Can't get Here from There

Answering this call to duty was two young and ambitious black men in New York City, the headquarters location of all the major broadcast-networks at that time. Eugene Jackson, an engineer with an MBA and Sydney Small, a business major along with, Del Raycee, a consummate veteran from the grandfather of all radio networks, Mutual Broadcasting, formed the National Black Network under a parent company called Unity Broadcasting, Inc.

Can’t get HERE from THERE picks up the story from the initial broadcast, July 1973. This is where the author joined the group and served as chief operator of the broadcast division through its demise nearly twenty years later. Among the pertinent discussions undertaken in the book are:

1. The "benign neglect" posture maintained by major national advertisers and their ad agencies with regards to entering contracts with black owned media companies.
2. The struggles to have white owners of radio stations programmed for black audiences understand the need for news of a different approach. (Blacks owned scarcely more than ten radio stations when the network was formed)
3. Profiles of the network’s starting line up of personnel and its creative approach to programming for the target audience.
4. The pros and cons of in-house politics and their long range affect on the company and the ownership team. And the scarcity of trained personnel as was needed for this project.
5. Special projects which included the participation of celebrities such as Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Bill Cosby and political luminaries like President Jimmy Carter, Congressman Andy Young, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Presidential Cabinet Member Arthur Fletcher, et al.
6. The final chapter is devoted entirely to NBN’s dealings with fight promoter Don King in the network’s effort to bring back big time boxing to radio. After three fights featuring Mike Tyson and his opponents were heard in many parts of the world, the agreement began crumbling.
7. Many of the topics broached herein are treated, to some degree, as human-interest episodes. This should, by no means, raise any questions as to the veracity of the conditions and circumstances as noted.