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.