Recently our nation became a little less "grown up". If you are a fan of "real" R&B, Soul and Hip-Hop music, I'm sure you have heard by now that one of the most popular syndicated radio shows in our country has been canceled. "The Michael Baisden Show", created and hosted by its namesake, aired for the last time on Good Friday, March 29th. Baisden couldn't reach a contract agreement with the show's syndication partner Culumus Media.
Baisden, a self made entrepreneur and author, started his radio career with a local afternoon program at 98.7 KISS-FM in New York City nearly 10 years ago. He quickly became popular due to his "grown folks" content; a mix of social, political & economic talk along with old school and "neo-soul" tunes. His show went against the grain and proved that there was a thirst for what he was offering as he held his own as a newbie against veteran radio personality Wendy Williams' gossip based radio show, which aired in the same time slot at rival 107.5 WBLS-FM. Baisden's show became so popular that he eventually became syndicated across the country and added millions of listeners to his "family". The show's popularity garnered Baisden a tv show, "Baisden After Dark" which ran a few episodes on cable station TV One. His radio show also helped inspire numerous parties, special events and his own social network website, "Mingle City" a place he created to help his "family" connect and find like minded folks for purposes of business and pleasure (this was well before everyone had Twitter and Facebook accounts).
Over time Baisden developed a strong and loyal following nationwide. He kept his audience engaged with lively discussions about relationships, sex, health, money, politics and more. People also knew they could count on Baisden to play solid music. Folks that were frustrated by a lot of the "junk" that is produced today got some musical medicine from "The Michael Baisden Show". Baisden's playlist featured everything from funk, to disco, to golden era hip-hop, to classic R&B ballads and everything in between. It was nothing to hear Frankie Beverly & Maze, Eric B & Rakim, Chaka Khan, Chubb Rock, Chuck Brown, Donna Summer and Luther Vandross all in the same show. Baisden played a lot of current artist too. He prided himself in playing artist that was making new quality music like Jill Scott, Raheem DeVaughn, Musiq Soulchild, Angie Stone and Brian McKnight. And Baisden also helped to open people's eyes (and ears) to more lesser known outstanding artist like Ledisi and Conya Doss. He pleased the ears and souls of many "grown folks" across the United States and helped educate some of the younger listeners who wanted to learn about more mature styles of music.
I felt compelled to write this piece as a small tribute to Michael Baisden and his musical contribution and influence to many of his listeners. People loved his show because he "kept it real" whether it was "real talk" or "real music". I don't know what Baisden may have up his sleeve next but with his determination and the technology we have today, I wouldn't be surprised to hear "The Michael Baisden Show" reappear somewhere again. So to his "family" out there, I wouldn't say "goodbye" to the show - like many of the storylines in his books, it's just the end of a really good chapter.
