Rickey Smiley To Replace The Tom Joyner Morning Show In January 2020

Rickey Smiley

REACH MEDIA’s syndicated host TOM JOYNER announced his replacement will be RICKEY SMILEY. He will take over in JANUARY and part of his cast will include EVA MARCILLE and GARY WIT DA TEA. JOYNER made his retirement known when he signed his last contract (NET NEWS 10/17/17).

SMILEY said, “It’s an honor to continue the legacy of my boss and frat brother TOM JOYNER. Not only has he been a friend to my family and me over the years, but we consider him family. TOM’s mentorship has instilled in me valuable wisdom that I will carry with me through this new morning show.”

REACH MEDIA/RADIO ONE CEO DAVID KANTOR added, “TOM changed the entire urban radio marketplace. He entertained and educated multiple generations of listeners over the last 25 years. While there is and will always be only one TOM JOYNER, we are excited that RICKEY will be moving to Urban AC in JANUARY. Like TOM, RICKEY’s talent, community consciousness and commitment to his audience will serve his listeners well. REACH MEDIA’s other current morning Urban AC program, The RUSS PARR MORNING SHOW, will also continue in syndication into 2020.”

JOYNER commented, “I’m happy to see the landscape of Urban AC morning radio continue to expand with RICKEY, and I’m proud of the doors the TOM JOYNER MORNING SHOW opened. Twenty-five years ago, there was no template for a syndicated Urban radio show and we worked hard to prove that we could successfully produce and market a national platform that would entertain, inform and empower African-American listeners.

We broke some ground, raised the bar for what audiences expected from Black radio all while partying with a purpose. Yeah, we’ve done a lot but there’s still a lot left to be done. I’m confident that RICKEY’s activism along with his love for radio, the community, and HBCUs, will pick up where we left off.”

He will air his final show at the end of this year. He’s currently still visiting cities with his ONE MORE TIME TOUR commemorating his 25th anniversary of THE TOM JOYNER MORNING SHOW (TJMS). REACH MEDIA is a division of URBAN ONE.

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