The Industry Dot Biz:
Sorry that I am late on this one. I’m so used to Radio One and Clear Channel keeping all the urban radio news from us that it’s easy to miss things like this.
First let me say, it is AMAZING how people change when they have children. Perhaps we don’t pay attention to this kind of thing when we don’t. Singer Tyrese claims he was WRONGLY kicked out of a radio station in Delaware yesterday — and it’s all because he TOOK A STAND against liquor stores that operate close to elementary schools. He failed to realize the stores are put there for parents who need a drink after dealing with their bad ass kids all morning and FINALLY dropping them off to school. Who wouldn’t need a six-pack or some Mad Dog 20 20 to drink on their way to work after that?
Urban outlet WJKS KISS 101.7 in Delaware (Tyrese questions if the station has any listeners, see below) removed the singer from the premises after he made a passionate statement about liquor stores on the air (an advertiser maybe? Oops!). I am on my way to my maniac workout but I did try to call Owner/GM/PD/MD/Radio DJ/Mayor/Assemblyman/Deputy/Cororner and Town Crier… Tony Q, he was on the phone and they put me through to voicemail… VOICEMAIL.. do they know who I am? (lol). Well at LEAST Tyrese is trying to stand for something, all jokes aside. Tony did email me JUST before I headed out and this letter is very interesting. Q does make some valid points here. Grab a coffee, donuts (or a 40) and read on…
Tyrese I have heard enough of your lies. I am the Owner & General Manager of the station that “kicked” you off the air. Now you know full well what the reason was. In case you forgot I will remind you.
When you came into the station I was informed by my staff that you were not in a good mood. You went on the air and said that you wanted to stop and get a Pepsi and a candy bar. I am surprised that you couldn’t tell the difference between a convenience store and a liquor store. You proceeded to lecture to the audience that they had to do something about this, that liquor stores should not be near schools. This I do not disagree with but in case you didn’t know, liquor stores as well as schools are controlled by the state. This is the part that upset me. It was the way you spoke on the air. You stereotyped your own culture by calling them “hommies” ect, almost blaming Delawareans for allowing liquor stores to be there. The DJ on the air said to you that this is not the only state that has this problem, your reply was I don’t care I am here now in Delaware.
As far as I know there are no liquor stores located across the street from a school. I have it all on tape if you need to be refreshed. What got me very upset was that this was a way for you to promote your event at the University of Delaware. You were having a book signing and you were also going to perform. You know Mr.Tyrese being a black radio station, it’s hard enough getting people to advertise on this format and yet when a performer comes to a radio station as a guest and then uses the airwaves for personal gain is wrong. Why didn’t the college, your record company or your management work out some type of promotion to invite the people you were lecturing on the air to attend your event. What you did was made your on air time an info commercial. I do not expect that from a Black performer to use us. Imagine how I felt to find out that Tyrese was going to be performing in our backyard and we didn’t even know about it, nor did our listeners. Maybe you found out that day, that it wasn’t promoted and you decided to use us rather then support the station that supported you. That’s right we were the 1st station in the north east to support your new song.
Also, you have the order of what happened on the air wrong. You came on lecturing to our listeners; you then asked the DJ if we had any listeners. What kind of question was that, asking if we had any listeners? Then you went right into promoting your big night at the University of Delaware. You received the full air time you deserved. We did not cut off your “mike”, we did not let the audience know that the interview was over, but you did. You couldn’t wait to “tweet” your words everywhere and let people believe that you were kicked off because you were talking about a liquor store, this was not the reason. You got away with taking advantage of the only remaining independent station in the North East.
It’s situations like this that are killing the Black Division of Record Companies. Do you think for one second if a Pop group was appearing somewhere and that Pop station didn’t know about it, what would have happened. That’s right; the record of that group would have been pulled. In this case how you acted with your lies, you got your own record pulled from the station. You came to the radio station hot and you left hot. Oh by the way I understand that you made a big deal at the Double Tree Hotel behind the station, something about a room, your mouth got in the way again and they threw you out of there too! You need to check yourself. It could be you.
Now you have taken enough of my energy, I wish you well on getting your records played on the major station chains.
Tony Q
Owner and General Manager
WJKS-FM &FAI-AM
it.s about time that someone spoke, I bet you that the store was owned by some one other than black people which means the money sp0ent by black people in the stopr leaves the community as soon as it’s spent, check out the radio stations owner ‘s last name
Joe Lewis do you think for one moment that I would object to someone speaking against a Liquor Store being near a school. Trust me thats not the case. Infact we do not get any Liquor Business at all. Now take sometime to read the letter that I wrote to the record company above and also on my website. Maybe then you would understand, Yes my last name is Quartarone….that’s italian and I am proud to have been given the opportunity to serve my listeners for the past 30 years. 24 of that has been in ownership. Tyrese is a liar and I would tell that in court if he continues to slander me and my station,
Tyrese has changed. I agree with him about liquor stores, but I dislike all liquor stores…and I’m curious as to why the event was not promoted, unless it was primarily for the students… But, Tyrese also dissed sisters when shooting his last video. He went Wesley Snipes on us. People should never forget who got them where they are.