Tom Joyner

Tom Joyner earned the nickname "The Fly Jock" and "The Hardest Working Man in Radio" by working long hours and flying between his morning job (in Dallas, Texas) and afternoon job (in Chicago, Illinois) every weekday for eight years, collecting over 7 million frequent flyer miles.

Tom Joyner grew up in the town of Tuskegee, Alabama. He is one of two sons. His mother was a secretary for the military and his father served as a Tuskegee Airman. His beginnings were very much like many young blacks in the south. During the Montgomery Boycott, there was the "Tuskegee Boycott". Tom and many others fought for their civil rights. They took their protests to the streets weekly to try and effect change. One such protest was taken to a local radio station that refused to play "black" music. Eventually the station manager relented and Tom (naturally) nominated himself for the position.

Tom Joyner graduated from Tuskegee Institute in his hometown of Tuskegee, Alabama in 1970. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and immediately began his career in radio. He started at WRMA (an AM station in Montgomery, Alabama). After breaking onto the airwaves there, he worked his magic at WLOK (an AM station in Memphis, Tennessee), KWK (an AM station in St. Louis, Missouri), and KKDA (an FM station in Dallas, Texas).

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