Posted by chicagomedia.org on April 21, 2009 at 10:09:24:
Joyner buys his way back on the air here
Phil Rosenthal | Tribune Media
April 21, 2009
All those fans who rallied around Tom Joyner when his syndicated program was knocked off Chicago airwaves abruptly last month no doubt felt a sense of accomplishment upon learning he had reached an agreement to return to local radio with Crawford Broadcasting's Soul 106.3, beginning Wednesday.
The real work, however, is just beginning -- both for them and for Joyner.
"Not only isn't the signal as strong as we'd like, but the deal we cut with the affiliate is a brokerage deal," Joyner said by phone Monday. "We bought the time, and that's something we're not used to doing. ... But if all this outcry and support is with us when we turn this thing on, we should do all right."
Having leased time on Crawford's WSRB-FM 106.3 and WYRB-FM 106.3, Reach Media, which owns Joyner's Dallas-based morning show, will be out selling Joyner's "party with a purpose" locally.
What Reach will tout is not only the popularity Joyner has established over decades on the air in Chicago but that would-be sponsors will benefit from the same loyalty Joyner's supporters showed in protesting his abrupt ouster from Clear Channel's WVAZ-FM 102.7.
"Anybody who comes on board and advertises with us, our listeners will wrap their arms around them and brand-loyal them to death," said Joyner, who plans to do next Monday's show from Kennedy-King College as well as make some local sales calls.
Clear Channel, which bumped Joyner on March 23 to move Steve Harvey's syndicated program to V103 from WGCI-FM 107.5, has a contractual tie to Joyner that will have to be resolved. The company, which declined to comment Monday, simply may wish to move on.
Such was the backlash to the V103 switch that Harvey, whose show is syndicated by a Clear Channel subsidiary, went out of his way in a Tribune interview to distance himself from the decision.
"I've talked to Steve because he really has been a victim in this," Joyner said. "He's owned by Clear Channel. I'm owned by Reach and therein lies the big difference of control. Now in this situation, I have complete control because we bought the [time]. Steve doesn't have that luxury or that liability, however you want to look at it."
Joyner vowed "to super-serve the African-American community, especially the South Side, where we can be heard loud and strong."
This sort of arrangement might not have been considered years ago, he said, but an upside to the recession is it encourages development of new ways to make money.
"We've always said that to be a strong business, we have to develop new business, but we didn't really mean that because things were comfortable," he said. "Well, now we've got to. We can't sit around and whine about how bad it is and how unfair it is. We have to make a way or get out of the way, and I ain't about to get out of the way."