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10 Questions with ... Robert'Rob' Redding Jr
October 6, 2009
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
I am program director of Talk 540 KMLB-AM and a nationally syndicated talk radio host, who got his start in Urban radio in the mid-1990's. I also run the successful news Web site, ReddingNewsReview.com.
1. You've moved into programming; how did that move come about? Is it something you've aspired to do or something that came up in some other way?
Celebrating 15 years in radio in November, I can say I have never made the mistake of thinking that programming would be easy or have said it was something that I have always wanted to do. Still, when Bob Holladay, KMLB's owner, confirmed that the station's former program director was taking a job with a television station and offered me the PD job at his heritage station of 79 years I could not turn down the opportunity. I was aware that few blacks -- if any -- hold the position at a mainstream conservative talk radio station. I also knew that Bob was entrusting me with his station because I have been able to build a nationally syndicated show entitled Redding News Review (RNR), which we started at KMLB, nearly two years in March. RNR, which is a provocative independent news and comment program, is heard every Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. ET on XM 169, in San Francisco on KKGN-AM, Philadelphia's WURD-AM, WLMC-AM near Myrtle Beach/Charleston and beyond.
2. You're a rarity, an African-American PD at a mainstream talk station. Why do you think that there are so few minority PDs in talk radio? Why aren't there more minority hosts in the format as well?
Blacks are a rarity in mainstream radio because mainstreams have not sought out blacks, which discourages many blacks from seeking out mainstream stations. My first job in talk radio was supposed to be at a mainstream station a few years ago, and, once I moved into town, I was told that I was too black for the job. (I had Urban music playing under my demo from my last job). I was told that "we don't do that kind of talk radio here" and was sent packing down the street to the "black talk" radio station.
Later, I got my first fulltime opportunity on a "black talk" radio station in Atlanta before I could ever get into the door at a mainstream station. This mainstream shutout had remained the case even after being named to the "100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America" until years later, when KMLB's Bob Holladay and Genesis Communications Network's Ted Anderson saw the potential in my show. As a result, I have been afforded opportunities by these two gentlemen that a lot of blacks in the talk radio profession have not been given. In short, if you do not have black talk hosts at mainstream talk radio stations, you can not have black programmers at mainstream talk radio stations. Sure, we have black program directors at "black talk" radio stations but I have made a point to reach beyond my community from the start and build an audience that is a lot more diverse -- despite the opposition I still receive from some very closed-minded industry people in both the black and white talk radio communities. I am not a black talker, but a talker who happens to be black.
3. You're an independent in a field in which everyone tends to identify with one side or another. How does that play into your thoughts on programming? Do you look for balance or are you "playing the hits" of one side or another?
My being an independent has no bearing on how I program KMLB. I position the station as the heritage station with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity - the winning talk radio combination. My syndicated news program, RNR, is as balanced as it gets on KMLB.
4. Including the shows you have on the station right now, what syndicated shows are your favorites? What's good radio to you?
I enjoy Moon Griffon's show. He represents the average angry white guy who pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He is syndicated on 13 great radio stations and KMLB is honored to be his flagship. I am obviously not a white guy, but I think he is successful because he is the voice of the angry southern white male who does not have an authentic figure in talk radio outside of him.
5. You've been at the vanguard of Internet news sites and you've done radio and worked for newspapers; where do you see the news media in ten years? What will become of "old media" like papers and radio? How will journalists get paid?
First, radio will be around for a while to come, as long as we push the jump to new media platforms like the iPod. Second, newspaper journalists will not get paid anything above pennies unless they revise their model of what it is to be a journalist in 2009's Internet age. Journalists have to get back to being feisty freelance investigators who see the Web as an asset and not an assault to their profession.
I took a job as a journalist at The Washington Times a few years ago to study the model of how to start a newspaper, which is why my new site, ReddingNewsReview.com, has been so successful. I wanted to build a daily independent black news Web site that did not ignore stories because they are not favorable to black people or the Democratic Party -- in contrast, our message board is where readers comment about the news. While at The Times, I developed important contacts for my scoops and learned how to write a biased story, which helps me recognize biased news. The problem with newspapers now is that no one believes that they're neutral anymore. This lack of neutrality is why papers like The Times, Fox News and talk radio continue to grow and other so called "nonbiased" news sources continue to see an erosion in their popularity, because old media are not being forthright from the perspective of the people being served.
What I am saying is, people are creating their own reality, and people like Fox News because it is slanted -- the "fair and balanced" Fox News is only "balanced" because it counters their "balanced" rivals. In short, we will continue to see declines in the old media because people don't think that the old media is being honest about their stories and stances on pressing issues.
The future of newspapers is not in getting people to register for their Web sites, getting people to paying for content, reducing staff to please stock holders, or any of these other reactionary or knee-jerk moves. The answer for newspapers is to recognize that the "news" environment has dramatically changed into a climate where people actually want newspapers to be biased toward their individual perspective. Part of what makes my independent Web site and radio show so different and cutting edge is that it calls the media outlets on the carpet for their bias, highlights how the media are being used to help divide Americans into partisan categories, and brings attention to stories that go underreported and unreported for whatever reason.
6. Your syndicated show continues to grow; what niche does the show address in the crowded radio marketplace? What's the show all about?
Redding News Review is a provocative independent news and comment show that has mass appeal and can also be considered in the realm of black talk radio - because I am black. Most of our listeners are a 50/50 split between whites and blacks. Currently, the show deals with the fact that there is an overrepresentation of white guys in mainstream talk radio telling people what they think about the nation's first black president and a growing nation of color. Frankly, it helps to have a black guy like me, who is not a sellout, in your stable of syndicated talk talent that can dissect what is going on in a bizarre political and social climate. As America's Independent Voice, you can tell right away by listening to my show that I have never met a politician that I like. Partisans who call in with their same tired political rhetoric and ideological doldrums find themselves hopscotching across the airwaves away from my whip -- yes, I have a whip which I use to whip callers of all colors off their political and ideological plantations. Let me let you in on a secret: You have not lived until you have heard a black guy on the radio whipping a white guy off the radio.
Beyond the president, listeners get breaking news, complete coverage of the Sunday shows and a look at the week ahead. Roll all the aforementioned news -- which keeps my show fresh -- and spirited conversation -- which makes my show compelling - and add some really hot Top 40/Dance/Rhythmic hit music bumpers, and it is fair to say that I host the hottest news talk radio show on Sunday night!
7. Who are your mentors and inspirations in the business?
BB Davis, he put me in radio back in college 15 years ago in November; Mike Roberts -- I woke up to him in Atlanta for years and he put me in the talk radio business back in 2001; Kevin Koolin' Fox, who has been literally consulting me on how to be a PD; Kernie Anderson, who has been a good friend who has also given me some great advice; and Rob Lloyd, who introduced me to Bob Holladay.
8. Of what are you most proud right now?
I am proud of my growing affiliate list, which stations can become a part of by calling my buddy Branigan Weber over at GCN at 1-877-996-4327 ext 123.
9. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without _________.
...God and a constant news drip.
10. What's the best advice you ever got? The worst?
The worst advice that I have been given lately was not to take the job programming KMLB. My black friend was concerned about me doing damage to my career -- being a black man over a very conservative talk radio station -- and endangering my life - being an outspoken black man in the rural white south, not far from Jena, LA - by taking a less than typical way of making a name for myself. The best advice that I live by is to, "Always be yourself and you will never have to try to remember what you last said."
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