Jesse Jackson hits the airwaves with new radio show

Jet, April 19, 2004

The Rev. Jesse Jackson is hosting his own live national talk show on Clear Channel Radio stations.

Airing in Chicago, the nation's third-largest market behind New York and Los Angeles, the "Keep Hope Alive With the Rev. Jesse Jackson" call-in radio program made its debut Sunday, April 4, on WGCI-AM (1390) from 7 to 8 a.m. Central time. It will also run in Detroit, New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Before the show's premiere, Jackson told JET in a telephone interview that he anticipated discussing up-to-date cultural, political and religious issues using a medium as interactive as radio.

The most exciting thing about the show is "talking to people around the nation simultaneously and [knowing] they are able to call in and talk back," Jackson said.

He also noted he arranged for the inaugural program to coincide with the April 4 assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which Jackson witnessed at close range, he said.

Aside from retrospective topics, Jackson also would engage forward-looking debates about the NCAA basketball tournament controversy concerning the disturbingly low graduation rate of Black ballplayers over the past 10 years.

Clear Channel Radio, a division of Clear Channel Communications, Inc., is a leading radio company focused on serving communities across the U.S. with more than and 110 million listeners.

John Hogan, CEO of Clear Channel Radio, said the company is excited to have the civil rights icon on board.