Death By Entertainment... - After the Altar Call

Hello World,

Wasn’t it surreal to watch President Obama make his way down the center aisle of the House chamber last night? He looked like a rock star as everyone was clamoring to shake hands with him. And then when President Obama introduced his wife as the first lady…I still feel like I’m dreaming sometimes when I watch him speak on television…We have an intelligent president…and he’s black…and his wife is black….Wow! But I digress…As much as I adore the Obamas, they are not the subject of this post…

If you live in the A and listen to the radio, then you are probably aware that Rev. Al Sharpton’s and Warren Ballentine’s talk programs are off the radio. Their shows used to be on 102.5 FM, but now it is a gospel station. 107. 5 is now an R&B rather than jazz station and is being simulcast on 97.5, which is used to be the gospel station. Steve Harvey’s and Michael Baisden’s talk shows, however, were saved. Confusing isn’t it?…And sad too…Apparently Sharpton’s and Ballentine’s shows didn’t have high enough ratings…All I know is that I loved my daily dose of Warren Ballentine, Rev. Al and Michael Baisden during this past election process…They got me fired up and ready to take action…Because of their programs, I wore black on the day of the Jena 6 march…I learned about people like Troy Davis and others from Rev. Al. I learned more about CNN commentators Roland Martin and Donna Brazile. Basically, their programs spurred my latent interest in politics, civil rights and civil disobedience…

I must confess after Obama was elected, I didn’t listen with as much dedication, but it was encouraging to know that whenever I wanted to switch it up a bit, I could plug into either Warren Ballentine or Rev. Al. And then on Feb. 16, without much of a warning, they were gone. And all that is left alleged crackheads K-Ci and JoJo whining about loving somebody for life and other similar throwback R&B groups….now I love me some R&B, but during the workday, it would be nice to hear about issues instead of being lulled to sleep by love songs and what not…it almost feels like we’re drinking the Kool-Aid if you know what I mean…This is what the WORD has to say about it all…

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6

I signed a petition to get them back on the radio. Does anyone know the status of this petition? If you haven’t signed it and want them back, take a moment to sign it. It’s easy….

On the national front, Farai Chideya’s News and Notes on NPR will be officially be off the radio waves in March although Chideya is not hosting the program in its final weeks. I sometimes listened to the engaging program as I drove to Bible study on Wednesdays. Black people from a broad spectrum of life were featured on the program, and it was delightful to hear a black woman in my age group have her say…The show was the victim of our country’s tough economic times…

Now if your views are on the conversative side, you can listen to Herman Cain on News/Talk WSB 750 from 7-10 p.m. weekdays. I am tempted to say bad things, but his bio is crazy impressive…so I will let you be the judge…

Anyway, if you see me snoozing in my car at the red light, honk your horn and wake me up…R&B all day puts me to sleep…I guess I could get satellite radio and broaden my choices…but I’m too cheap and not into techy upgrade stuff for all that…I guess my religious folk probably think I could listen to messages from pastors and what not…uhh, I think I will pass…don’t get me wrong, but I need an extra jolt during the day…and I like to be plugged into current events…guess I will be turning back to good ole Clark Howard…The Lord knows I could know more about money management…

Any thoughts?

Note: I know there are other talk radio programs hosted by black people on other radio stations…I’m just talking about the ones that have earned my interest…And I will attempt to listen to 1380 AM here in the A…but I prefer FM programs…

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7 thoughts on “Death By Entertainment…”

Watching that speech last night was incredible! I LOVE that man, and I totally with what author Anita Bunkley wrote here: http://community.eharlequin.com/content/caught-anita-bunkley

I don’t listen to talk radio, but I am really hot because Smooth Jazz is gone. All that’s left on ATL radio is R&B and hip-hop stations. Of course there’s Clark Atlanta, but they play too much of the old-time jazz for my taste.

I hate Atlanta radio now so much that I ordered an FM transmitter so I can play my MP3 in my old Jeep …

Wow, I didn’t know what was going on. I finally tried to go to 102.5 and there was R&B, so I was lost. I went to NPR.

I loved the all day talk. I’d leave Tom Joyner and go to Warren Ballentine.

Conservative talk radio runs all day. We had a response. It helped win the election for Obama. Now it’s gone. I didn’t know about the petition, so thanks for the 411.

Hey Jackie,
yeah, the changes to 102.5 surprised me as well. I drive a lot during the day and listen to a wide variety of talk and music. At times I couldn’t stand listening to either one of the 102.5 day host, but then there were other times when they were very informative. I’ll miss the rightous indignation that Al brought to the front.

See Ya,
Mike F.

@Chicki,

Thanks for posting that interesting link…I know many women do feel that way about Obama – I’m not quite there, but I understand 🙂 I did’t think about the fans of the jazz station that are suffering right now as a result of the station change…it’s soo stupid to me….maybe I need to look into this FM transmitter thing too..

@Sanrobell, yeah, maybe we just had black talk radio for the purpose of the election…that makes sense…haven’t tried to listen to NPR all day…it might be a little subdued for me during the day though…I do like listening to the station at night though…

@Mike F., sometimes they got on my nerves too, but I still will miss them…I spend several hours in my car each day for my work as well…thanks for stopping by my blog!

Hey Jackie. I couldn’t agree with you more. I miss Warren and his big brother Al. I do listen to AM talk and I have satellite radio. Believe it or not, there is no comparable programming. I listen to 790 AM between 1pm and 4pm. It is the 2 Live Stews show (sports talk). I really enjoy the show but it is about sports and pop culture. Sirius satellite has a station devoted to left wing politcs (Left). However, the content is so one sided that it is intellectually dishonest. It’s like the antithesis of Rush or Hannity. I don’t find either entertaining or educational.