Delaware's KISS 101.7 and Tyrese...Crazy Drama

Tyrese's recent visit to Delaware stirred up quite a bit of controversy with a certain local urban radio station (KISS 101.7), now didn't it? At this point, if you want to know how the Tyrese vs. KISS drama began, prepare to be confused. Because depending on who you ask, you will get a different story. With that being said, I'll give you the facts, as I know them, and then let you know how I really feel about the situation.

Fact #1: Tyrese came to Delaware and spoke to youth at Eastside Charter School about the benefits of staying in school

Fact #2: Tyrese went into a liquor store to purchase gum. The liquor store had no gum but had plenty of RUM (surprise?). Said liquor store was across the street (or in very close proximity) to Eastside Charter School 

Fact #3: Tyrese went to KISS 101.7 and participated in an on-air interview with radio personality Rob J. During this interview, Tyrese voiced his opinion about a liquor store being across the street from an elementary school (no bueno!)

Fact #4: All hell broke loose at the radio station and Tyrese was kicked out by program director Tony Q (reasons for kick out are still a little hazy)

Fact #5: Tyrese went to University of Delaware and gave a speech about transforming your life in a program sponsored by UD's Cultural Programming Advisory Board. 

The four facts listed above are about all I can confirm to be true. Now, aside from what is stated above, I have some speculations and opinions worth considering. So here I go...

First of all, I commend Tyrese for his outspoken rant about a liquor store being so close to an elementary school. I agree, elementary school areas are not the best place for liquor stores. However, in all fairness, Tyrese was at Eastside Charter School. For those who may not know, a liquor store being across the street from an elementary school in East Wilmington is the least of the residents' worries. Trust.

I'm not implying that Tyrese shouldn't have spoken out about the issue, it's just the intensity with which he choose to argue was a bit dramatic. It's a liquor store; and while not necessarily a good influence on the youth in the community, there is plenty of other more pressing issues that the Eastside of Wilmington needs to deal with. I can assure you that students at Eastside Charter can't go into that liquor store and purchase liquor. And there are no cartoon characters or other overly child friendly images on the outside of that liquor store luring children to alcoholism.  So for the sake of importance, the liquor store in question wasn't really worth all the attention Tyrese gave it. Yet and still, I commend the man for his efforts because liquor stores in the inner-city (of any city) is a problem. Alcoholism is definitely a problem in the black community. Most of the time you can't buy a fresh piece of fruit in the 'hood but you betta' believe you can always get a 5th of Henny whenever you need it. So we know there is a problem. The issue here is just that Tyrese may have barked up a pretty useless, tired tree with this one....

Now on to KISS 101.7 and Tony Q---- I really hope they had a valid reason to kick Tyrese out of their radio station. As it stands, their reasons are pretty weak. Tony Q's public statement, which explained the reason for the kick-out, was unprofessional, full of ego and rude (and if I may say so, it was VERY poorly written).

As the program director of Delaware's only urban radio station, I feel that Tony Q could have expressed himself in a more respectable manner (see below for Tony Q's official statement). His statement was full of personal anger toward to Tyrese which should have been reserved for another outlet, not an official public statement. Furthermore, Tony Q's ignorance about the black community scares the ish out of me.  I mean, KISS 101.7 is an URBAN radio station and it's program director is uninformed about the majority ethnic group/race in Delaware's urban communities. FYI Tony, Tyrese's use of the term 'HOMIE' did not stereotype the black community in anyway; using the term 'homie' is part of Westcoast vernacular (and Tyrese is from the Westcoast).  People on the Westcoast say 'homie' all of the time. It is what it is...so, there was no point in making use of the term 'homie' a cultural and/or racial issue.

On a side note, I would like Tony Q. to know something---- Tyrese's speech at the University of Delaware was an open event sponsored by UD's Cultural Programming Advisory Board. Neither Tyrese nor the University of Delaware were obligated to invite KISS listeners to hear a speech at UD. If any KISS listeners attend University of Delaware then they surely would have known Tyrese was coming and if they so desired, they could have attended the event. This was not an event to be advertised over KISS airwaves. Those in the know, knew and those who didn't know.....well, too bad for them. According to your public statement it seems you were one of those who didn't know about Tyrese's engagement at UD.....Is that your real issue, Tony? You mad homie?

In the end, I have no clue of the exact circumstances behind KISS 101.7 kicking Tyrese out of their station. In my personal opinion, Tony Q let his ego come before his common sense and professionalism and he overreacted. Tyrese, a well-spoken and passionate actor, singer and author, felt strongly about his thoughts on the placement of liquor stores in Wilmington and spoke out about his concerns. When faced with Tony Q's ego, Tyrese choose not to back down and surrender. Both Tyrese and Tony Q seem to be very strong-willed people who let a small situation spiral out of control. Anyway, after all is said and done, what has any of this done for the issue of liquor stores in the black community? NOTHING AT ALL.

According to a certain source at KISS 101.7, people shouldn't believe everything they hear. However, what happens when what you hear comes straight from the horses mouth? I mean, I was told that Tyrese's music wasn't bannned from KISS but CLEARLY the program director says differently (last time I checked, pulling someone's single from rotation is pretty close to being banned....at least for the time being). Check out the official statement from KISS 101.7's program director Tony Q below. And if you are interested you can also check out the social networking airwaves and join the slew of people who plan to never (and I do mean NEVER) support KISS again in life.

After checking all of this out, leave me a comment and tell me what you think!

Jonezy

The following is a letter that was sent to Tyrese’s Record Company on the facts! I thought you should know! Tony Q

Tyrese I have heard enough of your lies. I am the Owner & General Manager of the station that "kicked" you off the air. Now you know full well what the reason was. In case you forgot I will remind you.

When you came into the station I was informed by my staff that you were not in a good mood. You went on the air and said that you wanted to stop and get a Pepsi and a candy bar. I am surprised that you couldn't tell the difference between a convenience store and a liquor store. You proceeded to lecture to the audience that they had to do something about this, that liquor stores should not be near schools. This I do not disagree with but in case you didn’t know, liquor stores as well as schools are controlled by the state. This is the part that upset me. It was the way you spoke on the air. You stereotyped your own culture by calling them “hommies” ect, almost blaming Delawareans for allowing liquor stores to be there. The DJ on the air said to you that this is not the only state that has this problem, your reply was I don't care I am here now in Delaware.As far as I know there are no liquor stores located across the street from a school. I have it all on tape if you need to be refreshed. What got me very upset was that this was a way for you to promote your event at the University of Delaware. You were having a book signing and you were also going to perform. You know Mr.Tyrese being a black radio station, it’s hard enough getting people to advertise on this format and yet when a performer comes to a radio station as a guest and then uses the airwaves for personal gain is wrong. Why didn't the college, your record company or your management work out some type of promotion to invite the people you were lecturing on the air to attend your event. What you did was made your on air time an info commercial. I do not expect that from a Black performer to use us. Imagine how I felt to find out that Tyrese was going to be performing in our backyard and we didn't even know about it, nor did our listeners. Maybe you found out that day, that it wasn't promoted and you decided to use us rather then support the station that supported you. That's right we were the 1st station in the north east to support your new song.

Also, you have the order of what happened on the air wrong. You came on lecturing to our listeners; you then asked the DJ if we had any listeners. What kind of question was that, asking if we had any listeners? Then you went right into promoting your big night at the University of Delaware. You received the full air time you deserved. We did not cut off your “mike”, we did not let the audience know that the interview was over, but you did. You couldn't wait to “tweet” your words everywhere and let people believe that you were kicked off because you were talking about a liquor store, this was not the reason. You got away with taking advantage of the only remaining independent station in the North East.

It’s situations like this that are killing the Black Division of Record Companies. Do you think for one second if a Pop group was appearing somewhere and that Pop station didn't know about it, what would have happened. That's right; the record of that group would have been pulled. In this case how you acted with your lies, you got your own record pulled from the station. You came to the radio station hot and you left hot. Oh by the way I understand that you made a big deal at the Double Tree Hotel behind the station, something about a room, your mouth got in the way again and they threw you out of there too! You need to check yourself. It could be you.

you have taken enough of my energy, I wish you well on getting your records played on the major station chains.

Tony Q
Owner and General Manager
WJKS-FM