The nation’s first all-Black sports radio station has shut down after less than three months on-air.
Detroit-based Sports Rap Radio ended operations on Tuesday after just 86 days. The radio station, headed by National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Famer Rob Parker, was meant to be a monumental step in media. The Fox Sports Radio host, who is one of the co-founders of Sports Rap Radio, revealed that the station could not secure its “second round of funding.” This made it difficult for the station to sustain itself.
“Sports Rap Radio, the idea and concept, is viable and serves the underrepresented Black community in sports-talk radio,” Parker said. “I’m proud that we were able to launch the first all-Black sports talk station in this country. I’m proud of the product the staff delivered.”
Parker began working toward Sports Rap Radio back in 2020. The concept stemmed from a lack of Black and brown representation in on-air sports commentating. As of 2020, only 10-14 percent of radio sports personalities were people of color. Parker aimed to reach more markets, especially with his lengthy career in media, making history along the way. In the years before landing at Fox Sports Radio, Parker was the first black sports columnist employed with the Detroit Free Press in 1993 and the first black general sports columnist at Newsday in New York in 1995. Fast forward to mid-May, Parker took over WXYT in Detroit for Sports Rap Radio. It’s unclear why the funding for his project did not continue.
“I’m devastated that I couldn’t deliver this for our culture. I failed my people,” Parked added before confirming that the station’s employees would be paid their remaining salaries.
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