05.04.08
Posted in Community Action at 9:35 pm by Administrator
Los Angeles, CA - May 5, 2008 – Mother’s Day Radio (MDR), a community organization dedicated to elevating the images of women in popular music, will hold the 2nd annual “Mother’s Day Radio 2008, A Day of Rest and Uplift”, this Saturday May 10, 2008 in the Crenshaw district. This celebration will honor the strength and wisdom of women through Hip Hop music and spoken words.
Mother’s Day Radio experienced its first major victory on the weekend of Mother’s Day 2007, after weeks of petitioning local radio stations resulted in two Los Angeles radio stations and one Erie, Pennsylvania station—KJLH 102.3 fm,V100.3 fm and WERG 90.5 fm–playing a full day of positive, respectful and uplifting music in honor of women everywhere.
Shaunelle Curry, executive director of MDR, says, “I have a vision for our young girls and young boys that no longer limits their potential for relating to one another to that of sexual degradation, oppression and violence. In this vision, womanhood is honored and revered.” She adds, “We have planted the seed. We now call upon all to support this work’s growth by taking an active role in Mother’s Day Radio’s 2nd Annual Day of Rest and Uplift. This is a national day to rest from violence, sexual denigration, and misogynistic acts in our community and in our music. This is a day to uplift one another through song.”
This year, Mother’s Day Radio has organized an MDR Task Force in at least 7 other cities across the U.S. including Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, and Atlanta. These groups have spent the past month targeting local radio stations and media outlets in their communities for a day of honoring women through music. They have also mobilized their communities to gather for a Day of Rest and Uplift on May 10, 2008, the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.
In Los Angeles, the celebration will take place Saturday, May 10, 2008, at the Harambe Farmer’s Market, 5730 Crenshaw Blvd., (Crenshaw and Slauson) from 12 noon to 4pm.
For more information, please contact L.A. Task Forcer Leader, Mecca Islam at 323-977-3749 or mecca_islam@yahoo.com.
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04.25.07
Posted in Community Action at 4:51 pm by Administrator
MDR Community,
We are learning every day the power of our Unified Voice. Roberts Broadcasting is “banning programming and music lyrics that it deems violent, sexist and racist” from its Hip-Hop radio station. Russell Simmons is now recommending eliminating certain words from radio play and deeming them “extreme curse words.”
Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the NAACP, and community organizations like Mothers In Action are stepping up with campaigns to address the misogyny, degradation and violence in the current mainstream rap market.
As a community, we are understanding and exercising the power of our One Voice. This work requires the whole community–not just those public figures we deem leaders–to stand in unity and SPEAK!
This is our last Wednesday in April. Again today, we will be emailing, calling and faxing the radio stations and broadcast companies. We are not asking them to bleep out a few explicit words. We are calling for 24 hours of rest from songs whose lyrical content is misogynistic, degrading and disrespectful in nature. We are calling for 24 hours of music programming that respectfully represents women. We are calling for a day to honor and elevate ourselves on the public airwaves.
Please visit the Community Action section of the MDR blog (www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4) for instructions, a list of stations and contact information, and for the MDR official cover letter to be included in your emails. Let us set a record today in call ins, emails and faxes.
We are the One Voice, the collective momentum, that can create a shift in the recording and broadcast industries. Our work has just begun.
A friend recently sent me this quote and I share it with you. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision that something else is more important.” –Ambrose Redmoon
Let us make the decision to be courageous and ensure that our ONE VOICE is heard!
~Shaunelle Curry, Executive Director of Mother’s Day Radio
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04.18.07
Posted in Community Action at 4:19 pm by Administrator
Greetings MDR Community,
We thank you for your consistent effort in emailing the radio stations and broadcast companies during our Wednesday Days of Action and Agitation. Because of your efforts, we have begun conversations with radio station execs and have received written responses to your efforts. Let’s continue to DRIVE IT HOME!
We have two Wednesdays left in April and we are closer to our goal. Today and April 25th, we will add phone calls and faxes to our agitation strategy. Please check out the list of stations published in the Community Action category of our blog (www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4/). You will notice that we have added new stations, per your request, and have included the available telephone and fax numbers to many of the stations and broadcast companies. Remember to include the MDR Official Cover letter in your emails, also found in the Community Action category of our blog.
Please phone, fax, and email these companies with your request for their participation in one Day of Rest and Uplift on Saturday, May 12, 2007 of Mother’s Day weekend.
Mother’s Day Radio is calling for 24 hours of rest from music with misogynistic, sexually degrading, lyrical content. We request 24 hours of music that respectfully represents women. We are calling into accountability the recording industry, the broadcast industry, the listening community and consumers. We are not putting our efforts into blaming, but into holding the industry and ourselves accountable to creating needed, systemic change.
Remember, Mother’s Day Radio is a CALL TO ACTION by the community to make clear how we want women to be represented in Hip-Hop culture and to implement a strategic plan for attaining it. This is an action of cooperation with artists, providing them with an opportunity for the creative self-expression of love, worth and value in their particular medium.
Thank you, again, MDR Community. In order to maintain clear records of your outreach, please ”CC” info@mothersdayradio.com in your email agitations, as many of you have already been doing. We will be sure to follow up with those stations.
Thank You!
~Team MDR
www.mothersdayradio.com
www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4/
www.petitiononline.com/60806/petition.html
www.myspace.com/mothersdayradio
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04.04.07
Posted in Community Action at 3:55 pm by Administrator
Greetings MDR Community,
Thank You once again for participating in our collective Day of Action & Agitation. Every Wednesday in April we will be emailing radio stations to request their participation in a Day of Rest and Uplift for women via the radio. You also have an opportunity to express your concerns and constructive insight in these emails. Instructions and a list of radio stations and contacts are posted in the “Community Action” Category of our MDR blog.
You are welcome to send in emails any day of the week. However, our collective days of impact will be on April 4th, April 11th, April 18th, and April 25th. So, be sure to partipate on those days as well.
Thank you for your participation. As “we uplift a woman, we uplift a nation!”
~Team MDR
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03.30.07
Posted in Community Action at 6:08 pm by Administrator
Thank you to All who participated in our MDR Community Day of Action & Agitation. We are still getting requests from community members who want to participate! More stations have been added, so please check our blog periodically and send emails to those new stations.
Our next collective Day of Agitation will be on Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Please continue to send in the city, radio station number and call letters, along with any contact information you have, for stations you would like to have participate in the Day of Rest and Uplift. We will add those stations to our blog list. If you are unable to locate contact information, please be sure to send in the call letters of the station; this makes it simpler for us to locate contact information, particularly for stations that broadcast in multiple cities.
Thank you, once again, for your continued support of the Mother’s Day Radio call to action. Continue to spread the word. We have had so many people come to us in gratitude for this initiative. Your petition signature, your email to the stations, and your word to a friend, are positively impacting people you may never have an opportunity to meet. Thank You.
~Team MDR
“With communities coming together, we can affect change.”
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03.28.07
Posted in Community Action at 2:46 pm by Administrator
Beginning Wednesday, March 28, 2007, and continuing every Wednesday in April, the MDR Community is engaging in a Day of Action & Agitation. We request your participation as we email radio stations throughout the nation, requesting their support for our 24 hours of rest and uplift for women on radio.
To participate, simply insert the email addresses of radio stations that community members have identified, into the “To” field of your email. Email addresses can be found on this blog under title heading: Day of Action Station Contact List.
Next, copy and paste in its entirety, the Official MDR Introductory Cover Letter to Radio & Broadcast Companies (also posted on this blog) into the body of your email. Please keep the content exactly as it is posted on this site.
We encourage you to express your Voice with your constructive thoughts and views surrounding this topic. This can be done beneath the closing of the MDR official statement.
Add a subject line such as “A message from your listening community.”
Next, send it off and wah-lah! You’ve engaged in MDR Community Action. We encourage you to email all of the stations on our list to increase support.
If you have additional stations you would like to have participate in our Day of Rest and Uplift on Saturday, May 12, 2007 of Mother’s Day weekend, please email us the city, station (please include station call letters) and contact email, and we will add it to our growing list. Thank you!
~Team MDR
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Posted in Community Action at 2:18 pm by Administrator
The following radio stations have been identified for our Day of Action & Agitation. We will add new stations to the list as you send them in. If there is a station that is not listed that you would like to have participate in Mother’s Day Radio’s Day of Rest and Uplift, please send us the city and station, along with contact information. Thank you!
CITY STATION CONTACT
St. Louis, MO 100.3 The Beat DennisLamme@clearchannel.com
Arikaparr@clearchannel.com
Tommy Austin 314-333-8000 (ph)
Atlanta, GA 95.5 The Beat Tony.kidd@coxradio.com
Lee.cagle@coxradio.com
Lee Cagle 404-897-7500 (ph)
Tony Kidd 404-253-2112 (ph)
Nashville, TN 101 The Beat programming@101thebeat.com
Program Director 615-664-2400 (ph)
615-664-2406 (fax)
New York, NY Power 105.1 FM power1051fm@clearchannel.com
Rob Williams (GM) 212-704-1051 (ph)
212-869-3299 (fax)
Los Angeles, CA Power 106 power106info@power106.com
Jimmy Steal 818-953-4200 (ph)
818-848-0961 (fax)
Kday 93.5 programming@935kday.com
Program Director 323-337-1600 (ph)
San Diego, CA Jammin Z 90.3 Marcie@fcbroadcasting.com
RThomas@fcbroadcasting.com
Program Director 858-495-9100 (ph)
Riverside/San Bernadino 96.1 Wild alfuentes@wild96.com
Al Fuentes 909-663-1961
Portland, OR KXJM 95.5 Mark.Adams@jamminfm.com
Tim.Mcnamara@kxl.com
Oakland, CA KMEL 106.1 Stacycunningham@clearchannel.com
bigvon@clearchannel.com
Stacy Cunningham 415-538-1061 (ph)
415-538-1058 (fax)
22 Cities Radio One,Inc Chughes@radio-one.com
Aliggins@radio-one.com
Radio One 301-306-1111 (ph)
301-306-9426 (fax)
Chicago, IL WGCI 107.5 Earljones@clearchannel.com
Kriskelley@clearchannel.com
Earl Jones 312-540-2000 (ph)
V103 Earljones@clearchannel.com
Elroysmith@clearchannel.com
Elroy Smith 312-540-2000 (ph)
Worldwide
CBS/Infinity Broadcasting Joel Hollander 212-846-2330 (fax)
Clear Channel Communications Randall T. Mays 210-822-2828 (ph)
210-822-2299 (fax)
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Posted in Community Action at 1:55 pm by Administrator
To Whom It May Concern:
We appreciate your commitment to increasing quality programming and to addressing the concerns and needs of the public you serve. We are writing to you because one or more of your listeners has expressed interest in having your station take part in Mother’s Day Radio’s Day of Rest and Uplift for May 2007.
Mother’s Day Radio (MDR) is an ever expanding coalition of individuals, youth agencies, women’s groups, schools, churches, community organizations, and businesses who share the vision of elevating the images of women in music.
We are focused on the need to create a space on the public airwaves that acknowledges the beauty, strength, character, vision, leadership and love of the women of the world. Our goal is to organize and implement successfully a call to action that results in a day of rest from music with misogynistic lyrical content and a day of uplifting music on the radio for women. This Day of Rest and Uplift is known as Mother’s Day Radio and will kick off on Saturday, May 12, 2007 of Mother’s Day weekend.
While MDR is addressing the degrading and sexually objectifying lyrics found in much of today’s Hip-Hop and Rhythm and Blues music, our emphasis is on supporting music with lyrical content that respectfully represents the true value and worth of mothers, daughters, sisters, and women globally.
We do not wish to censor radio or musicians. On the contrary, we believe that a plethora of rap and R&B songs with positive and uplifting lyrical content are currently being censored because they do not fit the raw sex and gangsta model that is continuously being recycled on today’s airwaves. Through our efforts, we would like to provide an open doorway for women to be more accurately and honorably represented through the musical art forms that they support.
Hip-Hop Celebrity DJ Beverly Bond has joined our teen coalition groups and our alliance partner, Soul Genesis, in creating a playlist for our beautiful day of honoring women. The music will be mostly current, with the beats we love, and will be respectful to the women of our communities. Those radio stations that pledge to the Day of Rest and Uplift will get a copy of our suggested playlist to use on Saturday, May 12, 2007 of Mother’s Day weekend.
We encourage you to support your listeners and concerned community members by implementing an MDR Day of Rest and Uplift on your airwaves on Saturday, May 12, 2007.
To pledge to this day, email us at RestandUPlift@mothersdayradio.com and we will send you a radio pledge sheet to be filled out and returned to our office. Once this process is complete, you will be included in our outreach material as one of our supporting radio stations, and you will receive the full suggested playlist for the May launch. We appreciate your active commitment to media reform and to honoring the Voice of the communities you serve.
~Team MDR
www.mothersdayradio.com
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