Press Release
African American Lives - "African American Lives 2"
Participant biographies
AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2
TOM JOYNER
Tom Joyner’s Alabama roots include his maternal grandparents, Isaac Dumas and Nettie Standback, who helped found and run Presbyterian Mission Schools in Wilcox County to provide opportunity for the black community during the depths of Jim Crow segregation.
Joyner was born in Tuskegee and received his B.S. in sociology from Tuskegee University (formerly the Tuskegee Institute). Today, an entrepreneur, entertainer, and philanthropist, he hosts the leading nationally syndicated morning radio program, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, which features a who’s-who of newsmakers, celebrities and comedians.
Joyner began his broadcasting career in Montgomery, Alabama, followed by stints in Memphis and St. Louis. In the mid-1980s, he made his claim to fame when he accepted simultaneous positions as “morning drive man” at Dallas’s KKDA and “afternoon drive man” at Chicago’s WGCI, flying everyday between the two cities and earning the nickname “Fly Jock.”
Among Joyner’s many awards and honors are four Best Urban Contemporary Air Personality awards from Billboard magazine and the prestigious Marconi Radio Award from the National Association of Broadcasters. He has received the Hubert Humphrey Award from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Congressional Black Caucus’s Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award, and the NAACP’s President’s Award. Joyner is an inductee of both the Radio Hall of Fame and Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, and author of the memoir I’m Just a DJ But…It Makes Sense to Me.
In 1997, Joyner created the Tom Joyner Foundation, which has raised more than $55 million to date for African-American students in need at historically black colleges and universities nationwide. He has led voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, as well as major fundraising efforts to help families and students affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Joyner lives in Dallas with his wife, fitness guru Donna Richardson. He has two sons, Thomas, Jr. and Oscar.
AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES 2
TOM JOYNER
Tom Joyner’s Alabama roots include his maternal grandparents, Isaac Dumas and Nettie Standback, who helped found and run Presbyterian Mission Schools in Wilcox County to provide opportunity for the black community during the depths of Jim Crow segregation.
Joyner was born in Tuskegee and received his B.S. in sociology from Tuskegee University (formerly the Tuskegee Institute). Today, an entrepreneur, entertainer, and philanthropist, he hosts the leading nationally syndicated morning radio program, the Tom Joyner Morning Show, which features a who’s-who of newsmakers, celebrities and comedians.
Joyner began his broadcasting career in Montgomery, Alabama, followed by stints in Memphis and St. Louis. In the mid-1980s, he made his claim to fame when he accepted simultaneous positions as “morning drive man” at Dallas’s KKDA and “afternoon drive man” at Chicago’s WGCI, flying everyday between the two cities and earning the nickname “Fly Jock.”
Among Joyner’s many awards and honors are four Best Urban Contemporary Air Personality awards from Billboard magazine and the prestigious Marconi Radio Award from the National Association of Broadcasters. He has received the Hubert Humphrey Award from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Congressional Black Caucus’s Mickey Leland Humanitarian Award, and the NAACP’s President’s Award. Joyner is an inductee of both the Radio Hall of Fame and Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, and author of the memoir I’m Just a DJ But…It Makes Sense to Me.
In 1997, Joyner created the Tom Joyner Foundation, which has raised more than $55 million to date for African-American students in need at historically black colleges and universities nationwide. He has led voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives, as well as major fundraising efforts to help families and students affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Joyner lives in Dallas with his wife, fitness guru Donna Richardson. He has two sons, Thomas, Jr. and Oscar.