Partyin with a Purpose

This chapter summarizes African American commentary on respectability politics and lays out the details of the TJMS’s refusal to engage in it, most particularly in its resolutely pro-working-class orientation and philanthropy. It provides abundant crew and audience contributions that illustrate this refusal and orientation, with specific attention to labor—how the show brings a particularly black-identified “grown&sexy” aesthetic joi de vivre—the assertion of the superiority of responsible age over careless youth, of finesse over flamboyance—to often-denigrated, stressful workplaces and their workers, including police and military personnel. In so doing, the chapter documents the class, race, occupational, and geographic range of the TJMS audience. It lays out how the show handles celebrity politics, the range of ways in which crew and audience play with language, at times ridiculing ungrammatical audience members, and enjoy teasing people for being “country” or “old-school.” But it also positively documents working-class black boomer nostalgia, and justified annoyance with “these kids” and their ignorance of “real” soul music. Finally, it thoroughly considers TJMS’s “whiteness studies”—their complex takes on black/white differences, white racism, and anti-racist whites. It also lays out TJMS’s globally anti-racist “we are the world” vision—including Muslims—and a model of black adult political and social responsibility which may or may not be associated with Christianity.

Here’s to All My Baby Mamas

Chapter 3 defines and historicizes the racist, sexist, homophobic, and counter-empirical “family values” ideology and movement. It lays out the Tom Joyner Morning Show’s very progressive feminist/pro-LBGTQ dissent from dominant family values ideology through not only the contributions of female crew members like Myra J, Sybil Wilkes, and Ms. Dupre, but also the distinctly feminist—and hilarious—contributions of the male crew members and guests. It provides contemporary empirical and historical evidence to counter to the stigmatization of single mother families. This argument then bridges to the class- and age-based “respectability politics” phenomenon discussed in chapter 4.

Not “Radio Nowhere”

Chapter 6 lays out the TJMS’s history of dealing extensively and as an activist counterpubic node with the racism baked into the U.S. criminal justice system, including the differential treatment of whites versus all people of color—as in media neglect of the cases of missing black girls and women. It also lays out TJMS’s militant gun-control stance and opposition to the NRA. It documents their reactions to black offenders, and to innocent African Americans released from prison because of DNA evidence. It lays out TJMS coverage of and activism for victims of police violence/racist criminal justice Sean Bell, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Melissa Alexander, and Michael Brown.

Activism, Disasters, Elections

This chapter narrates in detail both TJMS philanthropy for and activism with African Americans—from HBCU scholarships, to working for black 9/11 survivors, to engaging in extensive and long-lasting charity for Hurricane Katrina victims—and their serious electoral activism over the decades. It details as well TJMS environmental reporting and their early civic activism with regard to economic boycotts. It provides a full accounting of TJMS coverage of and involvement in the 2000 and 2004, and especially their near-hysterical involvement in the 2008 and 2012, presidential elections, and their responses to the Obama presidency, as well as their political reporting and activism, especially on Republican voter suppression tactics, during each term.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Chapter 2 uses autobiographical material to lay out radio/black radio and African American music history, from the 1950s to the present—across the West and East Coasts, the South, and the Midwest—particularly the 1980s generational split in black radio programming, in response to the rise of rap and hip-hop. The chapter also defines and lays out the related R&B-style Quiet Storm radio phenomenon. Tom Joyner’s career and the TJMS’s rise within that history are documented, and its evolving politics and crew members are described. The chapter summarizes the scant public-sphere attention this black radio giant has received.

“Electronic Sheets” and a New Progressive Counterpublic

This chapter lays out the shifting American political/racial mediascape and the TJMS’s place within it. The chapter further outlines the fissioned public sphere—majority outlets are at least minimally anti-racist/women’s rights/anti-xenophobic, but there is a consolidation of vilely racist/misogynist/xenophobic outlets across American media. It documents Tom Joyner’s announcement that the show will end in Autumn 2019, and the avalanche of horrified and hilarious crew and audience reactions. It also specifies the evolving political economy of music radio and the rise of music streaming services spelling its demise. Finally, the chapter speculates on the future of a synergistic cross-medium progressive public sphere.

The Trumpocalypse and Its Afterlife

This chapter details the TJMS reporting and activism during the 2016 presidential election, including interviews with Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Barack and Michelle Obama, and crew and audience horrified and enraged reactions to Trump’s election. It lays out their participation in and cheerleading for the Resistance, their fury over the neofascist Charleston protests and the Trump Administration’s failures to aid Americans after Hurricanes Harvey/Maria/Irma, their ongoing and hilariously denigrating anti-Trump reportage, their glee over Fox News commentators’ downfalls over sexual harassment allegations. This chapter also documents their deep involvement in the 2017 and 2018 Democratic triumphs in Virginia and Alabama, their involvement in Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court appointment, the triumphant 2018 midterm elections and protesting ICE’s actions at the border, and their coverage of all of the investigations of Trump&Co, keeping the “woke” flame burning.

Introduction

This chapter introduces The Tom Joyner Morning Show and describes its origin, format, audience, music, progressive politics, wit, growth, and longevity. I lay out my discovery of the show, my increasing fandom, and the unintentionally lengthy research period that ensued. I also lay out the meanings of the public sphere and counterpublics, and identify The Tom Joyner Morning Show as constituting a black working-class counterpublic. I consider the issues of celebrity culture, generational divides, neoliberal shift, and the recession of 2008. I document the show’s neglect in the larger public sphere and speculate on the reasons, including “saints or sinners” framings and high-tech snobbery.