Studer Community Institute

Radio legend Tom Joyner hits the 'Blocks'

November 12, 2014
/ Reggie Dogan
/ community-dashboard

Arlene Williams left her restaurant and hopped on a motorcycle to see the nationally renowned radio crew she listens to every morning on Magic 106.1. The Tom Joyner Morning Show, the nation’s No 1 syndicated urban morning show, made a pit stop Wednesday at Five Sisters in Belmont-DeVilliers. The bus tour was part of Magic 106.1's 10^th anniversary and the weeklong Back on the Blocks Festival in Historic Belmont-DeVilliers. “I’m glad he showed up here to represent at Five Sisters,” said Williams, owner of Arlene Williams BBQ on Mobile Highway. “It’s not often that a celebrity comes to the Blocks in Pensacola." Williams joined throngs of excited fans who spent a couple of hours meeting and greeting Tom Joyner, J. Anthony Brown and Sybil Wilkes, the TJMS crew. Patrons packed Five Sisters’ patio as throngs of well-wishers gathered on the corners of Belmont-DeVilliers eagerly awaiting the TJMS crew's arrival. Just after noon a beige and burgundy RV rolled down Belmont Street and a gaggle of gleeful fans crowded around the bus to see the radio trio emerge. After Brown and Wilkes, the man of the hour, Tom Joyner, stepped down. He was quickly swarmed by well-wishers reaching to touch him, shake hands or snap pictures with their cellphones and cameras. Savoring the moment, Joyner, said he was ecstatic to be in Pensacola. “It feels like love, a lot of love!” Joyner said about his visit. “Last night to this morning, it’s been nothing but love, and I love love. This is a great place to visit.” After wading through the crowd and smiling for picture after picture, Joyner eventually made his way into the restaurant, where Escambia County commissioner Lumon May presented a proclamation. Joyner is known around the country as "The Fly Jock,” and “The Hardest Working Man in Radio.” He earned the nicknames for working long hours and flying between his morning job in Dallas and afternoon job in Chicago for years before syndication. It was by coincidence that his visit Wednesday came during the same week of the Back on the Blocks Festival. The festival celebrates the cultural heritage of the historic African-American neighborhood that was the home to prominent businesses and community leaders in the early and mid-1900s. It attracted national entertainers like James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner and the O'Jays. Back on the Blocks, in conjunction with the Foo Foo Fest, includes art, music, dance, poetry, film festivals and a block party culminating the events on Saturday. The festival and the huge crowd that showed up for Joyner's visit reminded some people of Belmont-DeVilliers in its heyday. “This brings back how it used to be on the Blocks,” said Sadiqa Ali, festival coordinator. “We want it to become again a vital area for people to enjoy themselves with some art, food and music.” Linda Moorer, Magic 106.1 program director, known as “Sonshine” on-air, said the station couldn’t ask for a better 10-year anniversary. “This is more than what we ever expected,” Moorer said. “Tom Joyner put the icing on the cake.”

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Radio legend Tom Joyner hits the 'Blocks'

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