By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Instead of running Tom Joyner, Kiss 104.1 has chosen to create a new temporary morning show until the end of the year featuring mid-day host Sasha the Diva and afternoon hosts Art Terrell and Roy Wood Jr. The R&B station plans to bring back Joyner early next year.
This is the first time Kiss has opted to go for something other than Joyner in mornings since he joined the station as a syndicated radio host two decades ago - even for a brief time.
Joyner is using a fill-in host over the next two weeks.
In a text, Tony Kidd, vice president of programming for Cox Media Group Atlanta Radio, said they were merely trying something "for the Christmas vacation season."
This comes on the heels of a Daily Mail story earlier this month that Joyner was being forced to retire in early 2017. Joyner himself knocked down the rumor in a statement but no radio host stays on air forever. Joyner is 66 years old and still heard on about 100 affiliates, which hasn't budged much over the past 10 years.
Mid-year, Kiss cut short Joyner's 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. show at 9 a.m. to play more music.
Joyner was the first syndicated black radio host in America when he started in the mid-1990s. Several others are now on the same turf, including Steve Harvey, Rickey Smiley, Russ Parr and D.L. Hughley.
Locally, Joyner remains a force. In the Arbitron ratings book that covered November, he drew a 6.7 share, ranked third in the city, behind only V-103 and News 95.5 and AM 750 WSB.
Kiss 104.1 and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group.
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