only day I take off is Saturday. And when I say ‘take off’ I mean that I only work eight to 10 hours on Saturdays.

In spite of the hard work, you seem like you’re always having fun with it.
The fun part is when you’re actually doing the show. The preparation is the work. By the time you get on the air, if you’re prepared, then it’s all about paying attention to the listeners and having fun with them and playing the music.

You have a natural syndication knack. People tend to feel like they really know Michael Baisden. Is that an attribute for people who are in syndication?
Yes. It’s all about people feeling like they know you. I think one of the things that we’ve been able to do is that we can relate to our listeners but also challenge them to think differently about things, from relationships to sexuality to politics to business. The show forces people to really do something and to think differently, to challenge the beliefs they had on a given topic prior to listening to the show.

What are your thoughts on the impact of nationally syndicated radio on local radio in terms of the diminishing role of the local radio personalities?
I don’t like it. I have a relationship with all of those guys [local personalities] unlike anyone else in radio because I worked with all of them to get here. I was in their markets, on their shows on a regular basis promoting my books, my seminars, my stage plays, so I needed them. Without them I wouldn’t be here. I wish there was some way for us to exist together.

What are some of the things that make local radio so important?
What I think is cool about local radio is that they can talk about what’s happening locally and things that matter in that town, be it [an event] at a high school or a crime in that area. You can even program the music according to the weather in your town, which I think is really cool. And you can be more involved on the ground with what’s happening locally, like local benefits. That’s something you can’t do nationally because you have so much responsibility.

Do you think that there are opportunities for some of the radio business models to allow more room for some of the local personalities?
I wish they would find a way to make it work because as it looks right now that they’re trying to syndicate every day part of radio. I think it’s a mistake. I have an affinity for people in local radio. I feel like I owe them something.

You’ve had a big year with Jena 6 and the presidential race. What have you learned most about your listeners in terms of being engaged in this political process?
MB: It’s like a carryover from Jena 6. Black people are more engaged. If you give them somebody or something that they can believe in, that they care about and give them an opportunity to have a voice, they will be engaged. People feel like they have a voice with Obama. They feel like they have a voice with me. My whole show is built around listeners. I don’t have a co-host except on Fridays with comedian George Wilborn. He does an incredible job. But outside of that, it’s just the listeners and me. There’s no other urban radio show where it’s just the host and the listeners in the daytime parts on the major shows. I’m not saying that to be derogatory toward the other shows. But without co-hosts, it gives my listeners an opportunity to be heard a lot more. People love to hear other people’s issues. Meanwhile, I chat live with the listeners from all across the country from the time the show comes on until it goes off and I’ve been doing it for years. I’ve become addicted.

But getting your film accepted into a festival is one thing. Plotting out every detail of your strategy before the festival will help you come across as a professional and will better position you to take advantage of all that a film festival experience has to offer.

For feature film directors and producers, film festivals are excellent opportunities to get your film in front of acquisitions executives from studios, television networks, or direct-to-video entities who have the power to license the film for distribution. With the abundance of film festivals and around the world, it is crucial for filmmakers to carefully assess the merits and attributes of various festivals before applying.

“Do your homework to find out what distributors attended the festival in the past and what films sold there,” advises New York director Pete Chatmon, whose feature film debut Premium screened at a number of festivals across the country, including ABFF and the Miami International Film Festival. Chatmon’s film generated buzz on the festival circuit and eventually landed a distribution deal with Sherman Oaks, CA-based Codeblack Entertainment, resulting in a limited 2007 release in theaters and a television debut on Showtime.

Filmmakers, who are commonly more at ease in their artistic mode, must quickly adjust to the business culture of entertainment. Chatmon underscores the importance of having basic promotional elements in place such as a Website, business cards, and postcards. He also urges filmmakers to use creative ways to draw attention to their film. “It’s important that you let people know that this particular film stands out,” Chatmon says.

Getting people to actually show up to see your movie is also a challenge, particularly if you’re a first-time filmmaker who doesn’t have the brand recognition or a bankable cast. “Come up with a list of 100 people you want to invite to your screening and send them complimentary tickets,” says Tanya Kersey, founder and executive director of the Hollywood Black Film Festival. She also recommends getting a copy of the Hollywood Creative Directory, which lists studio and production company executives, to come up with the list. Follow up with a phone call after sending public relations materials to executives, she adds.

Kersey also encourages filmmakers to budget for a publicist and a reception. “You want to keep people engaged,” says Kersey, who suggests filmmakers place a sign-in book at the door of the theater to keep track of attendees. “You can then do proper follow-up,” she adds.

Understanding the specific content needs of the attending companies will help you assess how your film fits those needs. “It’s important to know whether your film is one for theatrical distribution or more appropriate for television or for direct-to-video,” says Valerie Meraz, senior director of content acquisitions at Showtime. “Know where your film will work best,” she stresses. If your film has black family or faith-based elements, you would definitely want to invite executives from Lionsgate–which distributes Tyler Perry’s films–and Screen Gems, which last year distributed This Christmas, she adds.

And, of course, most filmmakers hope to come away from a festival with a distribution deal. But just what are those acquisitions executives considering when they evaluate your film? “The first thing I look at is the production value of the film,” says Meraz. “The film must look professional.” Meraz underscores that the film’s entertainment value and cast are also important. “It’s not necessary to have a star with a household name in the film,” Meraz stresses, “but I prefer films with at least one or two recognizable actors.”

In case you do have the good fortune of having a distributor make you an offer, come prepared to do business. Securing a sales agent to represent your film before you get to the festival is a huge asset. But like any good businessperson, it is ultimately the filmmakers’ responsibility to know what their film is worth in the marketplace. Researching industry trades, press releases from film festivals and film markets on deals and good old-fashioned networking with other filmmakers can prove crucial. Whatever your method, the consequences of not knowing your product’s worth could be grave.

Short of a sales agent, it is highly recommended that you hire an entertainment attorney before the festival who can represent you in any possible transaction. A good entertainment attorney, who has other independent filmmaker, clients would also be knowledgeable of the market.

Yet, of course, as in everything in entertainment, relationships are paramount. For newcomers or those without deep connections in the industry, organizations like the New York-based Independent Feature Project, www.ifp.org, which has offices across the country, and Film Independent, www.filmindependent.org, based in Los Angeles, provide valuable resources on everything from financing to finding a sales representative to self-distribution. IFP’s Filmmaker magazine publishes a listing of film sales representatives at www.filmmakermagazine.com.

George Alexander’s column on the business of entertainment appears weekly at BlackEnterprise.com. He is the author of Why We Make Movies (Doubleday Harlem Moon).

Known as the “Queen of All Media,” Wendy Williams has parlayed 22 years on radio airwaves into best-selling books, TV specials, and now her very own syndicated daytime talk show on Fox. With a penchant for keeping listeners on the edge of their seats with the hottest celebrity gossip and the latest news in pop culture, her afternoon drive radio show, The Wendy Williams Experience, based at WBLS FM in New York City, recently ranked No. 1 in New York in the 25-54 age group. Offering celebrity guests and biting humor, the show is syndicated in 10 markets and reaches 778,000 listeners. Williams spoke with BlackEnterprise.com about her career and the challenges in today’s radio industry.

BLACK ENTERPRISE: To what would you attribute most to your success?
Wendy Williams: Perseverance and determination. That might sound cliché, but I really haven’t always had the support I’ve needed. I am constantly having to prove myself. But I understand the business of radio. I have a very clear understanding of radio as a fan because I was a fan of radio and a student of radio before I executed it, and I’m still fan. Radio is my blood. I also don’t think I’ve ever rested on my laurels over my entire career. I know that I’m only as good as the show I did yesterday.

Some people contend that being on the air is a lot harder than it appears. Holding the audience’s attention isn’t easy.
I’ve never found the execution of radio to be tough. It’s nothing for me to get on the radio to make people smile. It’s easy. It’s been more of the business side that’s become tough. Believe it or not, the higher I’ve climbed, the tougher it’s become–sexism, racism, financial–you name it. As a successful woman in this industry, I’ve experienced it, and I continue to experience it. While there are a lot of women on the air, I don’t think there are a lot of women who hold the keys to the power on the air. We have a long way to go as women in business. But I have been able to close the gap and surpass some men in many ways. Radio has been good to Wendy Williams.

What do you think about the impact of syndicated radio on the broadcast radio landscape?
It’s bitter and sweet. It’s sweet because I am on the winning end of it for now. It’s bitter because I see my radio people in the trenches–kids graduating from college right now who aspire to do what we’re doing on the radio–who will never get a chance to do anything great in this business because of the effects of syndication. But to play two sides of the fence–syndication versus localization–syndication is cost-effective. With a few companies owning most of the stations today, it’s more financially prudent to have one personality service several markets.

Over the years, the industry has undergone a major consolidation. How has that affected you?
Consolidation is one thing that has messed radio up. You do horrible at one radio station in town and that radio station happens to own four other radio stations in town where you could possibly get a job. In addition, you now have non-compete clauses. It really tests your resolve as a human being about what you’re going to do about your career. For me, I know that if you’re not on the radio, you are as good as dead. We see it constantly in popular culture. As loyal as the audience says they are to you, they turn like wild dogs on their favorites because we have short attention spans. And it’s a fool who thinks they can leave radio for a month or a couple of years then all of a sudden be that star that they once were. It’s not like that.

Given the changes in the industry, is local radio dying?
Yes, local [radio] is going to fade away. I feel for the local person because it’s going to be all syndication and automation, and whoever is not already established has missed the boat. I wouldn’t even say grind harder in radio. I would suggest that you grind harder in your Plan B.

Your television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, recently had its debut on Fox. Tell us about that.
The show is live, five days a week. And I did not have to do a pilot, as is common in the television business, so it’s been lights, cameras, action. We’re on in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Dallas. I will have six weeks–30 shows–to wow these four cities and turn them on with my smile. Hopefully, I can give the audience the Wendy treatment the only way I know how. This is the opportunity of a lifetime.

With With a Dallas-based, afternoon-drive radio show that is syndicated in some 31 markets, veteran jock Doug Banks and his co-host, DeDe McGuire, bring a fun mix of humor, popular culture, and information to the airwaves as they spin the hottest in adult contemporary music on The Doug Banks and Dede McGuire Show, which is syndicated by ABC Radio Networks. This week, BlackEnterprise.com went behind the scenes with Doug and DeDe to get their take on the radio business and where they think this ever-changing industry is headed.

BlackEnterprise.com: What are your thoughts on syndicated radio and its impact on black radio?

Doug Banks: Being a person who is syndicated, I’m all for it. I think it’s a great way to get entertainment to the masses as opposed to just having it on a local level. With syndicated programming, stars of TV, music, and film who come on our program to promote their projects are exposed to a larger stage—on a national scale—versus on a local level. Syndication is important for African Americans because it gives us a platform to stand on in terms of the initiatives we support, such as the Million Man March and Jena 6.

Critics of syndication, however, say that localism is lost. What are your thoughts on that?

DeDe McGuire: That is so not true. That’s the perception that everyone wants you to believe. But what people don’t understand is that to do syndication they way we do it is hard work. We pay attention to every market. We cater to every market. We have people on the streets in our various markets who call us and fax us to let us know what is going on.

DB: The key to do this is that you can’t be too one-sided with regard to any one market.  The name of the game is to get as much audience as you possibly can and as many stations as you can. It’s rather generic, but I’ve found out over the years that a simple mention of a specific market or a location in that market does wonders.

Radio is facing intense competition from a lot of other audio entertainment. How will this competition impact black radio going forward?
DB: It’s going to separate the people who are on their A-game versus the people who are just playing and dabbling in it. There are too many other options: iPods, satellite radio, CDs, mp3s. When you’re tuned into my show in the afternoon, I want to make sure the show’s compelling enough to hold you, because the toughest thing in the world is to get someone to come back to you once they’ve tuned you out.

With syndication, you’re able to connect with a broad range of African American listeners. What have you learned most about the audience?

DM: I’ve learned that our audience is much more educated and much more concerned about what’s going on in the world today and their community than people think, and I think that’s a beautiful thing because there are so many times the media wants you to believe that our community is not interested in what’s going on, that we’re not interested in politics, that we don’t care about education and that we don’t value marriage. That’s just not true. And it’s no different for a listener in Augusta, Georgia than it is for a listener in Chicago. The thing that I love so much about doing black radio and what goes on in our culture is that when something happens, whether or not it’s the Jena 6 situation or the Sean Bell situation, it affects all of us. We pay attention to it because we know that if it happens someplace else, it could happen in our hometown. So that means that by being syndicated, we all become this one big family who cares.

What are your thoughts on the future of black radio?

DB: Black radio has always been a force. Sometimes it’s been pushed to the back, but it always seems to rise back up because black radio is more community oriented. Ask African Americans about their radio station and they’ll know every aspect of the  jocks’ lives: your kids, what you drive, where you live, how much you spend at Target. It’s just not the same with a white station. Black radio is never going to be bad to us.

DM: I think black radio is headed in a direction that is very positive. Radio has helped achieve a higher conscience level for a lot of listeners. Black radio is one of the few things left for African Americans that’s directed to you, for you, and about you. Black radio isn’t going anywhere. It’s getting better. And I love it.

When anyone hears the name Steve Harvey the word funny easily comes to mind. After all, this Original Kings of Comedy star and popular former sitcom figure still plays to sold-out shows from coast to coast with his side-splitting stand-up routine. But in more recent years, Harvey has taken the radio industry by storm: His syndicated program, The Steve Harvey Morning Show, plays in over 60 markets reaching some seven million listeners. Yet Harvey wants to make it clear that he’s not just Mr. Jokes. Each day on his show he seeks to inspire and uplift listeners as much as he wants to ease their day with humor. This week Harvey took time out of his busy schedule to speak with BlackEnterprise.com about his career and the radio industry today.

BLACK ENTERPRISE: You’ve obviously had great success in other arenas, including stand-up comedy and television. Have you always had an interest in radio?

Steve Harvey: Not really. This is really God’s call for me because it has helped me expose some aspects of my life that are important other than telling jokes. My initial claim to fame was telling jokes. That’s my gift. But I also have a passion for our people, and I have a lot of information God has had me learn over the years, so that I could have something to share.

Your show allows you to connect with people all across the country. What have you gleaned about black people that you perhaps didn’t know before?

I don’t know that I didn’t know it before because I’m an expert on two things: manhood and being black. I’m an expert on manhood because I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to get better at it, and I had a great example in my father. I’m an expert at being black because I’ve spent my entire 51 years black. So I think all of those years of experience and having been fortunate enough to travel to all the different regions of the country and talking to our people and entertaining our people, you see that we all have a very common thread. I don’t care if I’m telling jokes in Los Angeles, Mississippi, or Miami, black people have a common thread. And if you understand that common thread that connects us as black people–experiences growing up, the church, and family–you can transfer it to radio.

One of the good things about your show and the other syndicated shows is that you reach so many people. However, some of the critics of syndication feel that good local shows have been squeezed out. What are your thoughts on that?

Radio is a world of big business and consolidation, and everybody is trying to get their fair share of the market. The more station owners can gather up, the bigger their piece of the pie. Station owners are trying to find a way to get more listeners in order to be more appealing to advertisers, so they can make more money. That’s the game out there. I don’t own a single radio station. I don’t make a single decision as to what city I play in. If I did, I’d be on every single station.

What do you see as the mission of The Steve Harvey Morning Show?

Our job is to wake up and for the first 12 minutes remind people not to forget about God. Don’t forget about the reason you wake up. Don’t spend your life feeling alone like you have no answers. Don’t spend your life never knowing your purpose. There is a God, and God is available to you. That’s my mission in the morning for the first 12 minutes, and then after that we disperse information. We try to get people off to a positive, uplifting, laughing start.

Where would you like to see black radio go in the future?

I would like to see black radio go back to what it used to be. It used to be a place where African Americans tuned in to get information, tuned in to be uplifted. We didn’t use black radio to talk about each other, to talk about this celebrity’s hardships, to make jokes constantly about a celebrity’s problems. Celebrities have problems, and guess what? You’ve got problems, too. Celebrities are human beings and they have feelings. And so what that no one could find out where Jay-Z and Beyonce got married. It’s really not our business. And if everyday people would just come to the realization that the most important life is yours and that of your children, you’d have a whole lot more going for you. Just do your life. Fix what’s wrong in yours.

What have you learned most about black people–your listeners–during this presidential campaign?

Black people are a lot more involved than people have realized over the years. What we’re finding out now is that white people feel disenfranchised. Black people have been feeling disenfranchised for a long time. So now all of a sudden we have a black man running for the presidency who has a real chance and he has a real chance because African Americans and poor people have known what was going on. But now the disenfranchised middle-class white person is saying, “You know what? This ain’t right. We need to change it.” And they’re so disenfranchised they are going to change it anyway they can. If that means putting a black man in office then cool, we’ll do that.