March 8, 2023 • 44 mins
In the second part of her first-ever podcast interview, media mogul Cathy Hughes discusses her leadership style. Ms. Hughes also opens up about the power and importance of radio in 2023, working with Dick Gregory, and why her TV One channel aims to combat the stereotypes and misinformation about Black folks on television.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
What Up Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
It's Like Eah?
Speaker 4 (00:07):
Welcome back to Part two of the Quest Love Supreme
interview with Kathy Hughes and part one, Miss Hughes spoke
about growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, her moving to radio,
and creating the Quiet Storm, which may be responsible for
a large part of the population today. If you still
need to listen or watch, please do Here's part two,
(00:31):
which is a special episode for me because I get
to tell Miss Hughes what she means in my life
and career as she tells more stories from her incredible journey.
Join us as we celebrate this Women's History Month and
honor great women year round on QLs.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
I know that you have your shows that are are syndicated,
I e. Steve Steve, We'll do something from LA but
it goes to like whatever, one hundred markets.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Whatever, Ricky's in Alabama.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
So what I want to know is how are you able?
Are you the micromanaged type in terms of like, Okay, now,
I'm certain that there's the technology that exists where you
can instantly listen to your Houston station and quickly switch
to your Chicago station. If you want to, how were
(01:29):
you able to do that back in the day before
this technology, before the internet just colonized everything and made
it accessible.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
How are you able to check your twelve.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Stations back in nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety by going
to the.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
But also remember I started on the East coast, So
first it was DC, then it was Baltimore, Okay, then
it was Philadelphia. We expanded in a pattern. Okay, it
wasn't then too. We bought the Clear Channel stations, the
iHeart stations that we actually went to the west coast
(02:07):
that we actually picked up stations, stations in like Saint Louis.
So we're back now basically just concentrated on the East
coast because that it's easier for us to get to
our stations into our people. So back then you just
had to travel and even though the technology wasn't your computer,
and then there were phone numbers that you could dial
(02:29):
in and listen to.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
It's just about to say she was hotline and out
of nowhere too exactly.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Oh, so you would be like, all right, let me
see what why he's doing right now, and you would
call a hotline to hear exactly what's happening in Philly totally.
And so was she the type to like give you
notes like you didn't reach.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The well, amir. You remember, we had a warm line
and a hot line, right. The warm line was the number.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
That all the labels, the artists and people had. The
hot line was a number that only management had.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
So when you saw that ring, you knew down.
Speaker 7 (03:00):
It's not the break clod break cloth close out, the
break clod down, the break clod out, the break really
the warm line.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I never heard that line, no doubt. All.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We have a warm line and we have a hotline. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's absolutely And so we did it by telephone back
then you could actually listen on the stations. Yeah, so
we we heard them. Okay, we heard them, but uh,
the reality is back to your original question about them
(03:31):
growing big and becoming the way radio has consolidated. They
ain't a whole bunch of opportunities, even for the big names. Okay,
so there's not much. There's not a whole bunch of
opportunity to lose them to another Now they we may
lose them to another industry, another discipline, another career, but
(03:55):
there's not much danger in you know, I mean Donnie
Simpson was retired when we convinced him to come back. Okay,
if he leaves me, he's going back to retirement. He's
not going to work.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
At the estates want to play with the grand babies.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The same way. I mean, DL Hughley and Ricky Smiley
both have it perfect because with technology, they still do
their stand up Okay, they still pack houses and so
you know where are they going to go because certain
other corporations do have prohibition okay and limitations on what
(04:35):
you can do. I want my people to be as
successful as possible because with their success, like I said,
a rising tide lifts all boats. That means they can
employ people.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I need you to tell these fine fellas.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
The story of how you did become a personality and
decided to do a morning show was a fellow named
Dick Gregory in DC.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So, when I had the opportunity to buy my first
radio station, we did what it's called a format search,
which tells you where there's a whole hole in the market.
And the hole in the market was information for African Americans,
and I was like, oh, that's perfect. But no one
told me was that news talk is the most expensive
(05:24):
of all radio formats, really yeah, and air personality can
run their board, can answer their own phone, they can
do news talk is the most expensive because you have
to have you have to have an ensemble. You have
to have a team to do a show in news talk. Okay.
(05:45):
It's not possible for one air personality okay, or two
people to do it. And so I was not able
to service my debt. Again, I knew how to run radio,
I knew how to create radio. I did not know
the business of radio. And here it is nineteen eighty one.
(06:05):
The prime went into the mid twenties. I was paying
two and a half points over prime. My first quarter
of being in business, my interest rate was twenty seven
point five percent. Okay, it was impossible for me to
service my debt and support a news talk format. So
(06:26):
after about a year of me being my father was
a cpaight and my father taught me that one of
the things that causes a lot of people to fail
in business is that they destroy their credibility with people
that they owe money to. And he taught me never
to hide from a phone call from someone that I
(06:47):
owe money to, and never not pay them something. And
so each month during this time when the interest rates
are in the mid to upper twenties, and I can't
serve it's my debt and run my station. If I
owed you one thousand dollars, you might get a check
for three hundred, but you got something every month from me. Okay.
(07:09):
So I maintained my credibility with my lenders to get
me through this period. But at a certain point, my
lenders came to me and they said to me, you
can't afford a news talk format. You don't have the resources,
you don't have the experience to do this. You have
to go back to music. Well, I had already done
this research, and so I knew the number one I
(07:32):
was an AM station. How was I going to compete
against the monster I had created? A whu r? Okay?
I had created I was an expert on FM. I
had cut my teeth on FM in the DC market.
So they want me to play music up against I
have no separation of sound, okay, because to this day
(07:53):
there's very little, if any AM stereo anywhere in radio. Okay,
all right, there's no separation. I'm like, how am I
gonna do this? Onna be mono and they stereo? No,
this is gonna work. And so they said to me,
if you want to keep one shift, it has to
be morning Drive. And the only way you to keep
(08:15):
it is for you to do the show yourself, because
you're the only person you can afford. And it was
just like a light bulb going off. It was like,
that's a great idea, okay, and so I condensed my
then husband, Dewey Hughes, that we would go on the air.
(08:37):
And Dewey lasted about three months because by now he's
got fourteen Emmy's, he's in television, he's working for NBC. Okay,
he's not interested in doing radio, and so he says
he's gonna move to California and suggest that I come
with him, okay, And I said, no, I can't leave
my radio station. People are dependent on me. Said I'm
(09:01):
going to do the show by myself, and he said
I wouldn't advise that, and then out of nowhere, like
an angel, Dick Gregory descended on me. And one of
the jokes on the air was that he was my
permanent kiss, because Dick, some days when I was too tired,
or was sick or couldn't do the show, or I
(09:23):
had to do a promotion or speak somewhere. Dick would
do the show in my absence, but we used to
always joke on the Arabi. It's called the Kathy Hughes
Morning Show with permanent guests Dick Gregory, but for many
years Dick Gregory was there every morning. Dick Gregory would
not accept a penny of compensation and said to me
(09:44):
that in his life and his career, that two people
had resurrected him from where he was and elevated him
to where God intended for him to be. One was
Hugh Hefner, who put him in the playboy circuit and
really started him as a big personality. And me when
(10:05):
I allowed him to do my morning show with me,
because number one, if people start booking him again, his
popularity started our eyes once again. He was being invited
to college campuses to speak. You know, he was never
on Oprah Show because Oprah thought he was too radical.
People considered him a conspiracy theorist. Okay, and yet everything
(10:30):
we ever talked about turned out, maybe years later to
be the truth. Okay, it might have been a conspiracy
because but it was still a real conspiracy. Okay, it
was actually taking place, and I cannot tell you how blessed.
He said that I made a difference in his career.
(10:50):
He made a difference in my life and my career
because the topics that we covered, the information that we
disseminated during Morning Drive. I never will forget the morning
that Lee Atwater called in and he said, so, miss
use and mister Gregory, this is Lee at Water. I
am the President's blah blah blah. And we said, we
know who you are. We at Martin, Okay. And he says,
(11:14):
I don't know if you are aware, but everybody at
the White House has to listen to the Kathy Hughes
at Dick Gregy show in the morning because all the
staff here keeps all the radios tuned. And I said,
so are you telling me that the president this is
morning show. We don't have any choice. We all listened
to it, and he became a regular listener and caller
(11:35):
to the show. But I know that was because of
Dick Gregory. Then one day I'm on the national board
of the Urban League and I tell Dick to come
go with me that President Bush was the speaker, and
so we're going down the receiving line. Afterwards, President and
(11:55):
the President talks about how Dick was his graduation speaker
at Yale University, and then he started quoting him, and
the President's handlers are trying to put President Bush. President
trying to move him, and he said, whoa, I'm talking
to mister Gregory. And so Dick said, well, let me
introduce you to Oh, I know who miss Hughes is.
(12:17):
I have to listen to her show in the morning.
Sometimes you talk about me real bad, and you helping her?
Whoa right, okay, and you helping her. But mister Gregory,
you changed my life with that graduation speech. It brought
so much credibility and brilliance to that show that to
(12:37):
this date, to this date, people fill out their diary
saying that they listened to Kathy Hughes in the morning
with Dick's and permanent guest Dick Gregory and Dick's men
dead quite a few years now, and I've been off
the air quite a few years, But that was the
impact that we had in the nation's staff.
Speaker 7 (12:55):
Oh yeah, if that said he couldn't have got any black,
it was like we didn't think I can any black
up and here come was y'all.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Here it is, Yeah, I want to know. I want
to ask you Ms Cathy. You were a young mom
and like so you were talked about. You know you
have people that will watch a kid. How did you
balance motherhood like in the middle of all.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
This, I didn't have to balance it. It was my
top priority. Okay, it was my top priority. I never
my son laughs and says that he had to be
fourteen before he didn't. He learned that everybody didn't work
or grow up in a radio station. Melvin Lindsay picked
him up from school. I love to cook, Okay, I
(13:33):
cook like somebody's grandmama. Okay, I cook, and so I
would cook on the weekends for the whole week freeze
that bring the food to the radio station. I do
my homework with his homework with him, and then I
had a sleeping bag if I had to stay late. Okay,
he was my date. Howard used to complain because I
(13:54):
had a little tux seedo for him. Okay, we get
dressed at the radio station, we go to affairs. Because
I didn't know anybody, I couldn't leave him, but I
didn't want to leave him with anyone other than Melvin. Okay,
who helped me. And he grew up in the radio station.
I mean Robin Holden used to put him out all
the time. She teases him now about that. She said,
(14:14):
you know how many times I put you out by
station because he would be down there helping her out.
And she said, now I need any help? Okay, But no,
never was I confused my first priority. I never thought
that I would have a career. I thought that what
God intended for me to be was a radio personality
(14:35):
syndicated I don't really have to work four hours a day,
and then the rest of the time I would take
care of the five sons that God was gonna bless
me with and a husband, and that my most important
decision would be what I was going to cook for
them that evening. It's seventeen. The Good Lord blessed me
(14:57):
with the one child that I would have, and uh,
you know I'm single now, but you know God has
blessed me with two husbands, and one of whom is deceased,
my son's father. And then Dewey Hughes, who you know
you may remember the movie Talk to Me?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Yeah A P. D.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Green? Did you have any like?
Speaker 6 (15:19):
What was like with him?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I knew P. D. Green before I ever met Dewey.
Like I told you, The way I met Dewey was
he was bringing Melvin Lindsey back to work for me
at w u R. I knew p D. Because pet
was dating my roommate and has spending a lot of
nights up in our family house. And everyone's you know,
why weren't you in the movie? The reason I was
not in the movie was because I was not in Washington,
(15:44):
d C. By the time I got to Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
P D.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Green was bigger than life. Okay, we had all these mmies.
He was working in television and I didn't know him.
I knew who he was, Okay, because they do only
because and Ca d C. Lemmons, who you know, just
did the Whitney a movie, the Whitney Houston movie, Casey Lemons.
(16:10):
The way they do movies is they test them. Okay,
and the test ninety percent of everyone they showed the
movie to said, well where is Kathy? Okay? All right,
why is she in the movie? I was in the
movie because I didn't even know Dewey existed nor Pete.
I was living in Omaha during the.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
End is a lie. That's the name's Hollywood. That's cute.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Okay, So they added that in the line at the end,
how's Cathy showed doing? And he says, it's doing great.
That's the ending line. But you know, I'm so honored
because Don Cheeto says to this day that the P. D.
Green roll was his favorite all time role.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
I was going to ask you, how do you think?
Speaker 8 (16:50):
Like you know, she would tell how him playing Dewey
was that accurate to the person?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Uni do we Tael and Dewey your friends? To this
day he was so Okay, Dewey's idol was Johnny Carson, Okay,
being from Omaha. Part of his you know, conversation with
me on our first dates had to do with Johnny Carson, Okay,
because Omaha is about as big as you all studio, Okay,
(17:19):
all right, okay, And so everybody in Omaha, and like
I told you, it's only black folks and white folks.
And I think our population when I was growing up
was right around two hundred thousand people, okay, of which
about twenty thousand were black, Okay, And so everybody knew everybody.
So you know, Dewey's infatuation with Johnny Carson, Dewey Dewey
(17:44):
is still the same way to this day.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
How do you know when someone who wasn't a communications
major is ready for prime time, ready for the big time,
like you know, oftentimes, like a lot of people on
hip hop, you know, Mooney Love sort of transitions from
(18:12):
hip hop to radio, Chubb Rock transitions from hip hop
to radio. Like right now, like a lot of the
people I grew up listening to as hip hop MC's
and DJ's and whatnot are now transitioning to like even
I'll be sure having this show and whatnot.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
So how do you how do you know?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Look at l J. We just honored him Monday night,
okay with the Icon Award, and it got left on
the editing floor. But the LL cool J story was
LL cool J was a member of Congressman Flake's church.
Floyd Flake Flake resigned as a congressman to go serve
(18:52):
his congregation. You as like, I'm not helping folks being
in Congress. So he went home and he called me
one day and he said that a member of his
congregation named Todd Okay, I was asking him about pursuing acting.
And this is when LL was at the height of
(19:14):
his hip hop career. Okay, but he was getting offers
because you know how they use the rappers for cameos
and you know, and some of them, like most deaths.
I thought was one of the best actors. Okay, the
movie he did where he played the doctor, which was
a true story. Okay, the Urgent, Okay, all right, I
(19:35):
thought that that was brilliant. I thought he was going
to be, you know, as big as Denzel. Uh So, Anyway,
they asked my opinion, and I told him that from
what I had seen of his acting, he was great
in that. You know, I would encourage him to pursue that.
One of my blessings is my best friend for many
(19:56):
decades is Dianna Williams, and Deannalliams has an eye and
an ear for talent like none other, and I depend
quite heavily on her. Okay, I may have a feeling
about somebody, but I'll ask d to take a look
at them, or listen to them, or you know, check
(20:16):
them out and see what her opinion is. I relied
very heavily and half for many many decades. Deanna and
I have been besties for probably half a century, to
be honest about it, okay, And the reality is depend
quite heavily on you know, Deanna's input, because she has
(20:40):
the best eye and air. Okay, I'm better with music
because I have been tone death most of my life
and from a childhood accident. And so it used to
be when the music reps would come to the station,
(21:02):
they'd always play the new music for me because the
joke was if I could hear a hit, if it
moved me, okay, seriously, that was the case where Geene
Riggins was general manager. She said, I want you to
hear this song. He's from your hometown. I said, Nellie
(21:23):
is not from my hometown. And it was the right
country grammar, country grammar that she was playing for me.
Quincy Jones has said to me that getting a hit
wasn't really as complicated as a lot of people figured.
You have to hit a chord that's familiar to the listener.
(21:46):
And so when I heard Nellie's country grammar, I was like,
everybody knows nursery Rise. And so I said to Geane,
I said I hear this, and she said, okay, we're
gonna sign you know. Okay did But in terms of
on air talent, the two I have been blessed with
(22:07):
the two greatest Air personalities that have lived during my lifetime,
Tom Joiner and Deanna Williams. I don't think that they have.
There's no one comparable to their level of talent. There
is no one comparable to what both of them have
done in different ways, but to help individuals in the
(22:30):
communications industry and so to have close friendships with both
Tom Joiner and Vianna makes me look a lot smarter
than I really am.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
I get it, we didn't even get to TV one
and unsung. But there's one thing I do want to know.
How good are you with the archival part of your
business as far as maintain old radio shows from yesteryear
(23:02):
and whatnot? Because I think oftentimes when we're building and
I say it's an empire, whether you say it's small fries,
I say it's an empire.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
When you're building an empire literally empire, Nah, we think
I'm big. You're building an empire. You know.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Oftentimes we don't think we're making history day to day,
but then like thirty years go by, and like if
I want to hear, you know, what was radio like
in nineteen seventy eight blah blah blah blah blah or whatever,
Like how good are you with archiving like historical moments
(23:42):
that have happened at any of your radio stations.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So I now have a full time archivist that's trying
to get individuals, my listeners who have recorded things. To
be very honest with you, I have the money to
store things. I wasn't going to pay for our storage
bind when I moved, we threw it away. We threw
(24:07):
the stuff away, okay, because I was living it. Okay,
I was living it. I was trying to survive. I
wasn't interested in history, okay. I was just trying to
build a company, keep people. You know, I'm blessed to
say that never once have I had a check bounce
(24:27):
in the forty three years I've been in business, Not
once have I had a check bounce. Not once have
I had an employee who did not get paid. Okay,
And for a black company to be able to say
that after forty three years, it's quite an accomplishment, as
hard as it is and still is to get advertising.
But no, I didn't maintain those records. So my artivist
(24:50):
is thrilled every week when she comes across somebody who
might have a piece of my history. Okay, And trying
to reassemble it and pull it in and prized. You know,
just the other day, somebody went in their garage and
they sent me a video of me going to a
(25:12):
Naybob function with Quincy Jones. Okay. He and I went
to the nabob function that evening and uh, this person
uh had a copy of somebody interviewing us, okay, and
we were talking about James Brown was being honored that evening,
and Quincy Jones and I were standing there and we're
talking about it, and then uh, they whoever it was
(25:35):
that was interviewing and said, well, we hope that you
all have a great time this evening on your date.
And I said, well, this isn't really a date, and
Quincy Jones said it is a date. Okay.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
I was like, oh wait a date.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Wait, Quincy Jones a black woman. What happened? Right?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
It was the story exactly story okay. So so we're
kind of piecing it together quest level. Because No, I
didn't maintain it. I threw the shit away quite frankly,
excuse my lately, because I put in afford story okay,
(26:13):
and I didn't have any place, you know, if I
adn't extra space. I was trying to put an employee
in it.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You just weren't thinking that you were making history.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I still don't think. I still don't think that I'm
making history. I'm very honored, Okay, I am very honored.
Uh when.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
It's a crazy part, you are literally still the only
black woman with the most.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Radio and te like, there's nobody that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
And the other thing is quite frankly, I think that
what happens so often is that if we believe our
good press, then we get upset with our bad press. Okay,
and so I'm kind of no press. Okay. I have
read very few articles about myself. This Arkavist is like, oh,
(27:05):
look at this, and I was like, where was that?
And she was like, well, this was in so and
so magazine or newspaper. And I was like, I never
saw that. She said, well, you should have seen it. Okay,
it was front page or it was what when I
became the general manager of whu R it was front
page business section of the Washington It was years afterwards
(27:26):
that I actually saw it. Because I tried not to
concentrate on me as much as I tried to concentrate
on the mission.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Wait, guys, this is a historic moment. So we've been
doing this. We've been doing this for like what six
years now. Yeah, the running joke is with these guys
always ambushing me with love and accolades or flowers or whatever.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Before flowers, right.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
I've been I was previously notorious for not ever wanted
the same thing as you. Never recoppressed, never read the comments.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
Never.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
But you know, I also had to learn in the
last year that, you know, especially with black people, but
people in general just don't celebrate themselves. And you know,
it's but I understand that because we were programmed to
keep going. Yeah, we were programmed to just like stay small,
(28:28):
stay out of trouble, don't cost too much trouble, don't
bring you know, attention to yourself. And also, like you know,
if we celebrate ourselves, then we'll get big headed and whatnot.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
And I would personally like us to think about at.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Least more more refocusing that part of our history and accept. Wow,
I'm actually forcing someone to accept flowers on quest love Supreme.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And you canna concentrate more on yourself.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
I'm being forced to because everywhere I go, I got
people forcing me to celebrate myself.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
So yeah, I given, I've.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
He said you too, right.
Speaker 9 (29:07):
I think everyone on this zoom could could do well
from acceptings some flowers everybody, everybody on this everybody on
this zoom is a very humble person who's very successful,
very good what they do.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
And then one with fifty.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Six radio stations and their own television network, I think
definitely needs.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
To you know, we're up to sixty eight.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
Oh oh yeah, letter straight.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
I want to ask you, mis Cathy, so what to
you in the in the era now of like podcasts
and you know, everything being kind of on demand with
you know, streaming and everything, What to you is the
purpose of radio in twenty twenty three?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, I don't think the purpose has changed, particularly when
you talk about radio this gear specifically to the black community.
We are very research oriented and we consistently in our
research the listeners say second only to the black t
in terms of credibility. I think you know, I just
(30:04):
concluded a campaign that brought me so much joy over
the last two weeks about Stevie Wonder's happy birthday. Yes,
I triggered press, international, national press. I triggered so many
individuals realizing that you don't go to a black function
(30:25):
and don't hear the Stevie Wonder version and most people
have no idea that they're not singing the lyrics. That
the lyrics to that song is one of the most
beautiful points that Steve has ever written. Okay because okay,
just the fabulous tribute to Doctor King. But more importantly,
it was a protest song because the US comments would
(30:48):
not make the holiday exactly and the movement was dwindling
and really on life support, and that song really resurrected
and it was very special to me because that's the
same year that we went into business that he released
Hotter than July. Okay, Hotter than July was the LP
(31:12):
that the song was on. The birthday song was on,
and it even triggered Stevie. Stevie did a Instagram alive
talking about how you know, things haven't changed in forty years.
I was so proud of that. I still want my
company to be mission driven. I still want there to
(31:34):
be a message in our music. I still want there
to be content in our narrative that really makes people
stop to think, and so, you know, to be able
to continue doing this, I think it's what keeps the
relevance the importance of black on radio alive and so
(32:00):
even with technology, the reality is, one time I had
to compete against iHeart, I had to compete against AMFM,
I had to Now I actually compete against my actual listeners.
My listeners do their own playlists. My listeners think that
they're great DJs, my listeners. So not only am I
(32:20):
competing against corporations, I'm competing against the people that I'm
trying to serve. But as long as they keep coming back,
I realize that they are without saying it, recognizing that
we do the value. They recognize the value and that value.
You know, we're very emotional. One of the things that
(32:42):
kills a lot of old black folks is they go
to the same doctor for forty years. The doctor don't
even see that they got cancer, okay, because he's so
used to hearing them complain. And sister Sarah didn't been
coming here forty years, okay. We don't. We not real
quick to change certain things. We don't change preachers, we
don't change doctors. We don't change.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
Barbara.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
But it is.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
It seems like black radio is getting smaller and smaller,
and the youth are not going to have the relationship
that like maybe we had as far because people don't
realize and.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
That black radio is different.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
And two and you can please speak to this and
don't realize that black radio is different in the sense
of this relationship with community rock, jazz, country radio. None
of these kind of genre stations have to have a
direct connection to the community, go to schools, do being
and it's so it's sad in a way, right.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
And the relationship has changed its Urban One honors that aired,
you know, on Martin Luther King's birthday last night. Okay,
it did a fifty year tribute to hip hop and
the relationship. When they came out there with the young
man with the radio on his shoulder, it just kind
to warm my heart to realize and remember the days
(34:04):
where people would carry boom boxes on their shoulders. Okay,
be on Roller States, all right, I mean with the
bed with the boom box. Okay, that radio was like, uh,
you know, almost like a chalice is to a Catholic preach.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Okay, waiting to hit record. That's right.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Absolutely, absolutely, it's changed and certainly with technology. But technology also,
even though it's brought on a different level of competition,
also has made it easier for us in so many ways,
because of voice tracking, because of being able not to
(34:47):
have to be at a certain like our gathering right now.
We're all over the country, we're all in different okay,
and yet we're having this podcast the same as ten
years ago. We would have all had to have been
assembled in your studio, okay, looking at each other, you know.
(35:11):
So it's helped with the delivery of the product. But
I really am not pessimistic about the future. I think
it will change. I think that certain things are already changing.
I'm very dismayed over the fact that when I started
out there were almost four hundred black owned radio stations.
(35:35):
Now they're about one hundred and thirty two black owned
radio stations, and sixty eight of them belong to me.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
Based on what you would have to get up at
four in the morning, five in the morning to do
in the bathroom. As is that human being that's looking
in the mirror with the brush? Is she satisfied with
the path that the universe has given her?
Speaker 6 (36:09):
And is there anything else left to explore or conquer?
Speaker 2 (36:15):
I want to come back and talk about TV okay,
because okay, I want to do a second podcast. I
like the podcast because I've had very strong opinions about
television and how it's really changing our perception of who
we are the way. Actually, I really want to come
(36:37):
back and talk about that.
Speaker 7 (36:38):
Okay, give me a preview real quick, because now you
gave us a little bit, you got to give us more.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
Yeah, I was like, what, don't I know?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
It's the reality is foreign countries see us through the
eyes of movies and television shows and our betrayal. One
of the reasons that I am still the only network
in this country that will air the Cosby shows because
that ensemble that is not forgiving what Bill did. What
(37:11):
he did was despicable, but that show more accurately portrayed
black life in America that any show has ever and
that ensemble should not be punished because of the wrongdoing
of one human being. I don't want the Chinese who
only see Housewives of Atlanta to think that that's what
(37:33):
black women are about, fighting with each other, screaming and
hollering the way media right now, the media is dogging Biden.
The reason Hillary Clinton never got elected president of the
United States would mose to somebody who couldn't even construct
a sentence, was because of the media dogging her like
(37:59):
and my opinion, she was more qualified to be the
president than her husband was qualified to be the president.
Nobody had done what Hillary had done. But the media
now no longer is covering the news. It creates the news,
and it decides, particularly as it relates to people of color,
what's important and what we should be thinking and what
(38:20):
we should be doing. Okay, but anyway, that's a whole
other podcast. I hope that you will invite me back
to because I think, okay, you might take that one, Okay,
because if we don't get it under control, all right,
I do not know what's going to happen to the
future of us, all.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Right, y'all, we wouldn't know black girls be missing, Thank you, thank.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
You exactly all right, and so very important. But to
your question, no, I have no regret regrets. There is
absolutely nothing. But I would do differently other than have
more than one child. Okay, I really, really really wished
that I had I had him so young. It was
(39:06):
so you know, traumatizing and so scary for me quite frankly,
But I should have adopted. I should have made it
possible for more than just Alfred to benefit from the
blessings of this media conglomerate that God has blessed me
to be able to build. I have adopted individuals like
(39:28):
like I have. You know other individuals that I have
you know been a big aunt to our godmother or
a grandmother. But I wish that I had biological Okay, heirs.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Do you mind me interrupting real quick?
Speaker 7 (39:43):
I just want to say this because we've been through
a lot in these forty years something years as you
know me.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
But be clear, the only reason I wanted to be.
Speaker 7 (39:51):
In radio is because my godmother had a best friend,
Nam Kathy, who who owned radio stations. Be clear, The
first radio job I ever got was at twelve year
so when I volunteer at wo L WMMJ, your first
radio station. And be clear that when I went to
Clark Atlanta University, you were the one that made the
call to doctor Gloria James and said she's an internship
(40:12):
with w Clkay, so thank you. And to be clear
that I had the best all female morning radio show
on radio one.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Shout out to Shamara.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
You just closed the show.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
I know.
Speaker 6 (40:25):
I was like, that's like some Mike drop version. There's
nothing else, Like I said, be clear.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I know about Sugar and Bill not saying anything.
Speaker 6 (40:34):
We don't say much.
Speaker 9 (40:35):
We try to we know what to talk.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, I know you said you were single.
Speaker 6 (40:39):
That was my only question, so.
Speaker 9 (40:43):
Questions.
Speaker 8 (40:45):
I wanted to know IFIs is it anybody that you
want on Unsung that you haven't been able to get
you Unsung wishless?
Speaker 6 (40:52):
Does Stephanie finally give in?
Speaker 9 (40:53):
Yet?
Speaker 2 (40:54):
No? I know the fifty mentioned I loved them right,
and their position with me has been we're not Unsung,
And I was like, that's not the purpose okay of
the show. Okay, And I said, well, would you at
least do Uncensored? But yeah, I do have right, uh?
And they topped my list every year we pitch them.
(41:17):
We have pitched them every year.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
There.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
I mean, they they actually were trend centers. And I
think that that story needs to really be told. And
because I was such always and still am such big fans.
And then I mean, look how long the marriage has endured. Okay,
it's hard, Okay, all right, Okay, that's very rare. Okay,
(41:44):
And I mean remember when Smokey and Right exactly that
didn't work. Okay, it's hard to do what they have accomplished.
The fifth dimensions are.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
And so you have to create a format a show
called trendsetters.
Speaker 6 (42:01):
Or at least the title will cater to the ego
of the.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
Artist, because I've heard artists say, well, I'm not unsung,
so I'm not doing it because I think in their
mind they think like unsung means failure, but no, it
just means that, it means.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
You didn't get your just recognition. Should do more.
Speaker 6 (42:19):
You should be called flowers.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Yeah more. I thank you all for this opportunity. I
like doing a podcast you want.
Speaker 5 (42:28):
Thank you knew it what you want to It's gonna
be the Cathy Used podcast next week for.
Speaker 6 (42:35):
Exactly you gots.
Speaker 5 (42:38):
Sorry, sorry to break the news to you this way,
but yeah, Kathy's taking over.
Speaker 6 (42:41):
So I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
When you when you retire, quest Love, can I.
Speaker 6 (42:45):
Fill in absolutely, It's yours. You can buy us out.
Speaker 5 (42:49):
Right now, Okay, Okay, I pick us up. Sorry, iHeart, Yes,
I've sold.
Speaker 6 (42:56):
I just made a deal. Yeah, family, Faith, it's.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
I know that you don't like the flowers. You don't
like the accolades, but.
Speaker 6 (43:06):
I'll take the flowers.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Okay. The things that you have done in your career
have been exemplary. Okay, I thank you for who you are,
not just professionally but personally. Like I said to me,
it's not about you know, establishing yourself as a celebrity
or you know, any of the rest. It's really about
(43:30):
who you are as a human being. Because in the
end of analysis, that's all we came. Herenicked, we're gonna
leave out here, neked and the only thing we have
is that which you have done to help other individuals,
and your record stands for itself. So thank you. I'm
truly honored and truly honored to be you guys, particularly
the one that's interested in me being.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
Single and you mentioned naked, So.
Speaker 5 (43:54):
All right, Sugar, Steve, Bill Frante, and Layah.
Speaker 6 (43:59):
This is another episode West Love Supreme. Thank you very much.
The great cat views were sign it off. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
What Up Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
It's Like Eah?
Speaker 4 (00:07):
Welcome back to Part two of the Quest Love Supreme
interview with Kathy Hughes and part one, Miss Hughes spoke
about growing up in Omaha, Nebraska, her moving to radio,
and creating the Quiet Storm, which may be responsible for
a large part of the population today. If you still
need to listen or watch, please do Here's part two,
(00:31):
which is a special episode for me because I get
to tell Miss Hughes what she means in my life
and career as she tells more stories from her incredible journey.
Join us as we celebrate this Women's History Month and
honor great women year round on QLs.
Speaker 5 (00:53):
I know that you have your shows that are are syndicated,
I e. Steve Steve, We'll do something from LA but
it goes to like whatever, one hundred markets.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Whatever, Ricky's in Alabama.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (01:07):
So what I want to know is how are you able?
Are you the micromanaged type in terms of like, Okay, now,
I'm certain that there's the technology that exists where you
can instantly listen to your Houston station and quickly switch
to your Chicago station. If you want to, how were
(01:29):
you able to do that back in the day before
this technology, before the internet just colonized everything and made
it accessible.
Speaker 6 (01:38):
How are you able to check your twelve.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
Stations back in nineteen eighty nine nineteen ninety by going
to the.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
But also remember I started on the East coast, So
first it was DC, then it was Baltimore, Okay, then
it was Philadelphia. We expanded in a pattern. Okay, it
wasn't then too. We bought the Clear Channel stations, the
iHeart stations that we actually went to the west coast
(02:07):
that we actually picked up stations, stations in like Saint Louis.
So we're back now basically just concentrated on the East
coast because that it's easier for us to get to
our stations into our people. So back then you just
had to travel and even though the technology wasn't your computer,
and then there were phone numbers that you could dial
(02:29):
in and listen to.
Speaker 7 (02:30):
It's just about to say she was hotline and out
of nowhere too exactly.
Speaker 5 (02:34):
Oh, so you would be like, all right, let me
see what why he's doing right now, and you would
call a hotline to hear exactly what's happening in Philly totally.
And so was she the type to like give you
notes like you didn't reach.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
The well, amir. You remember, we had a warm line
and a hot line, right. The warm line was the number.
Speaker 7 (02:51):
That all the labels, the artists and people had. The
hot line was a number that only management had.
Speaker 6 (02:56):
So when you saw that ring, you knew down.
Speaker 7 (03:00):
It's not the break clod break cloth close out, the
break clod down, the break clod out, the break really
the warm line.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I never heard that line, no doubt. All.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
We have a warm line and we have a hotline. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's absolutely And so we did it by telephone back
then you could actually listen on the stations. Yeah, so
we we heard them. Okay, we heard them, but uh,
the reality is back to your original question about them
(03:31):
growing big and becoming the way radio has consolidated. They
ain't a whole bunch of opportunities, even for the big names. Okay,
so there's not much. There's not a whole bunch of
opportunity to lose them to another Now they we may
lose them to another industry, another discipline, another career, but
(03:55):
there's not much danger in you know, I mean Donnie
Simpson was retired when we convinced him to come back. Okay,
if he leaves me, he's going back to retirement. He's
not going to work.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
At the estates want to play with the grand babies.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
The same way. I mean, DL Hughley and Ricky Smiley
both have it perfect because with technology, they still do
their stand up Okay, they still pack houses and so
you know where are they going to go because certain
other corporations do have prohibition okay and limitations on what
(04:35):
you can do. I want my people to be as
successful as possible because with their success, like I said,
a rising tide lifts all boats. That means they can
employ people.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
I need you to tell these fine fellas.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
The story of how you did become a personality and
decided to do a morning show was a fellow named
Dick Gregory in DC.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
So, when I had the opportunity to buy my first
radio station, we did what it's called a format search,
which tells you where there's a whole hole in the market.
And the hole in the market was information for African Americans,
and I was like, oh, that's perfect. But no one
told me was that news talk is the most expensive
(05:24):
of all radio formats, really yeah, and air personality can
run their board, can answer their own phone, they can
do news talk is the most expensive because you have
to have you have to have an ensemble. You have
to have a team to do a show in news talk. Okay.
(05:45):
It's not possible for one air personality okay, or two
people to do it. And so I was not able
to service my debt. Again, I knew how to run radio,
I knew how to create radio. I did not know
the business of radio. And here it is nineteen eighty one.
(06:05):
The prime went into the mid twenties. I was paying
two and a half points over prime. My first quarter
of being in business, my interest rate was twenty seven
point five percent. Okay, it was impossible for me to
service my debt and support a news talk format. So
(06:26):
after about a year of me being my father was
a cpaight and my father taught me that one of
the things that causes a lot of people to fail
in business is that they destroy their credibility with people
that they owe money to. And he taught me never
to hide from a phone call from someone that I
(06:47):
owe money to, and never not pay them something. And
so each month during this time when the interest rates
are in the mid to upper twenties, and I can't
serve it's my debt and run my station. If I
owed you one thousand dollars, you might get a check
for three hundred, but you got something every month from me. Okay.
(07:09):
So I maintained my credibility with my lenders to get
me through this period. But at a certain point, my
lenders came to me and they said to me, you
can't afford a news talk format. You don't have the resources,
you don't have the experience to do this. You have
to go back to music. Well, I had already done
this research, and so I knew the number one I
(07:32):
was an AM station. How was I going to compete
against the monster I had created? A whu r? Okay?
I had created I was an expert on FM. I
had cut my teeth on FM in the DC market.
So they want me to play music up against I
have no separation of sound, okay, because to this day
(07:53):
there's very little, if any AM stereo anywhere in radio. Okay,
all right, there's no separation. I'm like, how am I
gonna do this? Onna be mono and they stereo? No,
this is gonna work. And so they said to me,
if you want to keep one shift, it has to
be morning Drive. And the only way you to keep
(08:15):
it is for you to do the show yourself, because
you're the only person you can afford. And it was
just like a light bulb going off. It was like,
that's a great idea, okay, and so I condensed my
then husband, Dewey Hughes, that we would go on the air.
(08:37):
And Dewey lasted about three months because by now he's
got fourteen Emmy's, he's in television, he's working for NBC. Okay,
he's not interested in doing radio, and so he says
he's gonna move to California and suggest that I come
with him, okay, And I said, no, I can't leave
my radio station. People are dependent on me. Said I'm
(09:01):
going to do the show by myself, and he said
I wouldn't advise that, and then out of nowhere, like
an angel, Dick Gregory descended on me. And one of
the jokes on the air was that he was my
permanent kiss, because Dick, some days when I was too tired,
or was sick or couldn't do the show, or I
(09:23):
had to do a promotion or speak somewhere. Dick would
do the show in my absence, but we used to
always joke on the Arabi. It's called the Kathy Hughes
Morning Show with permanent guests Dick Gregory, but for many
years Dick Gregory was there every morning. Dick Gregory would
not accept a penny of compensation and said to me
(09:44):
that in his life and his career, that two people
had resurrected him from where he was and elevated him
to where God intended for him to be. One was
Hugh Hefner, who put him in the playboy circuit and
really started him as a big personality. And me when
(10:05):
I allowed him to do my morning show with me,
because number one, if people start booking him again, his
popularity started our eyes once again. He was being invited
to college campuses to speak. You know, he was never
on Oprah Show because Oprah thought he was too radical.
People considered him a conspiracy theorist. Okay, and yet everything
(10:30):
we ever talked about turned out, maybe years later to
be the truth. Okay, it might have been a conspiracy
because but it was still a real conspiracy. Okay, it
was actually taking place, and I cannot tell you how blessed.
He said that I made a difference in his career.
(10:50):
He made a difference in my life and my career
because the topics that we covered, the information that we
disseminated during Morning Drive. I never will forget the morning
that Lee Atwater called in and he said, so, miss
use and mister Gregory, this is Lee at Water. I
am the President's blah blah blah. And we said, we
know who you are. We at Martin, Okay. And he says,
(11:14):
I don't know if you are aware, but everybody at
the White House has to listen to the Kathy Hughes
at Dick Gregy show in the morning because all the
staff here keeps all the radios tuned. And I said,
so are you telling me that the president this is
morning show. We don't have any choice. We all listened
to it, and he became a regular listener and caller
(11:35):
to the show. But I know that was because of
Dick Gregory. Then one day I'm on the national board
of the Urban League and I tell Dick to come
go with me that President Bush was the speaker, and
so we're going down the receiving line. Afterwards, President and
(11:55):
the President talks about how Dick was his graduation speaker
at Yale University, and then he started quoting him, and
the President's handlers are trying to put President Bush. President
trying to move him, and he said, whoa, I'm talking
to mister Gregory. And so Dick said, well, let me
introduce you to Oh, I know who miss Hughes is.
(12:17):
I have to listen to her show in the morning.
Sometimes you talk about me real bad, and you helping her?
Whoa right, okay, and you helping her. But mister Gregory,
you changed my life with that graduation speech. It brought
so much credibility and brilliance to that show that to
(12:37):
this date, to this date, people fill out their diary
saying that they listened to Kathy Hughes in the morning
with Dick's and permanent guest Dick Gregory and Dick's men
dead quite a few years now, and I've been off
the air quite a few years, But that was the
impact that we had in the nation's staff.
Speaker 7 (12:55):
Oh yeah, if that said he couldn't have got any black,
it was like we didn't think I can any black
up and here come was y'all.
Speaker 8 (13:00):
Here it is, Yeah, I want to know. I want
to ask you Ms Cathy. You were a young mom
and like so you were talked about. You know you
have people that will watch a kid. How did you
balance motherhood like in the middle of all.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
This, I didn't have to balance it. It was my
top priority. Okay, it was my top priority. I never
my son laughs and says that he had to be
fourteen before he didn't. He learned that everybody didn't work
or grow up in a radio station. Melvin Lindsay picked
him up from school. I love to cook, Okay, I
(13:33):
cook like somebody's grandmama. Okay, I cook, and so I
would cook on the weekends for the whole week freeze
that bring the food to the radio station. I do
my homework with his homework with him, and then I
had a sleeping bag if I had to stay late. Okay,
he was my date. Howard used to complain because I
(13:54):
had a little tux seedo for him. Okay, we get
dressed at the radio station, we go to affairs. Because
I didn't know anybody, I couldn't leave him, but I
didn't want to leave him with anyone other than Melvin. Okay,
who helped me. And he grew up in the radio station.
I mean Robin Holden used to put him out all
the time. She teases him now about that. She said,
(14:14):
you know how many times I put you out by
station because he would be down there helping her out.
And she said, now I need any help? Okay, But no,
never was I confused my first priority. I never thought
that I would have a career. I thought that what
God intended for me to be was a radio personality
(14:35):
syndicated I don't really have to work four hours a day,
and then the rest of the time I would take
care of the five sons that God was gonna bless
me with and a husband, and that my most important
decision would be what I was going to cook for
them that evening. It's seventeen. The Good Lord blessed me
(14:57):
with the one child that I would have, and uh,
you know I'm single now, but you know God has
blessed me with two husbands, and one of whom is deceased,
my son's father. And then Dewey Hughes, who you know
you may remember the movie Talk to Me?
Speaker 6 (15:16):
Yeah A P. D.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Green? Did you have any like?
Speaker 6 (15:19):
What was like with him?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
I knew P. D. Green before I ever met Dewey.
Like I told you, The way I met Dewey was
he was bringing Melvin Lindsey back to work for me
at w u R. I knew p D. Because pet
was dating my roommate and has spending a lot of
nights up in our family house. And everyone's you know,
why weren't you in the movie? The reason I was
not in the movie was because I was not in Washington,
(15:44):
d C. By the time I got to Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
P D.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Green was bigger than life. Okay, we had all these mmies.
He was working in television and I didn't know him.
I knew who he was, Okay, because they do only
because and Ca d C. Lemmons, who you know, just
did the Whitney a movie, the Whitney Houston movie, Casey Lemons.
(16:10):
The way they do movies is they test them. Okay,
and the test ninety percent of everyone they showed the
movie to said, well where is Kathy? Okay? All right,
why is she in the movie? I was in the
movie because I didn't even know Dewey existed nor Pete.
I was living in Omaha during the.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
End is a lie. That's the name's Hollywood. That's cute.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Okay, So they added that in the line at the end,
how's Cathy showed doing? And he says, it's doing great.
That's the ending line. But you know, I'm so honored
because Don Cheeto says to this day that the P. D.
Green roll was his favorite all time role.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
I was going to ask you, how do you think?
Speaker 8 (16:50):
Like you know, she would tell how him playing Dewey
was that accurate to the person?
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Uni do we Tael and Dewey your friends? To this
day he was so Okay, Dewey's idol was Johnny Carson, Okay,
being from Omaha. Part of his you know, conversation with
me on our first dates had to do with Johnny Carson, Okay,
because Omaha is about as big as you all studio, Okay,
(17:19):
all right, okay, And so everybody in Omaha, and like
I told you, it's only black folks and white folks.
And I think our population when I was growing up
was right around two hundred thousand people, okay, of which
about twenty thousand were black, Okay, And so everybody knew everybody.
So you know, Dewey's infatuation with Johnny Carson, Dewey Dewey
(17:44):
is still the same way to this day.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
How do you know when someone who wasn't a communications
major is ready for prime time, ready for the big time,
like you know, oftentimes, like a lot of people on
hip hop, you know, Mooney Love sort of transitions from
(18:12):
hip hop to radio, Chubb Rock transitions from hip hop
to radio. Like right now, like a lot of the
people I grew up listening to as hip hop MC's
and DJ's and whatnot are now transitioning to like even
I'll be sure having this show and whatnot.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
So how do you how do you know?
Speaker 2 (18:31):
Look at l J. We just honored him Monday night,
okay with the Icon Award, and it got left on
the editing floor. But the LL cool J story was
LL cool J was a member of Congressman Flake's church.
Floyd Flake Flake resigned as a congressman to go serve
(18:52):
his congregation. You as like, I'm not helping folks being
in Congress. So he went home and he called me
one day and he said that a member of his
congregation named Todd Okay, I was asking him about pursuing acting.
And this is when LL was at the height of
(19:14):
his hip hop career. Okay, but he was getting offers
because you know how they use the rappers for cameos
and you know, and some of them, like most deaths.
I thought was one of the best actors. Okay, the
movie he did where he played the doctor, which was
a true story. Okay, the Urgent, Okay, all right, I
(19:35):
thought that that was brilliant. I thought he was going
to be, you know, as big as Denzel. Uh So, Anyway,
they asked my opinion, and I told him that from
what I had seen of his acting, he was great
in that. You know, I would encourage him to pursue that.
One of my blessings is my best friend for many
(19:56):
decades is Dianna Williams, and Deannalliams has an eye and
an ear for talent like none other, and I depend
quite heavily on her. Okay, I may have a feeling
about somebody, but I'll ask d to take a look
at them, or listen to them, or you know, check
(20:16):
them out and see what her opinion is. I relied
very heavily and half for many many decades. Deanna and
I have been besties for probably half a century, to
be honest about it, okay, And the reality is depend
quite heavily on you know, Deanna's input, because she has
(20:40):
the best eye and air. Okay, I'm better with music
because I have been tone death most of my life
and from a childhood accident. And so it used to
be when the music reps would come to the station,
(21:02):
they'd always play the new music for me because the
joke was if I could hear a hit, if it
moved me, okay, seriously, that was the case where Geene
Riggins was general manager. She said, I want you to
hear this song. He's from your hometown. I said, Nellie
(21:23):
is not from my hometown. And it was the right
country grammar, country grammar that she was playing for me.
Quincy Jones has said to me that getting a hit
wasn't really as complicated as a lot of people figured.
You have to hit a chord that's familiar to the listener.
(21:46):
And so when I heard Nellie's country grammar, I was like,
everybody knows nursery Rise. And so I said to Geane,
I said I hear this, and she said, okay, we're
gonna sign you know. Okay did But in terms of
on air talent, the two I have been blessed with
(22:07):
the two greatest Air personalities that have lived during my lifetime,
Tom Joiner and Deanna Williams. I don't think that they have.
There's no one comparable to their level of talent. There
is no one comparable to what both of them have
done in different ways, but to help individuals in the
(22:30):
communications industry and so to have close friendships with both
Tom Joiner and Vianna makes me look a lot smarter
than I really am.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
I get it, we didn't even get to TV one
and unsung. But there's one thing I do want to know.
How good are you with the archival part of your
business as far as maintain old radio shows from yesteryear
(23:02):
and whatnot? Because I think oftentimes when we're building and
I say it's an empire, whether you say it's small fries,
I say it's an empire.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
When you're building an empire literally empire, Nah, we think
I'm big. You're building an empire. You know.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Oftentimes we don't think we're making history day to day,
but then like thirty years go by, and like if
I want to hear, you know, what was radio like
in nineteen seventy eight blah blah blah blah blah or whatever,
Like how good are you with archiving like historical moments
(23:42):
that have happened at any of your radio stations.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
So I now have a full time archivist that's trying
to get individuals, my listeners who have recorded things. To
be very honest with you, I have the money to
store things. I wasn't going to pay for our storage
bind when I moved, we threw it away. We threw
(24:07):
the stuff away, okay, because I was living it. Okay,
I was living it. I was trying to survive. I
wasn't interested in history, okay. I was just trying to
build a company, keep people. You know, I'm blessed to
say that never once have I had a check bounce
(24:27):
in the forty three years I've been in business, Not
once have I had a check bounce. Not once have
I had an employee who did not get paid. Okay,
And for a black company to be able to say
that after forty three years, it's quite an accomplishment, as
hard as it is and still is to get advertising.
But no, I didn't maintain those records. So my artivist
(24:50):
is thrilled every week when she comes across somebody who
might have a piece of my history. Okay, And trying
to reassemble it and pull it in and prized. You know,
just the other day, somebody went in their garage and
they sent me a video of me going to a
(25:12):
Naybob function with Quincy Jones. Okay. He and I went
to the nabob function that evening and uh, this person
uh had a copy of somebody interviewing us, okay, and
we were talking about James Brown was being honored that evening,
and Quincy Jones and I were standing there and we're
talking about it, and then uh, they whoever it was
(25:35):
that was interviewing and said, well, we hope that you
all have a great time this evening on your date.
And I said, well, this isn't really a date, and
Quincy Jones said it is a date. Okay.
Speaker 6 (25:44):
I was like, oh wait a date.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Wait, Quincy Jones a black woman. What happened? Right?
Speaker 2 (25:52):
It was the story exactly story okay. So so we're
kind of piecing it together quest level. Because No, I
didn't maintain it. I threw the shit away quite frankly,
excuse my lately, because I put in afford story okay,
(26:13):
and I didn't have any place, you know, if I
adn't extra space. I was trying to put an employee
in it.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You just weren't thinking that you were making history.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I still don't think. I still don't think that I'm
making history. I'm very honored, Okay, I am very honored.
Uh when.
Speaker 7 (26:30):
It's a crazy part, you are literally still the only
black woman with the most.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
Radio and te like, there's nobody that's crazy.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
And the other thing is quite frankly, I think that
what happens so often is that if we believe our
good press, then we get upset with our bad press. Okay,
and so I'm kind of no press. Okay. I have
read very few articles about myself. This Arkavist is like, oh,
(27:05):
look at this, and I was like, where was that?
And she was like, well, this was in so and
so magazine or newspaper. And I was like, I never
saw that. She said, well, you should have seen it. Okay,
it was front page or it was what when I
became the general manager of whu R it was front
page business section of the Washington It was years afterwards
(27:26):
that I actually saw it. Because I tried not to
concentrate on me as much as I tried to concentrate
on the mission.
Speaker 5 (27:35):
Wait, guys, this is a historic moment. So we've been
doing this. We've been doing this for like what six
years now. Yeah, the running joke is with these guys
always ambushing me with love and accolades or flowers or whatever.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
Before flowers, right.
Speaker 5 (27:55):
I've been I was previously notorious for not ever wanted
the same thing as you. Never recoppressed, never read the comments.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
Never.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
But you know, I also had to learn in the
last year that, you know, especially with black people, but
people in general just don't celebrate themselves. And you know,
it's but I understand that because we were programmed to
keep going. Yeah, we were programmed to just like stay small,
(28:28):
stay out of trouble, don't cost too much trouble, don't
bring you know, attention to yourself. And also, like you know,
if we celebrate ourselves, then we'll get big headed and whatnot.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
And I would personally like us to think about at.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Least more more refocusing that part of our history and accept. Wow,
I'm actually forcing someone to accept flowers on quest love Supreme.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And you canna concentrate more on yourself.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
I'm being forced to because everywhere I go, I got
people forcing me to celebrate myself.
Speaker 6 (29:03):
So yeah, I given, I've.
Speaker 3 (29:05):
He said you too, right.
Speaker 9 (29:07):
I think everyone on this zoom could could do well
from acceptings some flowers everybody, everybody on this everybody on
this zoom is a very humble person who's very successful,
very good what they do.
Speaker 6 (29:17):
And then one with fifty.
Speaker 5 (29:18):
Six radio stations and their own television network, I think
definitely needs.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
To you know, we're up to sixty eight.
Speaker 6 (29:27):
Oh oh yeah, letter straight.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
I want to ask you, mis Cathy, so what to
you in the in the era now of like podcasts
and you know, everything being kind of on demand with
you know, streaming and everything, What to you is the
purpose of radio in twenty twenty three?
Speaker 2 (29:44):
Well, I don't think the purpose has changed, particularly when
you talk about radio this gear specifically to the black community.
We are very research oriented and we consistently in our
research the listeners say second only to the black t
in terms of credibility. I think you know, I just
(30:04):
concluded a campaign that brought me so much joy over
the last two weeks about Stevie Wonder's happy birthday. Yes,
I triggered press, international, national press. I triggered so many
individuals realizing that you don't go to a black function
(30:25):
and don't hear the Stevie Wonder version and most people
have no idea that they're not singing the lyrics. That
the lyrics to that song is one of the most
beautiful points that Steve has ever written. Okay because okay,
just the fabulous tribute to Doctor King. But more importantly,
it was a protest song because the US comments would
(30:48):
not make the holiday exactly and the movement was dwindling
and really on life support, and that song really resurrected
and it was very special to me because that's the
same year that we went into business that he released
Hotter than July. Okay, Hotter than July was the LP
(31:12):
that the song was on. The birthday song was on,
and it even triggered Stevie. Stevie did a Instagram alive
talking about how you know, things haven't changed in forty years.
I was so proud of that. I still want my
company to be mission driven. I still want there to
(31:34):
be a message in our music. I still want there
to be content in our narrative that really makes people
stop to think, and so, you know, to be able
to continue doing this, I think it's what keeps the
relevance the importance of black on radio alive and so
(32:00):
even with technology, the reality is, one time I had
to compete against iHeart, I had to compete against AMFM,
I had to Now I actually compete against my actual listeners.
My listeners do their own playlists. My listeners think that
they're great DJs, my listeners. So not only am I
(32:20):
competing against corporations, I'm competing against the people that I'm
trying to serve. But as long as they keep coming back,
I realize that they are without saying it, recognizing that
we do the value. They recognize the value and that value.
You know, we're very emotional. One of the things that
(32:42):
kills a lot of old black folks is they go
to the same doctor for forty years. The doctor don't
even see that they got cancer, okay, because he's so
used to hearing them complain. And sister Sarah didn't been
coming here forty years, okay. We don't. We not real
quick to change certain things. We don't change preachers, we
don't change doctors. We don't change.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
Barbara.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
But it is.
Speaker 7 (33:14):
It seems like black radio is getting smaller and smaller,
and the youth are not going to have the relationship
that like maybe we had as far because people don't
realize and.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
That black radio is different.
Speaker 7 (33:24):
And two and you can please speak to this and
don't realize that black radio is different in the sense
of this relationship with community rock, jazz, country radio. None
of these kind of genre stations have to have a
direct connection to the community, go to schools, do being
and it's so it's sad in a way, right.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
And the relationship has changed its Urban One honors that aired,
you know, on Martin Luther King's birthday last night. Okay,
it did a fifty year tribute to hip hop and
the relationship. When they came out there with the young
man with the radio on his shoulder, it just kind
to warm my heart to realize and remember the days
(34:04):
where people would carry boom boxes on their shoulders. Okay,
be on Roller States, all right, I mean with the
bed with the boom box. Okay, that radio was like, uh,
you know, almost like a chalice is to a Catholic preach.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Okay, waiting to hit record. That's right.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Absolutely, absolutely, it's changed and certainly with technology. But technology also,
even though it's brought on a different level of competition,
also has made it easier for us in so many ways,
because of voice tracking, because of being able not to
(34:47):
have to be at a certain like our gathering right now.
We're all over the country, we're all in different okay,
and yet we're having this podcast the same as ten
years ago. We would have all had to have been
assembled in your studio, okay, looking at each other, you know.
(35:11):
So it's helped with the delivery of the product. But
I really am not pessimistic about the future. I think
it will change. I think that certain things are already changing.
I'm very dismayed over the fact that when I started
out there were almost four hundred black owned radio stations.
(35:35):
Now they're about one hundred and thirty two black owned
radio stations, and sixty eight of them belong to me.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
Based on what you would have to get up at
four in the morning, five in the morning to do
in the bathroom. As is that human being that's looking
in the mirror with the brush? Is she satisfied with
the path that the universe has given her?
Speaker 6 (36:09):
And is there anything else left to explore or conquer?
Speaker 2 (36:15):
I want to come back and talk about TV okay,
because okay, I want to do a second podcast. I
like the podcast because I've had very strong opinions about
television and how it's really changing our perception of who
we are the way. Actually, I really want to come
(36:37):
back and talk about that.
Speaker 7 (36:38):
Okay, give me a preview real quick, because now you
gave us a little bit, you got to give us more.
Speaker 6 (36:44):
Yeah, I was like, what, don't I know?
Speaker 2 (36:47):
It's the reality is foreign countries see us through the
eyes of movies and television shows and our betrayal. One
of the reasons that I am still the only network
in this country that will air the Cosby shows because
that ensemble that is not forgiving what Bill did. What
(37:11):
he did was despicable, but that show more accurately portrayed
black life in America that any show has ever and
that ensemble should not be punished because of the wrongdoing
of one human being. I don't want the Chinese who
only see Housewives of Atlanta to think that that's what
(37:33):
black women are about, fighting with each other, screaming and
hollering the way media right now, the media is dogging Biden.
The reason Hillary Clinton never got elected president of the
United States would mose to somebody who couldn't even construct
a sentence, was because of the media dogging her like
(37:59):
and my opinion, she was more qualified to be the
president than her husband was qualified to be the president.
Nobody had done what Hillary had done. But the media
now no longer is covering the news. It creates the news,
and it decides, particularly as it relates to people of color,
what's important and what we should be thinking and what
(38:20):
we should be doing. Okay, but anyway, that's a whole
other podcast. I hope that you will invite me back
to because I think, okay, you might take that one, Okay,
because if we don't get it under control, all right,
I do not know what's going to happen to the
future of us, all.
Speaker 3 (38:41):
Right, y'all, we wouldn't know black girls be missing, Thank you, thank.
Speaker 2 (38:45):
You exactly all right, and so very important. But to
your question, no, I have no regret regrets. There is
absolutely nothing. But I would do differently other than have
more than one child. Okay, I really, really really wished
that I had I had him so young. It was
(39:06):
so you know, traumatizing and so scary for me quite frankly,
But I should have adopted. I should have made it
possible for more than just Alfred to benefit from the
blessings of this media conglomerate that God has blessed me
to be able to build. I have adopted individuals like
(39:28):
like I have. You know other individuals that I have
you know been a big aunt to our godmother or
a grandmother. But I wish that I had biological Okay, heirs.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Do you mind me interrupting real quick?
Speaker 7 (39:43):
I just want to say this because we've been through
a lot in these forty years something years as you
know me.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
But be clear, the only reason I wanted to be.
Speaker 7 (39:51):
In radio is because my godmother had a best friend,
Nam Kathy, who who owned radio stations. Be clear, The
first radio job I ever got was at twelve year
so when I volunteer at wo L WMMJ, your first
radio station. And be clear that when I went to
Clark Atlanta University, you were the one that made the
call to doctor Gloria James and said she's an internship
(40:12):
with w Clkay, so thank you. And to be clear
that I had the best all female morning radio show
on radio one.
Speaker 3 (40:20):
Shout out to Shamara.
Speaker 6 (40:23):
You just closed the show.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
I know.
Speaker 6 (40:25):
I was like, that's like some Mike drop version. There's
nothing else, Like I said, be clear.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
I know about Sugar and Bill not saying anything.
Speaker 6 (40:34):
We don't say much.
Speaker 9 (40:35):
We try to we know what to talk.
Speaker 1 (40:38):
Yeah, I know you said you were single.
Speaker 6 (40:39):
That was my only question, so.
Speaker 9 (40:43):
Questions.
Speaker 8 (40:45):
I wanted to know IFIs is it anybody that you
want on Unsung that you haven't been able to get
you Unsung wishless?
Speaker 6 (40:52):
Does Stephanie finally give in?
Speaker 9 (40:53):
Yet?
Speaker 2 (40:54):
No? I know the fifty mentioned I loved them right,
and their position with me has been we're not Unsung,
And I was like, that's not the purpose okay of
the show. Okay, And I said, well, would you at
least do Uncensored? But yeah, I do have right, uh?
And they topped my list every year we pitch them.
(41:17):
We have pitched them every year.
Speaker 3 (41:22):
There.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
I mean, they they actually were trend centers. And I
think that that story needs to really be told. And
because I was such always and still am such big fans.
And then I mean, look how long the marriage has endured. Okay,
it's hard, Okay, all right, Okay, that's very rare. Okay,
(41:44):
And I mean remember when Smokey and Right exactly that
didn't work. Okay, it's hard to do what they have accomplished.
The fifth dimensions are.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
And so you have to create a format a show
called trendsetters.
Speaker 6 (42:01):
Or at least the title will cater to the ego
of the.
Speaker 5 (42:05):
Artist, because I've heard artists say, well, I'm not unsung,
so I'm not doing it because I think in their
mind they think like unsung means failure, but no, it
just means that, it means.
Speaker 2 (42:16):
You didn't get your just recognition. Should do more.
Speaker 6 (42:19):
You should be called flowers.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
Yeah more. I thank you all for this opportunity. I
like doing a podcast you want.
Speaker 5 (42:28):
Thank you knew it what you want to It's gonna
be the Cathy Used podcast next week for.
Speaker 6 (42:35):
Exactly you gots.
Speaker 5 (42:38):
Sorry, sorry to break the news to you this way,
but yeah, Kathy's taking over.
Speaker 6 (42:41):
So I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (42:43):
When you when you retire, quest Love, can I.
Speaker 6 (42:45):
Fill in absolutely, It's yours. You can buy us out.
Speaker 5 (42:49):
Right now, Okay, Okay, I pick us up. Sorry, iHeart, Yes,
I've sold.
Speaker 6 (42:56):
I just made a deal. Yeah, family, Faith, it's.
Speaker 2 (43:03):
I know that you don't like the flowers. You don't
like the accolades, but.
Speaker 6 (43:06):
I'll take the flowers.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
Okay. The things that you have done in your career
have been exemplary. Okay, I thank you for who you are,
not just professionally but personally. Like I said to me,
it's not about you know, establishing yourself as a celebrity
or you know, any of the rest. It's really about
(43:30):
who you are as a human being. Because in the
end of analysis, that's all we came. Herenicked, we're gonna
leave out here, neked and the only thing we have
is that which you have done to help other individuals,
and your record stands for itself. So thank you. I'm
truly honored and truly honored to be you guys, particularly
the one that's interested in me being.
Speaker 6 (43:49):
Single and you mentioned naked, So.
Speaker 5 (43:54):
All right, Sugar, Steve, Bill Frante, and Layah.
Speaker 6 (43:59):
This is another episode West Love Supreme. Thank you very much.
The great cat views were sign it off. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (44:10):
West Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. For
more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Laiya St. Clair
Questlove
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