I See Black People: The Rise and Fall of African American-Owned Television and Radio » (First Trade Paper Edition)

Kristal Brent Zook, Ph.D., is an associate professor of journalism at Hofstra University and an award-winning contributing writer with Essence magazine. She is the author of Color by: The Fox Network at the Revolution in Black Television and Black Women’s Lives: Stories of Power and Pain. She lives in New York City. 

I See Black People is a narrative history of the behind-the-scenes politics of black television and radio ownership, including the stories of the failure of the Black Famlly Channel, The World African Network, and Russell Simmons Fabulous TV, as well as that of Catherine Hughes, who’d aggressively acquired radio stations, becoming the first black woman to head a firm that publicly traded on the stock exchange. While securing its place in the marketplace, the company is now 20 percent black owned. By offering insights into the failure of public policy that have impeded black access to ownership through the last thirty years, the author explores that current state of black media and questions its direction.

School Library Journal

The subject of media ownership raises many complex questions. Along these lines, freelance journalist Zook (Black Women's Lives) traces the history of African American-owned radio and television stations through a series of interviews with individuals who shaped this segment of the industry. These interviews not only offer firsthand details about the emergence of the stations-their programming philosophies and the necessary existence of their unique perspectives-but also provide thought-provoking information about the struggles, disparities, politics, and inner workings of it all. Among the highlighted figures are Percy Sutton, onetime Manhattan borough president and cofounder of Inner City Broadcasting; Booker Wade, owner of an African American public television station; and Jim Winston, executive director of a national trade association for African American radio and television owners. Each makes a significant and eye-opening contribution here, bringing to light issues and challenges that are often lost in a culture overshadowed by corporate media giants. Zook presents keenly insightful background and commentary, and readers will be left hungry for more. For circulating libraries and large media collections.-Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ

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Introduction     vii
James L. Winston     1
Catherine Liggins Hughes     15
Percy and Pierre Sutton     29
William Delford Davis     53
Frank Washington     69
Dorothy Edwards Brunson     85
Booker Wade     107
Melody Spann-Cooper     129
Chauncey Wendell Bailey, Jr., and Leonard D. Stephens     147
Robert D. Short, Jr.     161
Afterword     181
Index     185