J-Hud set to Marry?

I read about Jennifer Hudson's wedding date announcement after she taped a special segment for American Idol. She said it was a secret. This brought to memory the moment when we were backstage at the NAACP Image Awards. She had just won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her stellar role in Dreamgirls... She was kind of indignant as questions about her relationship with then-boyfriend David Payton came up.. She was also asked if she had plans to marry... Click the vid to see... What do you think?

The Circle of Life...

I am at the stage in my life where I have to confront the unfinished business of my past. I have pushed to make a career as a broadcaster. I am fairly well known as a broadcast media marketer. I've been on the air occasionally as a host and co-host... I made my mom and dad proud...

And now, mom and dad have passed on... My dad made his transition on May 18, 2005... Mom left us suddenly on October 30, 2006. These events landed me in my hometown for lengths of time far longer than I have ever been since the age of seventeen, when I went off and joined the Marines.... Oh sure, I would come home for a weekend... talk to my dad and kiss my mom, but never in my adult life had I spent more than two - three days at home... or maybe a short leave of 14 days or so...

Now, here I am... In these brief years since my parent's passing, I have spent more time in my hometown than ever before. I am like a fish out of water here... After a lifestyle of continuous music and media, I am now in the midst of quiet solitude. I am closing out my parent's lifetime of success, spirituality and collections...

It is very very quiet here. I do not have any connections to any of my friends from back in the day. My home church is not the place as I feel I have outgrown it spiritually. And so I commute two hours on most Sundays so I can attend my church... or watch it on the Internet.

The good thing is that I have connected with my daughter (from my first marriage) in a way that we have never been connected before. She is a young woman with four (yes. 4) children. Wow!! I have four beautiful grandchildren. I have been able to help her in times of trouble, but it is still a work in progress... pray for me here.... Nonetheless I am able to spend time with the young ones... and that is a huge blessing!!!

I learned about my first love. I have often wondered where she was and how she was doing... Over the years I had even found myself looking for her on the Internet.... I found her sister on Classmates.com, and we made contact... I learned that my friend was murdered more than ten years ago and her body has never been found. I was devastated. I had to share with them the news of my parents as they knew them too... My mom and her mom were in the Navy together... They shared tidbits of the story with me.... This event tripped me out because I did not know... I had not heard the news... I even wonder if our episode in life caused her to make the choices in life... Was I the cause of her destructive lifestyle?

In the '70's, When I went away to the Marine Corps, I had no real claim to a girlfriend. But this girl and I had an unspoken love between us... In high school we went on quite a few dates... We spent quality time together... And in the years after school, even when I did not purpose to see her when I came home on leave, we would run into each other, and go out....

Somehow, I planned to marry my baby's momma. I really should have never done this, but hey that's a whole blog by itself.... I ran into my friend and asked her to dinner specifically for the purpose of telling her I was going to get married... I even had the rings in my pocket. We went to a nice place... we even got on the subject of marriage, but I did not have the courage to tell her.... On my wedding day, there was a reception in the hall next to mine... Coincidentally it was the wedding of a young lady who went to school with me... I kissed my mom and thanked her for pulling together such a beautiful wedding ceremony and went to change my clothes... As I turned from my mom, I bumped into someone... it was my friend.... I was devastated. I really did not know what to say... She was visibly hurt.... deeply hurt.

I never saw her again......

I talked to her on the phone once or twice.. just to see how she was doing and to apologize... My marriage lasted a few months and I moved on to Los Angeles.

This was years ago.... and as time has passed I have wondered every now and again how she was doing, was she happy... how many children did she have... did she ever realize her dream of being a veterinarian.... But instead of all that, I learned of her demise... And I did not learn of it until more than ten years after her death.

I have to admit, I cried for an entire weekend after learning this.

I have been married for more than 23 years. My spouse is my best friend, no doubt. She is rolling through this part of my life right with me... The passing of my parents changed her too as she was really close to them particularly my dad.

The passing of my parents has been a life changing experience. I am back in my hometown now... commuting to the City for work, church and events... I am spending quality time with my daughter and her children... I am in a space of quiet solitude where I can hone and increase my creative gifts...

I don't know how long this will last.... This town is not me... But for now, it is what it is... and the next generation needs me....

wow. The Circle of Life...

TI's Troubles in Time of Turbulence

I see that TI has received a little more than a year in prison for trying to purchase some weapons and silencers.... WTF????

I just need to understand how these rappers and ball players (remember Plaxico Burress??) still feel the need to carry or have access to guns... But not just guns , guns AND silencers... what?What was TI thinking? Hasn't he had enough music hits to stay out of trouble? And even if the heat is hot, can't he hire a security team?? I know at least three brothas who are PD, FBI, and others with transportation companies and protection details.. This is thier business...

Why can't a TI hire someone like my boys.... This seems really lame, TI... I mean dag....

This comes in a season when the image of the black male is enhanced through the election of President Barack Obama - the Chris Browns, The TI's, The Bebe Winans - these are the type stories that get front and center in the media becuase Im telling you, they are looking for SOMETHING to discredit the black man....

Now, in all fairness I wasn't there, but the circumstances are strong enough for the system to lock Brotha TI down for a bit... one year and some months.... In addition to time in a cell, TI got:- property forfeiture;
- supervised release for three years after he leaves prison;
- 365 days of home confinement (he has done 305);
- 1,500 hours of community service (he has done 1,030);
- drug counseling;
- DNA testing;
- can never own a firearm;
- must submit to reasonable searches;
- and a financial audit.

Seems like a lot of hassle for someone who just plays a gangsta on records... I mean after you become successful at the level of a TI, I'm thinking it's poppin' champagne on the regular... eating good across the world, that he can have "whatever he likes"....And so then, you gotta get down and dirty for some guns... and get Popped for it??? Just seems foolish is all...

Good Luck man...

What happened to the Soul of the Airwaves?? A remix

I work at a major market station which is one of the last independent, black owned and operated stations in the nation. I am fiercely proud of this urban radio heritage.

Radio is often the first media choice of black people looking for culturally relevant content, music, news and information. During morning drivetime, the format is mostly the last bastion of culture for the African American driving into the workplace before they assimilate into general market America for the day. A captive audience for the exchange of information. In the home, the radio stays locked to the station for hours as the music, news and information speaks directly to the lifestyle of the African American consumer.

I have always marveled at how Arbitron measures the radio audience, particularly the black audience. The radio audience measuring company has always seemed to pride itself on its efforts to deliver accurate results when measuring the urban radio listener. At best, the diary system was a shaky yet agreeable method by which to measure the listening audience.

Now, they've come with the Portable People Meter. This new technology is being heralded as the best thing since sliced bread. General market stations love it's so-called accuracy. And Arbitron reps are really looking to convince us that it is a much more effective method to measure audience than the diary system.The Portable People Meter (PPM) is a pager like device that is worn daily by the respondent.

The device measures what the respondent is exposed to, not what the respondent actually listens to.

Consider this: Typical African American woman from the community participates in the program. We know that her primary station is the local black radio station. If she could, she would listen all day because the station is culturally relevant, and provides honest and trustworthy information on products and services, plus the news and public affairs keeps her aware of issues and concerns in her community, from her perspective.She turns on the device at 7:30 am as she darts to her car, thereby eliminating the detection of the first two-three hours she was listening to radio while getting ready for work. Nonetheless, the meter hears her favorite station in her car. It registers the applicable info.

On her way to work, she has to stop at Starbucks. The radio inside the store is tuned to the top forty station. Not her choice, but just because she visited this establishment, the meter records this as as one of her stations.

At lunch, she stops at Home Depot because she needs some stuff for her home. In the Depot, the local country and western station is blaring. A station she would never listen to but because she was in the store for more than five minutes, her meter records the station as one of hers...

When she arrives at her place of employment, she conforms from the chocolate diva from around the way to capable chocolate corporate.... The radio at her workplace stays on a station that she doesn't listen to and probably is not really listening to because it does not play the music she likes or provides information that matters or speaks to her directly. But the meter records this station as one of hers...

Is this theory of exposure an accurate measurement of this woman's radio consumption? Even though she is exposed to these out of home formats, does that mean she is a listener? How does this exposure translate into real advertising dollars? I mean if the station does not speak to her, how then does she really hear the advertising and take action to patronize the product or service? Is exposure an indicator of real listening? Or a by-product of where the respondent happens to go as she moves about this world.

In the diary system, the respondent was able to reinforce their listening habits through comments. They would document the personalities and times that they listen, thereby giving radio stations a seemingly more in-depth analysis of the audience. The listener could describe the emotional connection they have with their primary radio station choice. In black radio, the emotional connection is the gold. The music of the community, the news of the community and in some cases, the personalities with whom the listeners could relate because they were the brothas or sistas that lived in their neighborhood or went to church or school with. The soul of the airwaves is captured through the ability of the station to be culturally relevant.

With PPM, the soul of the airwaves is muted through a emotionless technological advancement that shows how a listener is exposed to media no matter where he or she goes.. It eliminates all consideration of that listeners qualitative proclivities. The cultural relevance of black radio is silenced. It's personalities now forced to an even more minimal on-air role as the quest to get exposed by whatever people meters are out there becomes all important. This means desensitizing your broadcast presentation to become more vanilla, transparent and soul-less.

And while this may sound good in a world where multiculturalism is the goal, I submit that we can still achieve the goals of multiculturalism by remaining true to who we are as black or urban radio. Those who seek us desire the rhythm of our format. And most importantly they crave the cultural consciousness of our broadcast flow. We don't care who is listening, just as long as they listen and they listen because they can identify with the essence of the station. Does random exposure generate results for advertisers? I mean if the respondent is only half listening to whatever radio station is ambient at the time and location they are in, then how does that spur the listener to take action at the cash register?

Is the PPM holder more likely to respond to advertising on the ambient radio station? or to advertising on their P1 choice??

How many PPM's are in the field? More to the point, in a city like Los Angeles, how many PPM's are on black women 25-54? In Philadelphia, they said there were two (yes, two!) in the entire market. and each person represented more than 50,000 people. That seems like a huge guess!! I mean who validates this information? How is this acceptable?

I wish I had answers here, but I don't. What I do have is a perspective. One that is centered with the experience of marketing black radio. And like it or not, PPM is here. And so how do we cannibalize black radio to become more of the general market so that we can show up on the PPM rankers? Is the age of the personality dead? And what of the emotional connection forged by black radio through news, public affairs and the music? Does PPM kill black radio? Do we abandon the heritage of doing black radio? Is the art form of radio dead? These are the issues of the day. The Soul of the Airwaves is dead. Do we resurrect it? Or is it a bygone legend of the past??

Lord help us.