The Industry Dot Biz: Whitney at the premiere for her new CD “I Look toYou” last night in New York at the The Allen Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center
V103/Atlanta’s Local Talent Frank and Wanda Topple Tom Joyner , Steve Harvey and Rickey Smiley
(pictured: seated Wand a Smith and Frank Ski, stand ing morning show producer Nina Brown)
Without question, Atlanta is a huge urban radio market and since the city has been given the unofficial title of the new music industry by The Industry Dot Biz , V103 itself has grown tremendously in national appeal (OK, we may have had a little help from the residents). I was telling a programmer earlier this week in another market, our LOWEST numbers and responses are from posts about urban radio stations and radio corporations. Whenever I print ANYTHING about V103, it’s like I did a post on Beyonce or some other big star. V gets very high responses from readers WORLDWIDE. Another thing that helps V103 is that many of the top urban bloggers reside in the Atlanta area. sand rarose.com, necolebitchie.com and even sohh.com has a presence there along with rising star blog gyantunplugged.com. Frank and Wand a’s morning show has been a staple in the market for many years and I often compliment the station for remaining true to its community oriented programming… As you all very well know, I am an urban-local-morning-show-ist or as I like to call it, I am an ULMS (laugh).
Here are the numbers for 18-34 in the most recent June PPM. I must admit, for Rickey to be so new in the market I’m impressed with his position. Rickey Smiley is the ONLY syndicated show I believe in, I once even booked quests for the show free of charge, I will NEVER do that again. At any rate, I need to do some more research to see where the show was before he came to the market. Tom is not doing so bad with the older demos…. (let me stop there, I have a whole slew of jokes). Congrats to Frank and Wand a and Miss Sophia (you guys need to take a press shot with the whole crew).
#1 Frank & Wand a V103 16.6
#2 Bert Show Q100. 9.6
#3 Ricky Smiley Hot 107. 7.0
25-54 Year Olds
#1 Frank & Wand a. 12.5
#2 News Talk WSB. 10.9
#3 Tom Joyner WALR. 8.8
#4 Bert Show Q100. 7.2
Power 99 in Philly Seeks Replacement for Big Boy’s Neighborhood, Enlisting Listeners to help?
The Industry Dot Biz: The station is asking listeners to assist in picking the next Morning Show Host with a contest called Making the Morning Show which starts August 3rd. The will be auditioning current station talent and other talent nationwide. Perhaps Power has a plan that I don’t know about but while the pickins are certainly slim for a young, innovative, black host (there have literally been VERY FEW new hosts in the last decade for mornings on urban radio) there are some very interesting prospects in the game, nevertheless already. I would take into account Charlamagne’s strong presence and if not match it, at least contradict it to compliment my station more.
My suggestion? Headcrack immediately comes to mind as a great new morning talent, from the Rickey Smiley morning show. He’s funny, he has a great presence and he can indeed host his own show, at any rate, I can also understand the need to create the promotion to draw attention to the staion below is the press release…
Power 99 FM will look for its next great Morning Show with the help of its listeners. “Making the Morning Show” starts August 3, 2009 when Power 99 FM will hold auditions and listeners will have the chance to vote for their favorite Power 99 fm Morning Show wannabes. Morning Show Potentials include Power 99 FM’s Shamara, Golden Girl, the Hot Boyz along with radio personalities from other markets who’ll each have a chance to take over the airwaves in a live on air audition one day each – the Week of August 3, 2009. Listeners will then go to www.power99fm.com to cast their vote.
Power 99 fm is recognized nationally for its commitment to community service. Power 99 fm was the first station in the nation to receive the National Association of Broadcasters Crystal Heritage Award – the NAB’s highest honor for service to the community.
WJLB’s local Mornings #1, Beats Rickey Smiley in Detroit
The Industry Dot Biz: As you know, I have to give credit to local morning shows at urban radio. I was looking at WJLB’s numbers yesterday for June, 18-34, 6-10a and their leap from from 11.1 in May to to 13.4 in June planting them at Number 1 in the market for the 3rd straight month. KJ Holiday and staff are killing it and with a local show. The show is giving a brutal beating to WHTD’s syndicated morning show The Rickey Smiley Show, which is probably the only syndicated show that I am a fan of, which has now been in the market for almost a year replacing Russ Parr. Rickey’s show has a 2.0 for June and while that is well below WJLB’s Coco, Foolish and Mr. Chase’s morning show, he did make some progress from a 1.6 in May taking the show from #22 to #16.
NOW THAT’S INNOVATION: Urban sports-talk radio to begin next week in St. Louis
“Urban-sports talk” makes its debut locally “” and maybe nationally “” on Wednesday, when WFXX replaces syndicated programming with local talk shows that have African-American hosts and changes the call letters at 1490 AM back to WESL. The station is owned by Simmons Media, which also runs sports-talk station KSLG (1380 AM). Longtime St. Louis radio host Richard “Onion” Horton, who is well known for discussing racial issues, leads things off.
“Mornings are going to really focus on politics, everyday life more than sports, then we’ll focus more on sports as the day goes on,” 1490 general manager John Helmkamp said. “We use sports as a jumping-off point to talk about life.” The station will drop Fox Sports Radio programming, including shows hosted by Dan Patrick and Jim Rome.
“There was no demand at all from a listenership stand point and a revenue stand point. Were already doing about eight times (revenue-wise) with the new format than we were doing with Fox. Local is what drives things. Having Patrick and Rome never got us on the radar.” (how many times have I said this in The Industry Dot Biz . I LOVE it.)
The lineup:
6-9 a.m. : Richard “Onion” Horton
9-11 a.m. : Rob Desir, Robert “Moses” Knighten
11 a.m.-2 p.m. : Charlie “Tuna” Edwards
2-4 p.m. : Craig Black
4-6 p.m. : Maurice Scott (with Jackie Joyner Kersee and Deneen Busby on Wednesdays.)
Ne-Yo has Some Kind of Breakdown on Stage (vid)
The Industry Dot Biz: The singer could not stop crying and stopped the show. Word is the crowd’s cheers turned to boos.
OH NO: 30% of Blacks in 40 States are OBESE, Another Opportunity for Urban Radio?
The Industry Dot Biz: When I lived in Atlanta, after living in LA for 14 years I could not believe how fat some of the black people there were. I’m not talking obese I’m talking WHOA-BEASE. I saw young black girls 21 years of age at 450 pounds or more in the grocery stores in those wheelchair carts with cake, cookies, chicken wings and lard in the cart. It’s as if the people there were going to keep eating to the point of explosion. The obese problem in the black community is OUTRAGEOUS and it’s a GREAT opportunity for Black radio to step in and get their sales departments to create campaigns with local sponsors. With all due respect to Tom Joyner and Dr. Ian Smith, they are not poster children for men in great shape. They are not convincing. You need someone who has gone from wooly mammoth to model physique for the cover of Men’s Fitness or Women’s Fitness.
Blacks were 51 percent more likely and Hispanics were 21 percent more likely to be obese than whites, a disparity that may be linked to cultural attitudes, income and education levels, a U.S. government study found. Thirty percent or more of blacks in 40 states met stand ards for obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In Alabama, Maine, Mississippi, Ohio and Oregon, 40 percent or more of blacks were obese.
The prevalence of obesity, a major cause of diabetes, stroke and heart attacks has more than doubled in the past 30 years in the U.S. Certain ethnic groups have been disproportionately affected, said David Katz, the founder of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Connecticut. Members of those groups are less likely to live in neighborhoods with fresh produce and streets that are conducive to walking, he said.
“As public health people focused on obesity, we have to ask ourselves, do we look at the disparities in obesity as the icing on the cake, and try to get at the cake?” said Katz, who wasn’t an author on the CDC report, in a telephone interview today. “The differences in education, income, empowerment, resources and community need to be fixed, and it’s not going to happen fast.”
Involving Churches
Katz said he is working on a diabetes-prevention program that includes obesity prevention with African-American churches in the New Haven area. Pastors talk to parishioners about research on the health risks of obesity and offer weight-loss advice, Katz said. Any solution to the obesity problem is likely to be complex, he said.
“The disparities here are easy to explain,” Katz said. “They’re associated with poverty, less education, areas where you can’t find fresh fruits and vegetables, and some cultural differences.”
In these communities, some studies suggest people are satisfied with having a higher body mass. Changing cultural attitudes is important, if difficult, Katz said.
The data was collected using phone surveys from 2006 to 2008. Over the three-year period, 25.6 percent of whites, blacks and Hispanics were obese. The obesity prevalence in this study was likely underestimated because people tend to report being taller and skinner than they actually are, the authors wrote.
Overall, 36 percent of blacks were obese, 29 percent of Hispanics were obese, and 24 percent of whites were obese. Anyone with a body mass index, an estimate of body fat calculated using a person’s height and weight, of 30 or more is considered obese.
[source]
R Kelly’s New Single “Number One” (audio)
The Industry Dot Biz: Here’s R Kelly’s new single featuring Keri Hilson “Number One” Hit play button to hear.
Katt Williams HAS NOT filed for Bankruptcy.
The Industry Dot Biz: We got a letter from Katt Williams’ attorney in Los Angeles today stating that the comic has NOT filed for bankruptcy. As our sources are generally pretty good we made an error in judgment on this occasion. As we originally listed in the story our source was the Humor Mill Magazine.
We regret any harm this may have caused to Katt William’s interesting reputation.
Family Feud Erupts Over tWitch Boss’s Legacy as Widow Allison Holker Faces Backlash
Family Feud Erupts Over tWitch Boss’s Legacy as Widow Allison Holker Faces Backlash
The recent media blitz by Allison Holker, widow of the late Stephen “tWitch” Boss, has ignited a public feud with his family and friends. Holker’s promotion of her upcoming memoir includes claims about tWitch’s alleged drug use, which has drawn sharp criticism from those close to him.
In a recent interview with People, Holker revealed that she discovered a stash of drugs in tWitch’s shoeboxes shortly before his funeral and mentioned that she has been reviewing his private journals to include in her memoir. This disclosure has led to an outpouring of backlash on social media, with Courtney Ann Platt, a friend of the couple, calling Holker’s actions “tacky” and “opportunistic.”
Twitch’s family has publicly disputed Holker’s claims, with his brother asserting that tWitch was not an addict and accusing Holker of being the one involved with illegal substances. A cousin of tWitch described Holker as a “crazy woman” attempting to tarnish his legacy and claimed she is preventing the family from seeing tWitch’s children.
The situation escalated with comments from Candiace Dillard Bassett, a star from Real Housewives of Potomac, who criticized Holker for not protecting her Black children and husband’s legacy, suggesting that such personal matters should have remained private.
As the feud continues to unfold online, Holker has yet to respond directly to the accusations, instead choosing to share supportive comments from fans who label the attacks as “wild.”
NeNe Leakes from Real Housewives of Atlanta on Wendy Williams Show (vid)
The Industry Dot Biz:
For Hip Hop News & Entertainment at DimeWars.Com
MAXWELL Achieves Second Consecutive #1 Album Debut, Tour Date Info
The Industry Dot Biz: Modern R&B and soul master Maxwell is entering the Billboard Top 200 at #1 this week with his long-awaited fourth studio album, BLACKsummers’night, one of the year’s most heavily-anticipated event records.
With first week’s sales of 316,499, according to SoundScan, BLACKsummers’night is enjoying the highest debut sales week, and best overall sales week of Maxwell’s career. BLACKsummers’night is #1 on the SoundScan Album Retailer chart and is #1 on the Current R&B chart. Released on Tuesday, July 7, on CD and in a Limited Edition Deluxe CD/DVD set, BLACKsummers’night is the first full-length Maxwell release since Now, his critically-acclaimed third studio album, also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in August 2001.
Maxwell recently returned to the top of the nation’s singles charts when “Pretty Wings,” the first single from BLACKsummers’night, rocketed to the #1 slot on America’s Urban Adult radio stations less than eight weeks after its release after completing an earlier run as the nation’s #1 Greatest Gainer/Most-Added song at the Urban Mainstream format. “Pretty Wings” has spent four weeks in the #1 slot of Billboard’s Hot Singles Sales chart, where it’s closely followed by “Cold,” another single from BLACKsummers’night. Each a chart-topper on iTunes, BLACKsummers’night reached #1 on the iTunes R&B Albums chart while “Pretty Wings” hit #1 on the iTunes R&B Singles chart.
“Bad Habits,” the lead track and second single from BLACKsummers’night, is the nation’s #1 Most Added song at Urban Adult radio according to Mediabase, the music industry’s first mass-airplay monitoring service. BLACKsummers’night is the sensuous opening installment of the artist’s monumental BLACKSUMMERS’NIGHT trilogy. (The trilogy’s subsequent chapters, blackSUMMERS’night and blacksummers’NIGHT, are slated for release in 2010 and 2011 respectively.)
BLACKsummers’night reunites Maxwell with long-time collaborator Hod David, who serves as co-producer and co-writer of the album. Striving for an emotional authenticity and real world sound for the album, Maxwell and Hod recorded the entire album live in the studio with an a-list ensemble of elegantly sympathetic musicians.
Maxwell – BLACKsummers’night North American Tour – Summer 2009
Wed-Jul-15 Columbus, OH Palace Theatre
Thu-Jul-16 Cleveland , OH Allen Theatre
Sat-Jul-18 Pittsburgh, PA Heinz
Sun-Jul-19 Buffalo, NY Sheas PAC
Tue-Jul-21 Albany, NY The Palace
Wed-Jul-22 New Jersey NJPAC
Fri-Jul-24 Atlantic City, NJ Borgata
Sat-Jul-25 Foxwoods Foxwoods
Mon-Jul-27 Norfolk, VA Chrysler Hall
Tue-Jul-28 Savannah, GA Johnny Mercer
Thu-Jul-30 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
Fri-Jul-31 Miami, FL Waterfront Theatre at the American Airlines Arena
Additional tour dates & information TBA
Tragedy Strikes Baltimore County: Deadly Shooting (Video)
Tragic Incident Shocks Baltimore County Community
In a harrowing event that has left the Parkville Towson area of Baltimore County reeling, a mass shooting incident resulted in the death of one individual and injuries to nine others. The incident, described by authorities as a “rolling shooting,” occurred on the evening of December 18, 2024, near the 8500 block of Loch Raven Boulevard, a typically quiet and family-friendly area.
Scene of the Incident
The shooting took place in the vicinity of the Old Bell Lock Diner, now known as Total Wine, and the Johnson Funeral Home. According to County Executive John Yoshiuki, this type of violent occurrence is unprecedented in the Parkville Towson community, heightening the sense of shock and disbelief among residents. The area is known for its active community life, with establishments like Total Wine and the funeral home serving as local landmarks.
Emergency responders arrived at the scene shortly after receiving a call around 7:12 PM. By approximately 8:30 PM, police and fire departments had secured the area. The focal point of the incident was a vehicle found on its side and engulfed in flames. Firefighters swiftly extinguished the blaze, revealing the gravity of the situation involving multiple casualties.
Casualties and Immediate Aftermath
The tragic event resulted in one fatality and nine individuals sustaining injuries. The deceased was identified at the scene, while the nine injured victims were promptly transported to various trauma centers across the region for medical attention. Authorities have not released further details regarding the identities or the conditions of the injured at this time.
The vehicle involved in the shooting was severely damaged, having been flipped over during the incident. This vehicle became a critical piece of evidence as investigators began piecing together the sequence of events that led to the mass shooting.
Official Statements and Investigation
During a press conference, County Executive Johnny Olszewski emphasized the profound impact such incidents have on the community. He assured residents that Baltimore County Government is fully committed to supporting both the fire and police departments with all necessary resources to bring the investigation to a swift conclusion. Olszewski expressed his condolences to those affected by the violence and underscored the county’s dedication to maintaining public safety.
Police Chief provided further insights into the nature of the shooting, describing it as a “targeted” attack. While the exact motives remain unclear, the chief indicated that, at this stage, there is no ongoing threat to the public. The investigation revealed that multiple bullets struck the Johnson Funeral Home, though the exact number remains undetermined as evidence collection continues.
Authorities have characterized the incident as a “rolling shooting,” involving gunfire from moving vehicles. Witnesses reported hearing at least sixteen shots fired during the ordeal, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion in the normally peaceful neighborhood.
Community Reaction and Impact
The shooting has left many in the Parkville Towson area deeply shaken. Residents who are unaccustomed to such levels of violence in their community are grappling with the aftermath of the incident. A neighbor recounted hearing several gunshots and expressed profound shock at the sudden eruption of violence in their area. The proximity of the shooting to local establishments like McDonald’s and other businesses has heightened concerns about the safety and security of the community.
The area around Loch Raven Boulevard, especially near Total Wine and the funeral home, is typically bustling with activity, making the shooting even more jarring for those who frequent these establishments. The presence of flashing lights from emergency vehicles and the overturned car has transformed what is usually a vibrant community hub into a scene of tragedy and chaos.
Ongoing Efforts and Public Assistance
As the investigation continues into the early hours, law enforcement officials are urging anyone with information to come forward. Authorities are seeking assistance from the public in the form of eyewitness accounts, surveillance footage from nearby cameras, and any other relevant information that could aid in identifying the perpetrators and understanding the motives behind the shooting.
The Baltimore County Police Department has reiterated the importance of public cooperation in solving this case, emphasizing that even the smallest piece of information could be crucial in bringing those responsible to justice. Community members are encouraged to report any sightings or unusual activities that may be related to the incident.
Looking Ahead
As daylight approaches, investigators will reassess the scene to gather additional evidence and gain a clearer understanding of the events that transpired. The involvement of the crime lab will be pivotal in analyzing ballistic evidence and other forensic data to piece together the sequence of actions that led to the tragic shooting.
The Parkville Towson community remains on edge, grappling with the impact of the shooting and the lingering questions surrounding the motives and identities of those involved. County officials and law enforcement agencies are committed to restoring a sense of safety and normalcy, assuring residents that every possible measure is being taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
In the wake of this tragic event, the community’s resilience and solidarity will be crucial in healing and moving forward. Support systems are being mobilized to assist those affected, and ongoing efforts aim to address the underlying issues that may have contributed to this outbreak of violence.
Conclusion
The mass shooting in Parkville Towson stands as a stark reminder of the ever-present challenges communities face in ensuring public safety. As authorities continue their investigation, the support and vigilance of the community will play a vital role in overcoming the trauma inflicted by this incident and fostering a safer environment for all residents.