MEDIA CULTURE  DRIVEN

Al:
The segment you're talking about is called "Coming to the Stage." And every week or every day we try to bring in someone if someone dares to come on the radio to showcase their talent. It may be musically, it may be poetry, it may be whatever. I felt if I got this platform, how can I utilize it best not just for myself, but for other people? So everyone is not going to get the opportunity to come on or get in front of an audience of five million-plus people weekly, so I just thought it was very useful to say "let me allow these people to come on the radio and showcase the talent." And by doing that, at the end of the segment, we give them handclaps or we give them non-handclaps, boos. And between myself and the cohost we have, we are very honest with them. We have a segment where a young lady came on and she just started singing, one of the first segments we started, and she started singing and I just bust out, started laughing.

 

Al:
And she just continued singing and at the end of the segment, she didn't understand why I was laughing. And one of the things I always do is "what is your day job?" And she said "such and such." And I said "don't quit your day job. You just don't have the talent to be a singer." And it became a hit. And people wanted to tune in and listen to who's coming to the stage. We had some great performances. We had some poets on there that knocked out the box that had never had an opportunity to go in front of a room and deliver their poetry. And we had some people that came on, delivered their poetry and then getting calls to go work a room to give their poetry and earned a paycheck out of it. So it's a lot of fun with it, but there's a purpose behind it at the same time.

 

Jason:
I think that's amazing. You mentioned your cohost. Tell us about how the chemistry and teamwork that you guys exemplify that fuels the brand and  the show.

 

Al:
Yeah, that's a good question. One thing I normally do, every year or two years, I may rotate my cohost. And people ask me why do I do that and I say why I do that is to keep the excitement of the show and keep the show evolving. I've had Tami Roman as a permanent cohost, Raheem DeVaughn has been a cohost, JJ Simmons who's been with Radio 1 for almost 20 years has been a cohost. And bringing them in, I look for different talent and I also look for different people that I can vibe with or people that will elevate me in what I'm doing. So the chemistry adapted very quickly, even with my current cast. I got comedian Keisha Hunt, I have a young man named Wood Gatlin who has never been on radio and he became a great asset to the team. For some reason, I have a knack for picking good talent and bringing them on and giving them a platform and opportunity to brand themselves.

 

Al:
It's not just a situation to brand myself or brand the show, but it's something that's very cohesive and people that I know that I can vibe with. I bring them on, we do a trial test. They may be on the radio for two or three weeks and if we feel they have the chemistry or they have what it takes to help us get to the next level, we give them a contract and they stay on. And most of them stay on for a year, two years, depends on whatever it is. But as long as the show is growing and I'm able to bring in new talent to sit in those chairs, we going to continue doing that.

 

Jason:
I think that's amazing. And what I want you to do for us again, for our audience is I want you to wrap up things by reminding them what's in store for you going into 2020. Again, you mentioned Al Rucker Unplugged, let them know where they can be sure to tune in to get that from.

 

Al:
Yeah. We are very excited about that. 2020 is very big for us and one of the big things we have is Al Rucker Show Uncut, which we got the deal is going to be on Comcast and you'll be able to get it on all digital platforms, all VoD, video-on-demand platforms. It's going to be streaming. And right now we're going to be seen in the Atlanta area and I believe it's channel 28 on Comcast. We're going to be in the Delaware area, the whole state of Delaware, we have B&B, Baltimore, DC, Virginia, the Poconos up in the New York area. So right now we got those potential markets, about seven, eight markets where we're going to be hitting around an estimated 11 million homes and we plan on branching out as we go. In the third quarter of 2020, we'll be seen on Comcast in Houston and Dallas. So 2020 is going to be a great year for us and we're going to be seen every Friday on those deals.

 

Al:
But to get more information about the television show, they can go to alruckershow.com and see everything about the radio show. They can see what markets we're in, they can see if we're in their market, and they can also see if we're in the market for Al Rucker Show Uncut.

 

Jason:
Well, brother, I want to thank you for first and foremost your philanthropy, your entrepreneurial spirit and just what you're doing in the broadcasting, journalism sector as a whole. And I wish you continued success and I appreciate you taking this time to kick it with us here at Lavish Life Magazine, my brother. I wish you the best.

 

Al:
All right, thank you, man.

 

Jason:
All right, have a good one.