Letter to WERQ 92.3FM Baltimore
June 8, 2006
Mr. Victor Starr
Program Director
WERQ 92Q Jams
1705 Whitehead Road
Baltimore, MD 21207
Dear Mr. Starr,
I appreciate your timely and thoughtful response to my May 2 letter. In addition, I am glad that you agree with me that the “Big Phat Wire†segment was inappropriate.
As it pertains to the “give it up on the first date†question, I still believe that this question is an inappropriate one as well. I believe that asking adults if they would “give it up on the first date†might negatively influence a youth to think that it’s ok to do such. Then on the flip side your station brings people on the air like Debra Hickman from Sisters Together and Reaching (STAR) to talk about HIV/AIDS. I view this as potentially confusing to young impressionable minds.
Me turning off the radio won’t do anything to protect the young people from conflicting messages that add more confusion to the already complex society that they’re encountering.
I doubt if we’ll ever come to a point of agreement on this issue, but I have been encouraged to become a more aggressive media justice advocate. I know now what the FCC defines as obscene, profane, and indecent broadcasts. I am also becoming increasingly aware of how lack of non-White media ownership and payola is impacting what stations like WERQ is broadcasting.
While the music industry and radio broadcast companies are used to older people challenging artists’ lyrics and stereotypes, I believe there is an ever increasing percentage of younger listeners like me who are a part of the hip hop generation that are sick of how corporate influence is perverting our sacred genre of music.
I’ll be joining with other young advocates who refuse to continue to dance to the tunes of our own demise. No matter what Lil John, Busta Rhymes, Ying Yang Twins, Shawnna, major media conglomerates, or their corporate sponsors say – I know African people are better than this.
I’m sure at some point our paths will cross again. I appreciate the dialogue.
Respectfully,
Minister Heber Brown, III
May 9th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Thank you!