Site icon journal-isms.com

Black Sports Radio Project Lasts 86 Days

richard

‘I Failed My People,’ Says Founder Rob Parker

Homepage photo: Courtesy

Support Journal-isms

“Sports Rap Radio, the idea and concept, is viable and serves the under represented Black community in sports-talk radio,” said Rob Parker, inducted in 2023 into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame. (Screenshot)

‘I Failed My People,’ Says Founder Rob Parker

After less than 90 days on the air, the project billed as the nation’s first Black-led sports radio station ended Tuesday.

” ‘Sports Rap Radio’ is no longer on Detroit’s WXYT-AM,” Barrett Media reported Wednesday.

“A group led by FOX Sports Radio host Rob Parker had leased the station from Audacy, who says the station will return to BetQL Network programming which it was before the flip in June. The Sports Rap Radio programming came off the station at 5 p.m. ET on August 27.

“ ‘Sadly, our second round of funding didn’t come through, making it difficult to continue,’ said Rob Parker, the founder and one of the co-owners.

“ ‘Sports Rap Radio, the idea and concept, is viable and serves the under represented Black community in sports-talk radio,’ Parker said. ‘I’m proud that we were able to launch the first all-Black sports talk station in this country. I’m proud of the product the staff delivered.

“But I’m devastated that I couldn’t deliver this for our culture. I failed my people.’

“Sports Rap Radio had a slightly delayed launch at the beginning but went on the air on June 4. Some of the talent involved with the station included former pro athletes B.J. Armstrong and Lindsey Hunter.

“Parker said all station employees would be compensated for their services.” (Pictured: Early lineup)

Brandon Contes added for Awful Announcing, “The endeavor was years in the making for Parker, who in 2020, took note of there being no Black full-time sports radio hosts in Detroit. But it’s not just Detroit, minority hosts have long been underrepresented by sports radio stations around the country. Only 10-14 percent of the on-air talent on nearly 800 sports radio around the country were Black or Hispanic as recently as 2020.

“Sports Rap Radio attempted to fill the void, launching with an all-Black, all-local lineup from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m., followed by Parker’s Fox Sports Radio show with Chris Broussard from 7 – 10 p.m. . . . .

Reported Radio Ink: “Sports Rap Radio’s lineup included former Detroit Pistons player and NBA coach Lindsey Hunter, three-time NBA champion B.J. Armstrong, and Martin Weiss and JR Gamble, hosts of The Bad Boys. Parker’s nationally syndicated show, The Odd Couple, was also scheduled to air on the station.

“With Parker’s original goal to expand the format to reach major Black markets across the country and provide a space for Black-hosted podcasts, there is no word on what the future holds for those plans.”

Gannett Wins in Anti-DEI Lawsuit, for Now

Aug. 25, 2024

Another Court Says Challenge to CBS Can Proceed

Harris Hits Trump Over ‘Intent to Jail Journalists’:
Questions for V.P. Should Include Her Stance Toward Media
How ‘War Is Hell’ Is Playing Out in Africa
‘Survival Required Luck’ in Traversing Darién Gap
New York’s WCBS Newsradio Signs Off After 57 Years
Emmys Reject Call to Pull Palestinian’s Nomination

Short Takes: Clarence Page; Black crossword puzzle; Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division since Ferguson; payouts to Chicago police over misconduct charges; Black workers’ lawsuit against Elon Musk’s Tesla; layoffs at Time magazine; Time’s Ethiopian-born “Kid of the Year”; Report for America adding 50 newsroom positions; Byron Allen’s financial issues; Katie Couric on CBS plan for all-male anchor team;

Knight Foundation investing $5.4 million in outlets; Baltimore Sun Guild pickets; new Star Tribune columnists; effects of WWII Japanese-American incarceration; America’s first Hmong anchorman; Vladimir Duthiers; short films by Native Americans; Maria Ressa; press abuses in Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Morocco, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau; press freedom in Angola!

Support Journal-isms

What exactly is diversity, equity, and inclusion? And why the push to ban it on college campuses? In this video, the Chronicle of Higher Education explores the history of DEI and how it came under political attack. (Credit: YouTube)

Another Court Says Challenge to CBS Can Proceed

“A federal judge in Virginia has tossed out a proposed class action accusing newspaper publisher Gannett of adopting diversity policies that had led to widespread discrimination against white employees,” Daniel Wiessner reported Wednesday for Reuters.

“U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday said the 2023 lawsuit was ‘vague and conclusory’ and that the five named plaintiffs had failed to identify a company-wide policy that impacted them due to their race. But the judge gave the plaintiffs 30 days to amend their lawsuit and flesh out their claims. . . .”

While Gannett scored a welcome victory — even if only temporary — against the movement against diversity, equity and inclusion in media, U.S. District Judge John Walter in California ruled that an anti-DEI lawsuit against CBS Studios can proceed. A script coordinator for “SEAL Team” has “accused CBS Studios of carrying out illegal diversity quotas that discriminate against straight white men,” Winston Cho reported Aug. 15 for the Hollywood Reporter.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, MIT announced that its incoming freshman class “will be far less racially diverse compared to past years, a change the university attributes to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision banning the use of race in college admissions,” as Suevon Lee reported for WBUR in Boston. (Video from MIT student Nesu Nhamo)

Further, The Washington Post reported Monday, “In an era of tightening budgets, many tech companies are distancing themselves from these [DEI] initiatives — forcing [Silicon Valley] advocacy groups to close up shop, lay off staff or rebrand their efforts to stay afloat, according to interviews with more than a dozen diversity advocates and group founders.

“The drop in support for programs that tech companies once touted as a sign of their commitment to adding women, Black people and Hispanic people to their ranks follows a right-wing campaign to challenge diversity initiatives in court,” wrote Naomi Nix, Cat Zakrzewski and Nitasha Tiku.

In the Gannett case, “The named plaintiffs say they were fired, pushed to quit, or passed over for promotions to make room for women or minorities, or paid less than non-white colleagues. And they claim those decisions were driven by a policy Gannett announced in 2020 saying the company aimed to have its newsrooms reflect the demographics of the communities they cover by 2025,” Wiessner continued for Reuters. The case was originated in April 2023 by Steven Bradley (pictured) (scroll down), a white male journalist formerly at Gannett’s Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and Chronicle. Gannett is the nation’s largest newspaper company.

“Gannett has maintained that the alleged ‘policy’ was merely a report stating aspirational goals, and denied engaging in race discrimination in order to meet them. Alston on Tuesday largely agreed, saying the report did not include specific quotas or provide concrete plans to achieve diversity targets,” Wiessner continued.

“Alston, an appointee of Republican former President Donald Trump, also said the lawsuit was not grounded in a common legal theory that could form the basis of a nationwide class action, since each named plaintiff claims they were affected by Gannett’s policies in different ways.

“The Plaintiffs would all be seeking relief based on different theories of recovery, based on different positions at different newspapers in different areas of the country with different decision-makers,” he wrote.

The CBS complaint cites a 2022 Entertainment Weekly story in asserting that the CEO of CBS Entertainment Group, George Cheeks (pictured), described by EW as “CBS’ first Black, biracial, and gay president,” ‘set a goal that all writers’ rooms on the network’s primetime series be staffed 40 percent Black, Indigenous and People of Color (‘BIPOC’) in the 2021-22 season; 17 out of 21 shows hit or exceeded that target.’ “

CBS did not respond to requests for comment.

At the recent convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, Rodney Brooks, who chairs NABJ’s Finance Committee, reported to the NABJ board of directors that there will be further DEI setbacks (scroll down) that could affect NABJ’s bottom line if Trump is elected in November. Brooks named two companies that ended their diversity programs because of the current climate, although they are not funders of NABJ.

The journalists of color associations were founded with diversity in media as their mission, yet they have not aggressively challenged the anti-DEI movement.

When news of the lawsuit against Gannett escalated last November, NABJ President Ken Lemon messaged, “No comment yet. We are aware of the situation and are closely monitoring it.”

Harris Hits Trump Over ‘Intent to Jail Journalists’

Questions for V.P. Should Include Her Stance Toward Media

The topic of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris‘ dealings with the press these days most often is about the positive coverage she’s been getting lately, or whether she should be talking more with the news media.

But a brief mention in the vice president’s history-making acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention Thursday raised another issue.

In lambasting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Harris said, “consider what he intends to do if we give him power again.

“Consider his explicit intent to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers at the Capitol.

“His explicit intent to jail journalists. Political opponents. Anyone he sees as the enemy.”

The reference to journalists pushed the right button for Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Brown messaged Journal-isms, “No president gets to jail journalists.  Government threats to punish or imprison reporters are wholly unacceptable and must be taken seriously, particularly threats that appear politically-motivated.  

“And we do have growing concerns, regardless of who wins the upcoming election, as courts around the country have been increasingly issuing once-unthinkable anti-press rulings.”

Trump’s antipathy toward the press has been well documented. In 2017, while Trump was in office, Chris Cillizza wrote for CNN:    

“Before President Donald Trump reportedly asked [then-FBI Director James] Comey to end the investigation into deposed national security adviser Michael Flynn’s ties to Russia, he also reportedly made a remarkable suggestion about journalists.

“Wrote the New York Times’ Michael Schmidt of that exchange:

” ‘Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that] Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates.’

“Um, what?

“Understandably, the bulk of the coverage in the wake of Schmidt’s bombshell has focused on what it means for Trump if he did indeed ask Comey to stop an ongoing investigation. (White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Wednesday afternoon of the reported meeting: ‘The President’s been very clear. This is not an accurate representation of that meeting.’)

“But, the suggestion from a sitting President of the United States to the FBI Director that journalists be jailed for reporting on classified information is, in and of itself, a stunning statement that goes beyond even Trump’s most virulent anti-media statements to date.

“Throughout the 2016 campaign and even in the White House, Trump has been outspoken about his distaste for the media. He would regularly refer to the journalists covering the campaign as ‘some of the most dishonest people’ he had ever met and insist that the press was deeply biased against him. . . .”

Vice President Harris underscored respect for human rights and press freedom in a 2022 meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (Credit: Rappler/YouTube)

Leonard Downie Jr., a former executive editor of The Washington Post, outlined more concerns this past May under the headline, “A second Trump presidency would be a disaster for the news media.“

Let’s not forget, though, that former president Barack Obama, with whom Harris is being favorably compared, was criticized by press freedom groups as well. The Committee to Protect Journalists said it “and civil rights groups have documented how. . . . his administration aggressively prosecuted leakers, surveilled journalists in leak investigations, used the state secrets privilege to suppress evidence in courts about torture and the government’s no fly list, and set a record for the use of legal exceptions in responding to freedom of information act requests.”

Harris told Fox News’ Peter Doocey, “I’m working toward it!” Friday in a fun-spirited manner when he asked,” “Are you ready for your Fox Interview?” Still, others point out that she’s doing just fine with voters without such engagements.

Meanwhile, Michael M. Grynbaum reported for The New York Times that “The four-day celebration in Chicago of Vice President Kamala Harris was watched on TV by an average of 21.8 million viewers across four nights, Nielsen said on Friday. That was 14 percent more than the Republicans’ jamboree last month in Milwaukee, a four-day tribute to former President Donald J. Trump.”

Although the gap narrowed to only a 3-percent difference in the ratings for each candidate’s final night, the net effect, Dan Balz reported for The Washington Post, was a net minus for Trump.

“In his history as a candidate for president, Donald Trump has never experienced anything like the past month,” Balz wrote. “Vice President Kamala Harris, a Black and Indian American woman, has pushed the White alpha male to the sidelines of the national conversation, denying him the spotlight he craves and constantly demands.

“Democrats concluded their electrifying national convention here on Thursday night with Harris as the main event, delivering an address sculpted to keep her on the crest of a wave that has changed the contours of the presidential election.

“The Democrats are in the game, the former president is in a box, and it’s not clear whether he knows what to do. . . .”

The final convention night also marked a return to live news event coverage for BET, which staged “BET News Presents: Black America Votes the 2024 DNC,” hosted by Ed Gordon and joined by Jemele Hill and Van Lathan.

But BET coverage was marred by cutaways from the convention action, such as having CBS News reporter Skyler Henry give a recap of events while actress Kerry Washington was opening the convention night with an engaging presentation that featured two of Harris’ young grand-nieces teaching the audience how to correctly pronounce “Kamala.” Panelists talked over a remarkable no-holds-barred speech by former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, a member of the House Jan. 6 Committee, and BET pre-empted Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a vice presidential finalist, for a commercial.

The Grio TV, which simulcast the fateful June 27 debate between Trump and President Biden, this time was showing “Cosby” reruns.

“As many as 150,000 people might be dead, and millions are displaced, though the chaos has made an accurate count impossible. As the rebels eye the next city to ‘liberate,’ in their words, they seem more equipped for battle than for defending their people against a famine hurtling towards them.” (Credit: YouTube)

How ‘War Is Hell’ Is Playing Out in Africa

For The New York Times Magazine, Times correspondent Nicholas Casey and Moises Saman, photographer and videographer, embedded for two weeks with a Sudanese militia that says it’s fighting to establish a Western-style democracy.

The journalists’ cover story appeared in the Aug. 11 edition under the title, “The War The World Forgot.”

Casey wrote, “Sudan’s war has left nearly 11 million people displaced from their homes — more than the entire population of New York City, and currently the single largest population of internal refugees anywhere in the world.

“One U.S. State Department official estimated in May that as many as 150,000 people might be dead in the fighting, though the chaos has made an accurate body count impossible. Hospitals have ceased operating. Khartoum’s international airport is a ghost town, overrun by militiamen. Western Darfur, on the country’s frontier with Chad, stands besieged by paramilitary groups who have rekindled the ethnic cleansing that made Darfur a household name in the 2000s.

“And then there is the threat of starvation, the specter that haunts nearly all conflicts in Africa and makes no distinction between civilian and combatant. More than 15 million Sudanese faced crisis-level food insecurity even before the war began.

“Since then, the fighting has destroyed not just schools and roads but also farms and agricultural infrastructure, as the warring parties pillage the countryside to sustain themselves. The possibility of a great famine, like the one that ravaged Ethiopia in the 1980s, has become real again.

“Yet in a world already ravaged by entrenched wars and the threat of more, the tragedy of Sudan has hardly registered in many corners. Protesters do not march on capitals demanding a cease-fire. The United States has kept its distance. ‘For a Full Year, the Bodies Have Piled Up in Sudan — and Still the World Looks Away’ was the headline of a piece this April by Nesrine Malik, a columnist at the British newspaper The Guardian who writes about the country and was born there. . . . “

“Illegal border crossings into the United States from Mexico have dropped in the last few months. But further south, hundreds of thousands of migrants are making dangerous journeys through the Darién Gap, one of the world’s most treacherous jungles. “Seventy Miles in Hell” from The Atlantic documents migrant’s efforts through the region. Amna Nawaz discussed more with writer Caitlin Dickerson.” (Credit: “PBS News Hour/YouTube)

‘Survival Required Luck’ in Traversing Darién Gap

The Darién Gap, the land bridge in Panama between North and South America, “was thought for centuries to be all but impassable,” writes Caitlin Dickerson (pictured), winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting, describing the Trump administration policy that forcefully separated migrant children from their parents.

“Explorers and would-be colonizers who entered tended to die of hunger or thirst, be attacked by animals, drown in fast-rising rivers, or simply get lost and never emerge, Dickerson continues in The Atlantic’s September issue. “Those dangers remain, but in recent years the jungle has become a superhighway for people hoping to reach the United States. According to the United Nations, more than 800,000 may cross the Darién Gap this year — a more than 50 percent increase over last year’s previously unimaginable number. Children under 5 are the fastest-growing group. . . .

“Everyone who works in the Darién Gap must be approved by the cartel and hand over a portion of their earnings. They have built stairs into hillsides and outfitted cliffs with ladders and camps with Wi‑Fi. They advertise it all on TikTok and YouTube, and anyone can book a journey online. There are many paths through. The most grueling route is the cheapest — right now, about $300 a person to cross the jungle on foot. Taking a boat up the coast can cost more than $1,000.

“I went to the Darién Gap in December with the photographer Lynsey Addario because I wanted to see for myself what people were willing to risk to get to the United States. Before making the journey, I spoke with a handful of journalists who had done so before. They had dealt with typhoid, rashes, emergency evacuations, and mysterious illnesses that lingered for months. One was tied up in the forest and robbed at gunpoint. They said that we could take measures to make the journey safer but that ultimately, survival required luck. . . .”

On X, the piece is drawing comments like these: “riveting and tragic — a textbook example of the power of on-the-ground reporting,” “Cried reading this. And then I read it again,” “An incredible piece of journalism and truly harrowing read. Take some time to dig into this story.” “A breathtaking achievement by @itscaitlinhd and @lynseyaddario. It’s not just an urgent story of human suffering, but one that seems almost impossible in its reporting challenges. They scaled boulders and forded rivers to bring you this story. Read it.”

Ed Bradley, who worked at WCBS Newsradio from 1967 to 1971 (above), was best known as a correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes (pictured below). (Credit: Don Swaim)

New York’s WCBS Newsradio Signs Off After 57 Years

Starting Monday, WCBS, the all-news New York radio station that nurtured such talent as the late “60 Minutes” correspondent Ed Bradley, will be no more.

“There was a reunion on the radio Thursday, with familiar names and voices,” Tony Aiello reported for CBS, which owns WCBS.

“Dozens of current and former staffers at WCBS 880 joined a special on-air tribute as the all-news radio station prepares to sign off.

“There were hugs on the street Thursday before they headed up to the studio for three hours of radio reminiscing.

“For 57 years, the team at WCBS 880 narrated the story of New York. . . .”‘

“The broadcasting company Audacy, which owns two all-news radio stations in New York City, WINS and WCBS . . . has announced that it is shutting down WCBS Newsradio 88,” Peter Katz reported Aug. 12 for WestfairOnline.

“Audacy says it will continue to own the radio broadcasting frequency 880 on the AM dial but will lease the radio station to Good Karma Brands, which will begin broadcasting ESPN New York, sports programming, on the frequency. The FCC will be asked for permission to change the letters of the station from WCBS to WHSQ-AM.”

In addition to Bradley, other journalists of color who have passed through the station are Steve Malavé, Vicki Allen, Steve Reed, Jim Asendio, Bill Daughtry, Kim Echols, Don Alexander, Jane Tillman-Irving, Darlene Rodriguez and Lyn Vaughn. (Hat tip: Sheila Stainback.)

“Local radio was once a pillar of the New York City news ecosystem. WCBS helped make up the running backdrop of frenetic city life,” Corey Kilgannon wrote for The New York Times. “Residents listened to it in the shower, at the breakfast table, in their cabs. It blended with the clamor of the delis and bodegas. It provided the small informational necessities that enable urban living — traffic and weather every 10 minutes on the 8s — and chronicled the epochal events that shaped New York.”

Bisan Atef Owda gained millions of followers on social media since Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 as she documented the destruction of “70 per cent of our infrastructure” in Gaza after Israeli military action. (Credit: YouTube)

Emmys Reject Call to Pull Palestinian’s Nomination

“The National Academy for Television and Arts and Sciences has responded to calls for a Palestinian journalist to have her Emmy nomination rescinded, after more than 150 celebrities and entertainment industry professionals penned a letter arguing against the nod,” Maira Butt reported Wednesday for Britain’s the Independent.

“Bisan Atef Owda, 25, was nominated in the category of Outstanding Hard News Feature Story for It’s Bisan from Gaza and I’m Still Alive. The documentary, created with AJ+, an imprint of Al Jazeera, which is also nominated, chronicles the journey of Owda as her family flee the bombardment of their home in Beit Hanoun in the Gaza strip.

“However, Creative Community for Peace, a Jewish non-profit organisation which describes its mission as ‘to educate about rising antisemitism within the entertainment industry, and to galvanise support against the cultural boycott of Israel’, alleged that Owda has ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group which is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the US, Japan, and European Union.

“Over 150 people, including Will & Grace star Debra Messing, Cruel Intentions actor Selma Blair, former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, head of WME Rick Rosen, billionaire Haim Saban, and entertainment manager Michael Rotenberg signed a letter asking for the journalist’s nomination to be revoked. . . .

“However, NATAS CEO President Adam Sharp responded to the letter saying it had been ‘unable to corroborate these reports, nor has it been able, to date, to surface any evidence of more contemporary or active involvement by Owda with the PFLP organisation’. . . .”

Short Takes

(Credit: San Francisco Chronicle)

6Ends’ Support Journal-isms

To subscribe at no cost, please send an email to journal-isms+subscribe@groups.io and say who you are.

Facebook users: “Like” “Richard Prince’s Journal-isms” on Facebook.

Follow Richard Prince on Twitter @princeeditor

Richard Prince’s Journal-isms originates from Washington. It began in print before most of us knew what the internet was, and it would like to be referred to as a “column.” Any views expressed in the column are those of the person or organization quoted and not those of any other entity. Send tips, comments and concerns to Richard Prince at journal-isms+owner@groups.io

About Richard Prince

View previous columns (after Feb. 13, 2016).

View previous columns (before Feb. 13, 2016)

Exit mobile version