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Another View
I first began listening to sports talk radio during my college years back in the 1970s. Ever since, except for very few exceptions, sports radio has been all white.
Well, it’s about time for an all-Black sports talk station. And what better place to roll it out than in one of America’s Blackest cities, Detroit.
Sports Rap Radio is scheduled to launch at 7 a.m. Eastern time on May 16 on WXYT 1270 AM. WXYT is one of six Detroit stations owned by Audacy, which owns more than 200 stations across the nation, including WCCO-AM, 102.9 FM. and 104.1 FM in the Twin Cities.
WXYT (formerly WXYZ) once aired old radio shows like The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. Then it became a Top 40 station and played adult contemporary and middle-of-the-road music before becoming an all-talk station in 1978. It changed its call letters to WXYT in 1984 and later became an all-sports station in 2000.
Now, the legendary Motown radio station will have Black voices all day and all night long. It’s about time.
“No doubt,” Rob Parker told me by phone.
Parker, a former Detroit sports columnist and television commentator, and his three business partners reached an agreement to lease WXYT studios in Southfield, Mich. All four owners are Black and have Detroit ties: former NBA player and local high school star B.J. Armstrong, now an NBA agent; Dave Kenney, an asset manager and former Connecticut football and track athlete; and Maurice “Moe” Ways, a former Michigan and local prep football player who now works at ESPN.
Under the lease agreement, Sports Rap Radio would have its own sales team and sell its own ads.
Parker, who is heard nightly on Fox Sports Radio, a 2023 NABJ Hall of Fame inductee and founder of MLBbro.com, which provides coverage of Black and brown Major League Baseball players by mostly Black writers and podcasters, said that he first came up with an all-Black sports radio idea in the 2000s.
Detroit and nationwide, Blacks and other people of color have been historically underrepresented on sports radio stations. Finally, the vanilla sports talk ceiling that existed for far too long has been broken through.
“When I was in high school, I met Rob Parker in Detroit, and he was on air at a time at one of our local radio networks,” recalled Ways in a recent MSR phone interview. “For my senior project, we had to work a corporate job for about two weeks. So, I monitored Rob Parker.
“He made it very clear, ‘I’m here for you. Any questions…just ask me,” Ways said of the beginning of a mentor-mentee relationship that has lasted through his college years and now into his working career.
“Ten years later, I’m now 28,” said Ways. “About a year ago, Rob gave me a call and he said, ‘Hey Moe, I have this idea that I’ve been kind of pondering for a few years…to start the first Black sports radio. I want to launch in Detroit, and I want you to be a part of the team.
“When I got that call, I was speechless,” added Ways.
Parker stressed that Motown is big enough for two sports talk radio stations. “Detroit has been listening to ‘American Bandstand’ for too long. We’re gonna give it ‘Soul Train,’” he quipped. “This is historic for the city. It’s been a long time coming.”
The new Sports Rap Radio lineup will be locally based from 7 a.m-7 p.m. Then Parker and co-host Chris Broussard’s “The Odd Couple” nationally syndicated show will air 7-10 p.m. Parker said he hopes to air podcasts featuring Black hosts for the overnight hours, and wants the new station to be a launching pad for young Black sports talk hosts and journalists.
Sports Rap Radio will be streamed on the Audacy app and other platforms as well. “I would ask that everybody support [the station]…whether it’s sharing the feed, or posting or reposting things on social media, telling a friend, whatever,” concluded Ways.
“I hope everybody buys into that and feels that way. This is ours. Let’s do this.”
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