BOCA RATON, FLA. — Starting Monday, some 7 million listeners will no longer be able to hear the voice of a longtime Urban radio personality who many may view as a living legend.
He first found fame as a “Fly Jock” in an era long before multi-market satellite-delivered live shows and is today one of the most renowned African American hosts to ever sit behind a microphone.
At 10am Eastern on Friday (12/13), the Tom Joyner Morning Show came to its end, with Tom Joyner officially heading into retirement at his beachfront residence in Hollywood — Florida, that is.
The conclusion of the Reach Media-syndicated program has long been in the works. Friday’s final show came with a host of high-profile guests, and high-profile Tweets.
Former Democratic presidential hopeful and California Sen. Kamala Harris called Joyner “a legend” who has played a critical role “in building community and lifting up all voices. He is Black history. It was an honor to be a guest on the Tom Joyner Morning Show but to also call him a friend. Enjoy retirement!”
Another politician, former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, also offered well-wishes to Joyner. “After 25 years, the Fly Jock is undefeated, powerful — and damn funny. Tom Joyner showed millions what was possible, and it was my honor to fight with him to flip Florida in 2018. Thanks for lifting all of us up.”
Also chiming in: Joe Biden, the former Vice President and current 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful. “Tom Joyner is like no other,” said Biden, “and his presence in the community [was] legendary … Tom made millions smile and touched many lives — on and off-air. ‘The Fly Jock’ is an undisputed legend.
Biden, who singled out Joyner for his efforts to raise funds for historically black colleges, retweeted a five-minute feature story on Joyner’s last show that aired nationally Friday on CBS This Morning.
“It’s clear Joyner loves his job, and he loves the listeners who have been supporting him for the last 25 years,” CBS reporter Jericka Duncan noted in her report.
Joyner, who is now 70, is departing with a program that has aired in more than 100 markets. In December 2012, Joyner fully joined the Urban One (then Radio One) family, as his Reach Media — created in January 2003 by Joyner and CEO David Kantor to syndicate his morning program — became 80% owned by the company founded by Cathy Hughes and run today by Alfred Liggins III.
At its onset, the former ABC Radio Networks was a 10% interest holder in Reach Media, extending a relationship with Joyner and Kantor born out of ABC’s syndication of the TJMS.
Thanks to ABC, Joyner became a household name to not only African-Americans, but all who tuned to his good-natured humor, entertainment and Urban Contemporary music of the day.
Dallas is an important market in the career of Joyner. He’d been in the market since 1972, joining then-new KKDA-AM. By 1984, he was at KKDA-FM — and so popular that he had a local program focused on Urban videos airing in Dallas. It took just six months for his show to rise to No. 1; he wasn’t sure his taking the job would result in any success.
In between, Joyner was in Chicago — another market integral to the “Fly Jock” story and his unique career. In fall 1978, Joyner was Program Director of WJPC-AM 950 in Chicago — owned by John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines.
On October 14, 1985, Joyner officially became the “Fly Jock” and the “hardest working man in radio.” As Walt “Baby” Love wrote for Radio & Records in November 1985, “He pulled off the first day of dual-city airshifts with style, wit, energy, and class at the most appropriate times.”
Love was there with Joyner for his entire first day as a dual-market live radio talent. The day began at 3:50am, at Joyner’s Dallas home, where an ABC Good Morning America crew prepared to join Joyner on the daylong journey.
Love wrote, “At 9am Tom got off the air and, like a ‘Texas twister,’ we were all out the door on our way to the airport to make our 9:40 American flight to Chicago. The TV crews from CNN, ABC and two local stations kept Tom busy the entire flight. But when we arrived at O’Hare and stepped into the terminal it became total pandemonium.”
A marching band from Martin Luther King High School was on hand to welcome Joyner.
At 2pm, Joyner was live on WGCI-FM for his four-hour shift.
The daily schedule would continue for eight years; ABC Radio Networks syndication of the TJMS came in 1994.
On this final day of Joyner’s live show, he was at Cox Media Group-owned Urban AC WHQT-FM “Hot 105” in Miami-Fort Lauderdale when CBS This Morning showed up for an interview.
“Our thing has always been to empower people, but to empower, we have to first entertain,” Joyner said. “If I’ve got you laughing, I’ve got you listening.”
TJMS co-host Sybil Wilkes is set to become Executive Director for Black America Web (https://blackamericaweb.com).
In her closing comments Friday, she said, “I am one, very, grateful, girl.”
Turning to Joyner, with her voice breaking, Wilkes added, “I cannot thank you enough for what you have done to me, and for me.” She added that Joyner “saved her life,” and was there on the day her mother died.
The Undefeated, a platform “for exploring the intersections of race, sports and culture,” offered a minute-long video on Twitter highlighting the importance of Joyner “on black radio” and its importance to the civil rights movement before social media.
Then, there is the parade of celebrities wishing Joyner well on his retirement. They include Oprah Winfrey, who said, “The world will not be the same without you.”
To be clear, Joyner’s exit is largely driven by declining income, and affiliate losses.
At one point, Joyner was earning $14 million a year. In his interview with CBS, he was asked if he would be retiring if he hadn’t had his salary sliced multiple times since those big-dollar days. “My salary was based on my results, and not only was I losing affiliates, but the radio industry as a whole was losing traction.”
With more money offered to Joyner, he said with a laugh, “Shoot … my goal was to die on the radio … have my funeral on the radio.”
What’s the next chapter for Joyner, who resides in a beachfront home minutes from the Cox Media Group Miami building off I-95 and Sheridan Street?
Joyner says he’s concentrating his efforts on raising money for the HBCU, to help college students in need of tuition assistance.
All of these efforts will be done after 12 noon, he notes. “I’m not going to bed until after 3 o’clock in the morning,” Joyner told CBS, ending the interview with a hearty laugh emblematic of a beloved radio personality who’s hung up his headphones for the last time.
