Tom Joyner, the new definition of the term Renaissance Man

Celebrity Biography Piece

December 5, 2010

Lopez

Thomas “Tom” Joyner was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, and received a degree in sociology from Tuskegee Institute, which is now known as Tuskegee University. He has been in Atlanta for years now and his radio program “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” has been syndicated since 1994 but before moving to Atlanta he began his broadcasting career in Montgomery, Alabama immediately upon graduation, and worked at a number of radio stations in the American South, before moving to Chicago at WJPC. (An AM radio broadcasting station) after working at WJPC Joyner was simultaneously offered two positions: one for a morning show at KKDA-FM (K104) in Dallas and one for an afternoon show at WGCI-FM in Chicago. Instead of choosing between the two, Joyner chose to take both jobs, and for years he commuted daily by plane between the two cities, earning the nicknames "The Fly Jock" and "The Hardest Working Man in Radio."

Aside from being a radio host Joyner also hosts a television show called “The Tom Joyner show” that is a one-hour comedy/variety show, combining sketch comedy featuring the Tom Joyner Show Players (his co-hosts from the radio show), talent contests, and musical performances by such artists as Earth, Wind and Fire, Brian McKnight, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Toni Braxton. The show attracted advertisers such as McDonalds, Chrysler Corporation, Wal-Mart and Southwest Airlines. In 2005 the television show began to run in syndication. While doing these projects Tom Joyner has also found time to write a book written about him called "I'm Just a DJ but ... It Makes Sense to Me" which he wrote with his longtime writer Mary Flowers Boyce.

The book chronicles his childhood and early days in radio as well as offers Joyner's thoughts on Historically Black Colleges and Universities ("HBCUs"), the power of the black consumer and fatherhood. In February 2009, Amber Books published Tom Joyner Presents How to Prepare for College, a primer for parents and their children offering specific suggests and advice. The book features a foreword written by Joyner with writers Wil and Thomas LaVeist.

I found time to sit with the new definition of the term Renaissance Man, Tom Joyner and ask him a few questions, here is what he had to say.

1. Thank you so Much Mr. Joyner for taking the time to allow me to ask you a few questions, my first question to you is you are a radio show host, a television show host, a husband and a writer, how do you keep all of these things for affecting your marriage?

A.

2. I see that while you worked in Chicago you were offered two positions simultaneously: one for a morning show at KKDA-FM (K104) in Dallas and one for an afternoon show at WGCI-FM in Chicago and instead of choosing between the jobs you commuted daily by plane between the two cities, what was it like flying back in forth every day?

A.

3. You titled one of your books “I’m not a DJ…it just makes sense to me.” Does that mean you did not always want to be a DJ or was that just something that sounded like a good title for your book?

A.

4. Your radio show “The Tom Joyner Morning Show” has been on the air for a longtime, how have you kept listeners coming back for more all these years?

A.

5. You also have a syndicated television show of the same name, that is a one-hour comedy/variety show, combining sketch comedy and also features musical acts such as Earth, Wind and Fire, Brian McKnight, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Toni Braxton. Did you come up with the idea for the television show, or did someone else come to you with the idea?

A.

6. you seem like a very busy man with the job you have and very well-known, what keeps you grounded?

A.

Julie Langley, a professor like no other

GPC Biography
December 1, 2010
Lopez

Over the course of the average lifetime you meet a lot of people. Some of them stick with you through thick and thin. Some weave their way through your life and disappear forever. But once in a while someone comes along who earns a permanent place in your heart. Professor Julie Langley is one of those people, “I remember that she had a great sense of humor and was really passionate about her work. She always did her best to make class fun!” said Mallory Kemp, a former student of Professor Langley. Julie Langley has been teaching for 17 years now and you would think that she had always known that she had wanted to become a teacher, but surprisingly she did not always want to become a teacher, “I fought against becoming a teacher because my teacher-family-members advised against it, but I knew in my twenties that I really wanted to teach.”

Professor Langley is more than just a teacher she is also a Campus Facilitator for GPC Reads, which is “a new college-wide book club. This fall we read Pat Conroy’s The Great Santini.” Said Langley; “Every student, faculty, and staff member that joins will be reading the same novel." Members will meet online through iCollege and on campuses several times each semester to discuss the novel and to share ideas and opinions.” To participate as part of the book club, you need to contact your campus facilitator to let her/him know that you want to join GPC READS. Then all you need to do is send professor Langley or Jack Riggs an email with your GPC ID Username. It is the same username that is required for your email, SIS and iCollege.
Once you send the Campus Facilitators your GPC ID Username you will then be entered in the iCollege GPC Reads iCollege Book Club.

Campus facilitators will announce meeting times and post information and questions about the books. Besides facilitating GPC READS Professor Langley also facilitates Great Reading in Newton (GRIN) which is another college-wide book club. Being that professor Langley in charge of two book related organizations you probably realized that Professor Langley loves to read, “I could not wait to learn to read!!!!!!!!!!”

Last year Professor Langley participated in the daffodil festival in Newton County, for those of you that do not know what the daffodil festival is a celebration of the Cultures and History of Newton Campus. The festival is sponsored by the Newton Arts and Humanities Advisory Council, the Newton Student Government Association, and the GPC College Foundation, “Daffodils are an important symbol at the Newton Campus and I wanted to be part of celebrating the heritage of Newton County and Campus.” Said Langley; professor Langley is more than a professor she is a teacher that actually make students want to get involved in school activities, instead of just complaining about how there is nothing to do. That is a rare thing to find these days. So, thank you to Professor Langley for making Georgia Perimeter more enjoyable for students like me.