Jay Smooth, the Host of the Longest Running Hip-Hop Radio Show, Quits in Protest of New Hire
Jay Smooth takes a stand
Since 1991, Jay Smooth has been the host of The Underground Railroad, the longest-running hip-hop radio show in New York.
As of Thursday, July 19th, the show is no more.
READ: 1998: The Year Black Artists Changed Music As We Know It
Jay Smooth announced that he was resigning from WBAI, The Underground Railroad’s home for the last 27 year. The reason? In protest of the fact that WBAI hired Leonard Lopate, a longtime host of WNYC who was fired last year for “inappropriate conduct.”
WNYC did an investigation and found multiple complaints against Lopate, which ranged from inappropriate comments to bullying.
That didn’t stop public radio station WBAI, which is based in Brooklyn, from hiring him. The station is also paying Lopate and his producer, something that is unusual for producers and hosts at WBAI. On Monday, July 16th. the first episode of Lopate at Large premiered. During the show, the allegations were barely touched or addressed.
After the show aired, Smooth let his frustrations be known. He told the Columbia Journalism Review:
If this show is still airing as of Friday, I’m definitely not going back on Friday…The question for me is, have we gone past the point that I want to go back at all?
HEAR: In Hip-Hop and Beyond: Bill Withers
Smooth also took his frustrations to social media. Over the week he sent out numerous tweets directed toward WBAI:
My radio home for almost 30 years, @WBAI, has decided to put Leonard Lopate back on the air, just months after he was fired from WNYC for years of misconduct with women there. And I am disgusted and ashamed. https://t.co/3e96iEB7zI
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 17, 2018
“Leonard Lopate is like Jackie Robinson” https://t.co/77Ha5hr7c0
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 18, 2018
Looks like @WBAI deleted their response to my critique of hiring Lopate, so here it is again for posterity. pic.twitter.com/rdbckE8Q1N
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 18, 2018
Yesterday somebody tweeted me comparing Leonard Lopate to Jackie Robinson, and I thought things couldn’t get any more ridiculous.
Then today, @WBAI‘s official twitter account retweeted that guy. pic.twitter.com/pkNjVn43Bp
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 19, 2018
This is the top of @WBAI‘s twitter page right now. I wish I was making this up. pic.twitter.com/J1bemNhghZ
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 19, 2018
So @radiopacifica, you’re okay with @WBAI representing our network this way? Is this what Pacifica stands for now? https://t.co/OjycFK0am6
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 19, 2018
And I’ll just let this speak for itself. https://t.co/ehVyetbyu6
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 19, 2018
And on Thursday afternoon, Jay Smooth officially announced he was leaving WBAI, a place he has called home since 1989.
And so, here we are. This is incredibly painful, despite all their efforts to make the decision easier. But there is no other choice.
I will no longer be broadcasting on @WBAI. pic.twitter.com/3B17N0dAlO
— jay smooth (@jsmooth995) July 19, 2018
Jay Smooth, who regularly posts on his Ill Doctrine video blog, has a Patreon. Support it here.
Source: CJR
