The TMZ headline screamed “You won’t be hearing any Tyrese songs on the radio in Delaware in the near future … because the singer’s music has been banned from the biggest hip hop station in the state.” WJKS Kiss 101.7 is actually the only hip hop station licensed in Delaware, but listeners can still hear Tyrese on the nearby Philly and Maryland stations if they want to.
“TMZ spoke with Tony Quartarone, the station owner at KISS 101.7, who tells us he’s not upset with Tyrese because he took a stand against liquor stores … instead, he claims the problem was the way the singer addressed his listeners.
“Tyrese was not kicked off the air for pointing out that liquor stores should not be located near schools … I totally agree with that. But … he proceeded to downgrade my audience by calling them ‘homies.'”
Dr. Boyce Watkins on the Newsone website says, “WJKS Kiss 101.7 in Delaware has some explaining to do. The station allegedly decided to remove actor Tyrese from their building after he spoke on the air about the liquor stores in urban neighborhoods. Tyrese had appeared on the station to promote his new album, and then spoke about how liquor stores should not be near schools. … A visit to the WJKS website shows that while the station managers find it appalling that Tyrese wants to protect children from the dangers of alcohol, they proudly promote artists like Lil Wayne (who has rapped about shooting little babies, women and grandmothers), R. Kelly (who is known for his “intense appreciation” of underage girls), and Chris Brown (who was convicted of beating a woman two years ago). Given that the station has a ton of solicitations for potential advertisers on their page, I’m speculating that their need for money is what leads to their willingness to sell the children of Delaware up the river. Money cannot be the sole justification for almost any activity that takes place in our community – during slavery, others sold us, and now, we simply love to sell ourselves.” …Read more
Station manager Tony Quartarone, responded to Tyrese via a front page rant about bad moods and failure of promotion on the station’s website, where you can find a audio clip of the interview.
Tyrese called in to “TMZ Live” and said he simply didn’t care if the station took his music out of rotation.
