Tom Joyner
| Tom Joyner | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 23, 1949 Tuskegee, Alabama |
| Show | The Tom Joyner Morning Show |
| Style | Talk, Urban Adult Contemporary, R&B/Soul |
| Country | United States |
| Spouse(s) |
Donna Richardson-Joyner (Divorced 2012) Dora Chatmon Joyner (Divorced) |
| Children | Thomas Jr. Oscar |
Thomas "Tom" Joyner (born November 23, 1949) is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of Reach Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Joyner was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, the son of Frances and Hercules L. Joyner. Tom came from an educated family: his grandfather Oscar was one of only 3,000 black physicians in the United States, earning a degree in medicine in 1909. Both of his parents were graduates of historically black colleges, and both Tom and his brother Albert attended Tuskegee Institute, now known as Tuskegee University. Tom Joyner graduated with a degree in sociology. While a student at Tuskegee, Joyner joined the fraternity Omega Psi Phi. At first, his goal was to be a musician, and he joined a band, The Commodores, that included his college friend Lionel Richie, but the band did not make any money and his family encouraged him to seek another way to make a living.
Joyner had been involved in college radio, and after graduation, he began his broadcasting career in Montgomery, Alabama immediately upon graduation, and worked at a number of radio stations in the South and Midwest, including stations in Memphis and St. Louis, before moving to Chicago in early 1978. In Chicago, he first worked at WVON, doing the morning show, but left the station after only three months to work at a competitor, WBMX-FM. By late July 1978, however, he had been hired away by Charles Mootry, general manager of station WJPC (AM) (now WNTD). This station, named for "Johnson Publishing Company", was owned by John H. Johnson, owner of such black magazines as Jet and Ebony.
In 1985, 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 eight years, he commuted daily by plane between the two cities, earning the nicknames "The Fly Jock" and "The Hardest Working Man in Radio". He later told Radio Ink magazine that he racked up 7 million frequent flyer miles over the course of his employment at both stations.
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