The nationally syndicated radio show host will be broadcasting live Friday morning, June 1, to launch the inaugural Atlantic City Multi-Cultural Heritage Festival.
J. Anthony Brown, Sybil Wilkes and Tom Joyner of the ‘Tom Joyner Morning Show’
Atlantic City will celebrate its cultural diversity in fitting fashion this weekend (June 1-3) — with an assortment of events kicked off by the most listened-to syndicated morning radio host in America.
Tom Joyner’s broadcast career started shortly after he graduated from what is now Tuskegee University in his home state of Alabama in the early 1970s. His vast and varied fan base began mounting when the Tom Joyner Morning Show went into syndication in 1994. Atlantic City’s urban adult contemporary radio station 96.1 WTTH-FM “The Touch” was just the third station to pick up the program (weekdays 5-9am), which now has 122 affiliates nationwide and an estimated eight million listeners each week.
Joyner will host a listeners’ party Friday, June 1, that will broadcast from Surf Stadium from 6-11am (Albany Avenue and the Black Horse Pike, West Atlantic City). Admission to Surf Stadium is free and open to the public. Shortly after the broadcast Joyner and his co-hosts will meet with fans at the stadium, where Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford will present him with a key to the city and proclaim June 1 as “Tom Joyner Day.” Atlantic City Weekly connected with Joyner in an e-mail interview.
How do you feel about being part of Atlantic City’s inaugural Multi-Cultural Heritage Festival, and will you have any special guests with you in the WTTH broadcast booth?
I’m excited about a chance to return to Atlantic City for such a big event. I’m bringing the crew — Sybil and J. [Co-host Sybil Wilkes provides “the voice of reason” between Joyner and comedian J. Anthony Brown in a format that spans politics, celebrities, music, news and debate].
When were you last in Atlantic City and what are your impressions of the town? It has recently undergone and is still undergoing many exciting changes.
I was in Atlantic City years ago for the Impact Conference [held at Bally’s in April 1993] and of course we brought our live Sky Show to town. [The Sky Show originated in 1996 as the Road Show, which traveled from city to city encouraging listeners to vote. It changed names to the Sky Show when Southwest Airlines became its primary sponsor]. This time we’re celebrating the Multi-Cultural Festival. ... I know there’s the parade on the Boardwalk [6-8:30pm Friday] and the Gold & Platinum [R&B] Music Tribute to look forward to that night [9pm-midnight at One Atlantic in The Pier Shops at Caesars]. I’m ready to get out there and meet the listeners face to face.
How would you say the nation has changed the most since your broadcasting career began in the early ’70s?
This year’s Multi-Cultural Heritage Festival weekend gave us an early start to what Mayor Langford anticipates as a great summer season.
“Being a boxing fan, I appreciate the legacy and history of boxing in Atlantic City. Of course, during the casino era, in the 1980s, when Don King was promoting the Mike Tyson fights, this is where the action was. And the town came alive with every major fight. It was good for the economy. Everybody did well.”
“We’ll play anywhere they’ll have us. The more places, the better. After all these years it’s still something I desperately want to do. You want to keep having fun.”
Billy Currington is a country singer who has been climbing up the ladder of Nashville stardom at a steady pace, thanks to such hit songs as “Pretty Good At Drinkin’ Beer,” “That’s How Country Boys Roll,” “Don’t” “People Are Crazy,” “Must Be Doin’ Somethin’ Right” and “Good Directions.” A personable native of Georgia, Currington chatted with AC Weekly from the road about his career and about his favorite beer — I mean I had to ask, didn’t I?
Neville Brother Cyril Neville comes to Ventnor this Saturday, Feb. 27 for a special Mardi Gras celebration and fundraiser for Access One. He spoke recently to Atlantic City Weekly.
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1. PJ, Absecon said... on May 31, 2012 at 12:09AM
“I thought I heard the show was actually being broadcast AT surf stadium. That would have been much better - as everyone could watch the live show in person, something not many of us get to do ... just my opinion, but what a lost opportunity. Especially for the Save a Life foundation. Who knows? Maybe Surf stadium will still be packed.”
2. Cameron M Rascoe said... on Jun 3, 2012 at 08:23AM
“There is another cause in the state of Florida that needs your support, a law that is tearing families apart and punishing hard working mothers while rewarding deadbeat fathers. There is a law on the books that give 50/50 custody of children to a parent who has never been present or supported a child in their life. Under this law the parent who has been supporting and raising the child may even have to pay child support to an absentee parent because they haven’t worked or are underemployed. Children are being torn from happy homes and placed in unfit households while at the same time the mothers are unable to pay their bills because they are being forced to pay a man child support who never supported his children.
I have a story to tell about an educator of thirteen years, mother of four who lost her children to a man who has abused her and the children, never supported them financially, lives illegally in government housing, is employed illegally and uses illegal drugs in the presence of these children because of this law. She has been ordered to pay him $424.00 a month in child support, jeopardizing her finances and making it almost impossible for her to keep her home for these children. You folks need to hear this story, it’s amazingly unjust. The department of Children and Families have completed an investigation and concluded that this man has abused his children during the custody case yet a judge denied the mother’s injunction against the father. The abuse continues. No arrears in child support are being paid to her but she still has to pay him almost a fourth of her salary. Please contact us concerning this matter, this is a story America needs to hear. This law must be modified; it is destroying families and ruining children’s lives.
Cameron M. Rascoe
rascoecameron@yahoo.com
FaceBook Cam Rascoe
Google Cam Rascoe
(407) 431-8608
”