The city of Detroit now boasts its first all-Black-led sports radio station. Rob Parker, a former Detroit sports presenter, founded Sports Rap Radio on AM 1270, making it the first Black-owned radio station featuring all Black hosts not only in Detroit but throughout the country.
Parker told CBS Detroit, “[This is] history-making. [It’s] groundbreaking, [and]we just believe that the time has come.”
He added, “Just four years ago, there were no Black full-time sports hosts on the radio in Detroit. In a city that’s nearly 80% black, I looked at that as a problem.”
Once the trailblazer realized he couldn’t do it alone, he put together a group of co-owners that included his old friend Dave Kenney, former NBA player BJ Armstrong, and Maurice “Moe” Ways, a wide receiver for the University of Michigan and a former Detroit Country Day football champion.
Even though Ways’ hopes of playing in the NFL were dashed four years ago due to an injury, Sports Rap Radio will allow him to share his opinions and fill a vacuum in the sports radio industry.
Ways and Parker first connected during Ways’ high school years, and they have remained in contact ever since.
Ways expressed his excitement saying, “Life has an amazing way of showing you signs and dropping seeds and coming full circle. So, [I’m] very humble, very grateful, and ready to get to work.”
An all-local lineup from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. is on air Monday through Friday, with some local programming available on weekends.
