Russ Parr, tall and square-jawed, leaned into the microphone at the WKYS-FM studio last week and began his riff on President Bush's State of the Union address and the coverage by the major television networks. "When Bush started talking about North Korea, they flashed to a Japanese guy in the audience. He was sitting there going, 'I'm freaking Japanese. I'm not Korean,' " Parr said sarcastically. He then moved on to Bush's comments about fighting AIDS in Africa: "I just felt that he wasn't genuine."
Parr, sitting in Radio One Inc.'s tiny studio in Lanham, then began sparring over the phone with black conservative commentator and Bush defender Armstrong Williams. Soon the phone banks lighted up, and dozens of listeners from Washington, Richmond, Cleveland and Charlotte were voicing their concerns. "The president did not convince me that we should go to war with Iraq. This is all about oil," said Scott from Cleveland.
Morning-show host Russ Parr, foreground, of Radio One's WKYS-FM, is backed by Supaken during a live broadcast.
(Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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Parr's outspokenness, mixed with his banter with the many black listeners who call, has made his program the top-ranked morning show among 18-to-34-year-olds in the Washington market, according to Arbitron Inc., the radio market research firm. Parr's show is syndicated in 33 cities.
He and other Radio One personalities, including Los Angeles comedian Steve Harvey and Atlanta-based morning host Ryan Cameron, are key to Radio One's main strategy: wooing the black American listening audience. That strategy is driving Radio One's steamroller expansion, which has resulted in the creation of a national network of stations and in recently announced plans to build a cable network with industry leader Comcast Corp.
That network -- scheduled for launch this summer -- will be 38.5 percent owned by Radio One and guided by the company's chief executive, Alfred C. Liggins III, son of company founder Cathy Hughes. Liggins is searching for executives to lead the network and is working on deals with three investors to provide financial backing, he said.
Radio One has bet its future on the idea that by directing its programming, marketing, research and community involvement to black listeners, it can outmaneuver massive radio companies such as Clear Channel Communications Inc., Infinity Broadcasting Corp. and Cox Radio Inc. in competition for that segment.
The company hopes to use that market research and programming know-how in the launch of its cable network targeted at black viewers. But if past is prologue, Radio One has a struggle before it. Only the 23-year-old Black Entertainment Television has profited by focusing exclusively on the black viewing audience, and in a world of 150 digital cable channels and more than 225 satellite stations, no new network is a sure success.
Radio One is run by a tight-knit team of executives: Chief Financial Officer Scott R. Royster, General Counsel Linda J. Eckard Vilardo, Chief Operating Officer Mary Catherine Sneed, and Liggins, who will have to balance steering Radio One with his role as chairman of the cable network.
The risk the company is taking may be exacerbated by its swift expansion. It has spent more than $1.6 billion buying 50 radio stations in less than four years, and the cable investment will cost it $70 million over four years. With $650 million in long-term debt, Radio One has more debt than the average radio company.
The new undertaking also comes at a time of economic uncertainty, as the advertising market continues to recover from a steep drop in 2000.
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