Hey Everybody,
I received this note from a long-time listener who also works at a TV station in Baltimore, Maryland.
I appreciate his dedication to my show and what I'm trying to do, especially since he works in the radio/TV business. He could listen to anybody but he chooses to listen to AND support me.
BTW, the Kathy and Alfred, Dave speaks of is Kathy and Alfred Liggins, mother and son, owners of the Radio One network of mostly urban radio stations and TV One on cable.
Dave, thanks for the email and the encouragement. It's been awhile since anybody has had my back. Now go play the Lotto, please.
Here's Dave's email:
Sunny:
It's always good to read or hear your opinions. You are my W.E.B.
DuBois, Gertrude Gibson, Walter Winchell and Mike Royko of
cyberspace. There have be times that I would steal your ideas for the
morning assignment meeting (oh yea, thanx). I want you to continue, but
you gotta eat too! . . .
I don't have to tell you the role politics plays in our
profession. You would think outlets like Radio One would open up their
arms to programing of this nature. And I can speak because the first
station purchased by Kathy and Alfred outside of Washington was WWIN in
Baltimore where I hosted the morning show with Tracina Gray, now with
WHUR. Would you believe that station hasn't had a person of color in a
decision making position (other than programing and promotions) since
it's purchase under R.O's ownership!
I say this to say there is
still hope in getting a regular slot on the broadcast airwaves, but
you'll have to try sources that are out of the beltway. For example
Michael Eric Dyson started his national public radio show out of Morgan
State University station WEAA FM.
Small steps right now, but the potential to grow in time.
I know, "Time is a M----- F----- when the money is not coming in!"
Please don't give up.....
Your voice is needed.
If I hit the Mega Millions tonight I'll have your back.
Until then you have my eyes and ears...
Thanks
Dave
Mon, 27 April 2009  Category: general -- posted at: 5:23 PM Comments[0] |
Thu, 23 April 2009 It would appear that I'm on a roll today. Anyway . . . I've almost given up watching TV when the networks want me to watch. I'm a Hulu kinda girl. When the day comes, and it will be soon, that I give up my cable service, you'll hear about it right here. But tonight I thought I'd give NBC Nightly News a go, for sentimental reasons of course. Well, what do you get when you cross a media conglomerate's entertainment division with its news division? You get NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams anchoring a newscast that slams a story about Jay Leno's absence from his nightly perch, on the same network, between a rather interesting story about an underwater national park and the passing of a World War II veteran. What Shameless Self Promotion. SSP, the acronym of choice of the greedy, self-obsessed or perhaps of a floundering, once great media organization trying to make its way across the ever-changing media delivery landscape--and not having a good go of it. Enough said. til next time, Sunny Category: Sunny's Almost Daily Commentary -- posted at: 10:21 PM Comments[0] |
Thu, 23 April 2009  I don't usually comment on goofy, people being people stories. You know those stories about people or events that we all suck up and consume like life's blood for the short term and then after the passage of some time, we ask "whatever happen to . . . ?" The "octomom" comes immediately to mind. But being a mother with a very vivid memory of a scene much like recent story of the mother from New York who booted her warring kids from the car provoked me to share this. And in case you've been under a rock for the last two days, I've included the article from the New York Daily News: Man, have I ever been there! The acid-tongued 15 year old in the front seat. The blossoming smart assy 12 year old in the back seat. Barbs and taunts are traded. I wondered where the ability to trade such venom came from--after all, I'm a very Zen kinda girl. The barbs and zingers turn into a thrown pencil and then a reach around into the back seat to throw a punch. All the while of course, I'm trying to keep the aliens posing as my two, used to be, adorable children from what seems to me to be "Ali vs. Frazier X." Then, what the hell was that? Did one of the alien children throw one hellava punch? Oh nooooo. Because even the alien children stopped their on-the-way-to-school-madness and looked to see what interrupted their morning brawl. Oh, didn't I mention that I had foolishly taken eyes and one hand off the steering wheel for one fraction of a nanosecond also foolishly thinking that the power contained in one humble mother's one hand and arm could bring a halt to the waring tribal factions? BUMP went my bumper onto the bumper of the car in front of me. Well, while I wasn't looking and had one hand remaining on the steering wheel, I also had the good sense to remove my foot from the gas peddle. Oh did I mention that it was the height of rush hour traffic? And did I mention that while I was standing in the middle of the street absorbing the glare of, what seemed to be thousands of passing angry motorist who all seemed to be mouthing the same words that I had just heard in the car, the aliens where in the car fighting? Fortunately, for me, the one person in rush hour traffic that day who had a heart, had just had his bumper nicked by yours truly. We both surveyed the scene and agreed no harm, no foul. After taking pictures of both cars--just in case--we went on our way. I dropped the alien children off to what is probably an extension learning center of Area 51, yes, right here in the nation's capital! What better place to have an extension center? How do you think Capital Hill is populated? I gladly, happily, gleefully, did I mention thankfully, waved the other powerless appendage out the window signaling goodbye, hoping that the alien children understood my primitive hand gesture. With a quickness, I made my way to and settled in at the nearest Starbucks for a vente quadruple, caramel macchiato, not my usual drink and I didn't give a damn about the calories. Right there in the Starbucks temple, I offered a prayer that the kind-hearted guy that I bumped in traffic was really ok and that that this time in my childrens lives would pass quickly . . . It hasn't. By the way, having a ivy league education does not prevent the alien children from invading your home. till next time, Sunny
Category: Sunny's Almost Daily Commentary -- posted at: 8:25 PM Comments[0] |
Sat, 18 April 2009 Welcome to The Sunny James Show (00:50) -- Bon jour a tous. To my Guy Canadian kin. Thanks for helping to add a few more branches to my family tree. -- Laid off and not feeling quite like myself, but still holdin' on -- What do Jimmy Choos and Starbucks coffee have in common? I can't afford either one. I'll have a $5 triple, grande, non-fat caramel macchiato,extra hot, extra caramel with those $300, 3-inch-open-toe-pumps, please! -- If so many great people at great media organizations are listening to The Sunny James Show, Why the Hell Ain't I on the Radio Yet? My grammar perhaps? -- One more time for good measure--The media landscape is changing, you'll have to (should be already) program your own life -- Who is that flipping between For the Love of RayJ and Rachel Maddow? (24:00) -- Check out how The Daily Mail covered, in graphic detail, President Obama's Cadillac One, Air Force One and Marine One. God, I Love the Foreign Press -- We don't need no stinkin' Tea Party. We need a friggin' pork bar-b-que or at least a bag of pork rinds. Read the Annual "Pig Book" to see $19.6 billion reasons why. More from the pig barrel. This issue and tea party protestors just irk me to no end. This article from the 4/21/09 Washington Post highlights the king of pork, Rep. John Murth (D-Pa), spending habits for his consitituents. Like I said during the show, Barak Obama is a politician. And politicians say and do whatever they have to in order to get what they want. In Europe he was one thing and in Latin America he's something else. As noted by the following excerpt from The Washington Post. Just wanted to prove my point! UPDATE 4/18/09 "PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago, April 18 -- In presenting himself at a summit here as an equal partner to Latin America, President Obama is drawing on his race as evidence of U.S. social progress and of his own affinity for the region's poor. Race occupies a far larger and more troubled place in Latin American politics than it does in Europe, where Obama rarely mentioned his ethnic background this month during his first overseas trip as president. He is doing so more often here at the Summit of the Americas, in part to push an agenda that, among other issues, seeks to address the region's income disparity between rich and poor, the widest in the world. In talking about his race and the backgrounds of his counterparts, Obama is associating himself more closely than his predecessors did with Latin America's indigenous, black and mixed-race underclass, which has long identified the United States with economic policies that benefit the elite of European descent far more than them." -- 10 ways the economy will look different. And you just might like it.-- Oakland, Dying for Respect. Also check out Bryant Gumble's Real Sports program featuring a segment on the murders of Black athletes in and around Hampton Roads, Virgina -- After 500,000 Black men go to jail for selling crack, the justice system says there may have been some bias in doling out sentences --Ya Think? -- Is Jodi Picoult Just for White Girls? Is Zane Just for Black Lovers? -- Is Colonel Sanders Spinning in his Special Recipe? -- Mike Tyson with his guard down -- The bible says that a child will lead, I pray that in Liberia, a woman will. Ellen Sirleaf Johnson's Autobiography "This Child Will Be Great: Memoir of a Remarkable Life" -- The Television Networks Just Ain't What They Used to Be (again, I say, learn to program your own damn life!) (1:12:00) -- For the Musically Stuck in a Rut . . . Years ago I could listen to Al Jarreau all the time. Then the road got bumpy and I had to mend a broken heart--sorry that's Al Green--and music took a backseat to my tale of woe. But I've recently revisited my love for Al Jarreau and rediscovered his ability to smooth out the rough moments in my life. Al Jarreau new, old or in between and in keeping with the positive believing and faith sprinkled throughout this show, you should give Al Jarreau's "Could You Believe" a listen with fresh ears. (1:14:20) -- Sunny's Good Word - specious \ˈspē-shəs\ (1:15:28) -- Where In the World is . . . Shelburne, Nova Scotia? And one more time for good measure, Washington DC, the taxation without representation capital of the United States The Leftovers (Still Good the Next Day) Stuff I Just Couldn't Get to Or I'd Still Be Talking -- If you haven't given up your cable service yet please turn into "Trouble the Water" on HBO on Thursday April 23 @ 8:30. Those in the 9th Ward are still living with Katrina every day. -- Another step closer to this long overdue project. The Smithsonian announced that Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup is the architectural team chosen to design the National Museum of African American History and Culture to be located on the National Mall near the Washington Monument. The selection was made by a jury chaired by Museum Director Lonnie G. Bunch III. They will now be asked to respond to an official Request for Proposal to design the new building, scheduled to open on the National Mall in 2015. Comments[0] |
