November 1, 2007 marks the official start date of the newest and soon to be nationally known coalition-The Gate Keepers. None other than, Florida's very own C. Wakeley, "The Record Breaker", has founded The Gate Keepers. C. Wakeley has long been known as one of the southeast region's top record promoters and managers. He is now using his expertise of the music industry as a launch pad to better advocate for artists. C. Wakeley has, for his entire tenure in the music game, championed and rallied for the cause of the independent artist. However, this rationale should not be mistaken as an effort to disregard the promotional needs of major artists also. The two aforementioned statements are what led to the formation of The Gate Keepers.
This coalition will unselfishly and relentlessly promote and push the forward progression of artists, both independent and major. The Gate Keepers consist of 75+ hand-selected members that were chosen on the basis of their already existing niches within the music industry. The Gate Keepers membership profile reflects the ideology that one must enact the grass roots approach of record promotions. This approach entails starting in the streets and focusing on the clubs while simultaneously utilizing the various modes of media and marketing for a maximum effect of pushing a record intensely. The Gate Keepers is a conglomeration of the individuals needed for such a campaign - DJs, Street Promoters, Club Promoters, Journalists, and Internet Marketers. This coalition is devoted to the successful promotion of records and the "steady on the grind" mentality needed for unprecedented record breaking. What the industry claims it needs has now arrived in the form of The Gate Keepers.
Why Is BlackRadioIsBack.com Around and What Do You Mean by "Black Radio is Back"?
My mission for BlackRadioIsBack.com, as the official blog of the syndicated FuseBox Radio Broadcast is to bring back the spirit of Black Radio via the Internet and the World Wide Web.
In the past few years, the term, mission and mentality of "Black Radio" in the United States has been at the very least ignored and that the worst, totally disregarded, disrespected and shunned.
In my mind, Black Radio at its best is & will always be the format that brings to listeners:
1. A balanced combination of diverse & interesting music in multiple formats – after all Black Radio was the format that first exposed Jazz, Funk, Soul, Blues, Rock Music - yes, Rock and Roll has Black American musical foundations - do the history, Gospel and Hip-Hop music to the masses.
2. A quality mix of news, interviews and commentary to the Black American community (and to anyone else interested) - editorial, political, health, social, etc.
3. A mission to truly connect with its listener community on multiple fronts Black Radio, in most of the mainstream airwaves, has been taken over by what's called "urban radio", "contemporary urban radio", etc.
It seems that with this format, what most stations, radio hosts and mixers do is keep things in a very narrow vision of what the Black American cultural experience is supposed to be like and how its represented - basically, watering things down.
For example:
* When you hear the same joint for the 1,000,000th time on the radio and you know the artist has an album release (or multiple releases) out that you can at least TRY to hear more tracks from before a 3 month period OR you always hear the same music artists in constant rotation = NOT quality Black Radio
* When "Old School" music is defined as being from 5 years ago and/or not acknowledging music from the past = NOT quality Black Radio
* When there is only one viewpoint of what Black America and Black Americans represent (either straight 24-7 criminality without consequences or creativity or only the civil rights generation is great with everyone else not under that being subpar) = NOT quality Black Radio
* Putting on the same sound effect and/or screaming over 10 times in a row for a 3 minute song that is not even hot = NOT quality Black Radio
This list can go on for days…
BlackRadioIsBack.com will have music audio & videos from all over the world along with reviews (for both mainstream and independent artists), written and audio interviews with various folks in the community (music artists, authors, businesspeople, activists, etc.), book, magazine and movie reviews and editorials.
BlackRadioIsBack.com will also be a location where others who are promoting the spirit of Black Radio will also be represented and highlighted.
I hope that everyone enjoys the site and gets stimulated by the true Black Radio Experience!
Peace,
Mary Nichols (DJ Fusion)
Founder, BlackRadioIsBack.com
FuseBox Radio/FuseBox Media LLC
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