Black activist Mark Thompson calls former listeners to action

By Robert "Rob" Redding Jr.

Publisher

Aug. 1, 2007, 3:45 p.m. (Updated Aug. 2, 2007, 11:50 a.m.)  - Black activist the Rev. Mark Thompson (Matsimela Mapfumo) today called on his former listeners to continue to fight after he was fired by Radio One-owned XM 169 The Power, ending almost 20 years with the company.

Thompson said he wants people to take what they leaned on the air and confront local injustices - like Martin Luther King worked in the trenches - to build a national movement.

"People at this moment should take everything that we have done and move from theory into action...right there in your locale," he said during an Internet radio interview.

Redding News Review last week exclusively reported that Lanham, Md.-based Radio One fired Thompson and three other XM 169 staffers. Radio One's Syndication One announced a new lineup the same day that includes "The Al Sharpton Show," "2 Live Stews" and "The Warren Ballentine Show."

Thompson, a key speaker at the "Million Man March," "Millions More Movement" and founder of the Umoja Party, made his call to action on the Black Coffee Program hosted by Cedrick Muhammad.

"We have gotten a lot of letters of love and support," he told Muhammad during a 15-minute interview. "I would like for people to continue to pray those prayers for my family and me."

Lee Michaels, national program director for Syndication One News/Talk and XM 169, declined to comment.

Story continues below ↓

Redding News Review reported last Thursday that Thompson's show "Make it Plain" and Ambrose Lane's show  "We Ourselves," along with their supporting staff, were eliminated.

Radio One has been running best of shows in the place of the two shows.

The cuts come as Comedian Sheryl Underwood decided not to sign a deal at the channel, after starting a daily show in March.

"We offered her a deal and she drug her feet about signing the deal," Michaels, said last week. Michaels, Thompson’s former boss, also cited her many scheduling conflicts.

The cuts also came as a source at Radio One had been complaining about delayed payments.

"That's absolutely untrue," Michaels said last week.

The company lost close to two-thirds of its value in the past two years earlier this year, according to a Washington Post report.

Sharpton's show will run from 1 to 4 p.m. and be followed by "The 2 Live Stews" from 4 to 7 p.m. Warren Ballentine, to air from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will kick off the new XM 169 lineup.

Radio One programs XM 169 for XM Satellite Radio, which is in the process of merging with Sirius Satellite Radio.
Syndication One, a joint venture of Radio One, Inc. and REACH Media, Inc., airs on 25 local news/talk stations across the country, according to the news release.

(Disclosure: Redding News Review's radio program was heard on XM 169 The Power's "We Ourselves").

Return to ReddingNewsReview.com
© RCI 2007. All Rights Reserved.