Newspaper Page Text
What blacks
should know
about sports
Page 3
VoL9No. 49
Jay Bell, Danny Renee
fired by WTHB radio
By Mallory K. Millender
Two black disc jockeys at
radio station WTHB were fired
last week. Another quit a
month ago. And the firing of
another will come at anytime,
according to the fired jocks,
Jay Bell and Danny Renee.
Renee told the News-Review
two weeks ago that the
station’s new program director,
Jerry Lavelle, had threatened
his life. “Levelle said he was a
“dangerous person,” that he
had a gun, and if he saw me in
the dark he would kill me,”
Renee said.
At that time, Renee said he
planned to notify area law
enforcement officials of the
threat and that he would arm
himself.
Bell told essentially the same
story. “For sure, Lavelle told
me that he was getting a gun
for Danny Renee and Howard
Wade (Wade quit the
station),... and that if necessary
he’d fly somebody in - and out
- to take care of the matter.
He told me this over the
telephone and I will swear to
it."
Bell said the incident that
led to his firing occurred after
a staff meeting last Tuesday.
At the end of the meeting,
Renee to use proceeds from new record
to establish home for the underpriviledged
Editor’s Note: Story was
written prior to Danny Renee’s
firing last week.
By Fannie Flono
Radio station WTHB’s
“Disco King,” Danny Renee,
may soon be playing one of his
own recordings during his
weekly stint as a local disc
jockey.
The DJ has recorded his first
single, “Space Rap,” and it
ofl A
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CHARISMA CREW - (1-r) Otis Johnson Jr., Marty Williams, Danny Renee, and Theresa McKie.
Augusta Nms-Hrojw
Lavelle, who is black, “stood
up in front of station manager
Walter Brumbeloe, who is
M /■
Jay Bell
white, and told me to ‘shut up,
nigger.
“When we got outside the
door, I asked him to kindly
repeat it. He repeated it. I went
to my car where my shotgun
may lead to a whole new career
for him which has nothing to
do with music.
Most of the proceeds from
the record will go towards
establishment of home for the
underprivileged, a project
Renee hopes to direct once the
building is constructed.
Part of the proceeds will also
go for scholarships for
disadvantaged students and to
the United Negro College
Fund, he said.
Danny Renee plans
home for needy
with record proceeds
Page 1
was laying on the seat. Then 1
asked him to repeat it, and he
did not.”
Bell said he was asked the
next day by Brumbeloe if he
could work in harmony with
Lavelle. “1 said as long as he
doesn’t bother me or say what
he said last night again. Walter
then told me 1 should find
myself another job.”
During the Tuesday night
meeting, Lavell reportedly
denied making threats.
Bell said Brumbeloe took
advantage of an opportunity to
“get back” at him for an
incident at the station’s annual
picnic in May Park a year ago.
“He spoke to me in an
unmanly manner in front of
my two kids. My 5-year-old
daughter asked me why did
that man talk to me like that.
“Upon seeing a 5-year-old
notice this, I retaliated by
grabbing him in his collar,
hoping that he’d hit me. But he
didn’t.”
Brumbeloe did fire him on
the spot, but later rehired him.
Bell said there have been a
series of efforts to pressure him
into quitting. Several times he
was accused of taking money,
he said, and even flower pots.
“1 let that go, after it was
proved that I was not guilty,”
The home will be on a three
acre plot of land in Bath, S.C.
that Renee owns.
The idea grew out of the
disc jockey’s desire to reach
youngsters at an early age to
“teach them how to resist peer
pressure” and get on the right
road to a good life, he said.
“I’m categorically convinced
that if you want to reach kids,
you must start at an early age.”
Renee’s own childhood was
a good one, he said. “My
he said.
“Last week a couple of
tickets to the Whispers concert
■
Danny Renee
were missing, and they came
straight to me.”
What annoys Bell the most is
that “they want me to sound
white on the air, and I refuse.
“I cannot and will not be
parents were very religious and
always pointed out to me how
to live right.
“I feel like I am a very lucky
person. My parents were a
great influence on me. They’re
both dead and gone now.”
Renee said he wants to reach
out and help others something
like Mother Teresa of India
who won this year’s Noble
Peace Prize. “Mother Teresa
didn’t want the money (the
funds that went with the prize)
April 26,1980
something I’m not.
“I say things like ‘How y’all
is? How is you?’ I know that
it’s incorrect English. On the
air my name is ‘Mcßean Jody
B-’ Fm from the country. I
depict that on the air. I don’t
ever want to lose that.
“I’ve stood in the ratings
and have come up to number
three jock in the area. Why
should I change now?”
Bell is also annoyed that the
station continues to run
commercials using his voice.
“They want people to think
I’m still on the air. They are
telling people I’m on a leave of
absence. I want folks to know
Fm fired. I want my clients to
knowj’m fired.”
Brumbeloe told the
News-Review Bell was fired
because of a personality
conflict with “everybody
including me.” He said Bell nor
Wade was pressured into
quitting. “If you ask a person
to do his job, that’s not
pressure.”
Brumbeloe said of the
incidents where Bell said he
allegedly took money, “I have
no idea what he’s talking
See “DJ’s”
Page 3
but she accepted it in the name
of poor people. People like her
are perfect examples of people
loving each other.
Renee is already involved in
helping others. “I have custody
of three children, my nephews
and niece.”
The disco jockey has high
hopes that his new record will
enable him to do more.
“Space Rap” is on the
Shurfine Record label and is
due to be released this week.
The record is a talk song like
“Rapper’s Delight” by the
Sugar Hill Gang.
' “Robots come on and
introduce the record with an
intergalactic message,” Renee
said.
Marvin Roberts Knight, a
Los Angeles DJ, is the robot.
Renee said he decided to
make a “rhyming” song
because they were so popular.
He asked the listeners to his
radio program to submit their
rhymes and “I was bombarded
with telephone calls.
As a result, his group, the
Charisma Crew, was formed
from among some of those
callers.
The group is composed of
teenagers in the Aiken-Augusta
area. They include Otis
Johnson Jr. (known as ToTo),
Theresa McKie (Theresa T.),
and Marty Williams (M.C.
Divine).
Even though Renee is
hopeful his new single will be
a nit, he has no aspirations for
stardom.
In fact, he plans not to
record again. “If the Charisma
Crew wants to record again, I
might manage them,” he said.
Renee said he would like to
devote his time to.the home
for the underprivileged.
Lynne Clark
Miss Augusta
Black Festival
Page 1
Larry Lamar Pettigrew, an
Augustan and National
Committeeman for the Young
Democrats of the State of
Georgia, participated in a
Foreign Policy Conference for
Young Political Leader at the
U.S. Department of State,
Washington, D.C. April 17 and
18.
The Secretary of State and
senior officer of the
department and other
governmental agencies,
conducted briefings on
U.S.Soviet Relations, UJS.
International Trade Policy,
United Nations, Human Rights
Less Than 75% Advertising
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Eighteen-year-old Lynn Clark, daughter of Mr. and .Mrs. Clinton <1 >; :.i
became the new Miss Augusta Black Festival Sunday. Ten young I. <t v»< i tor the
title at a pageant at Augusta College.
TRW chairman visits Paine,
wants to strengthen colleges
Dr. Ruben F. Mettler, new
National Chairman for the
1980 annual drive of the
United Negro College Fund,
visited a UNCF school, Paine
College, last week.
Mettler, chairman of the
board of TRW, Inc., got a
chance to talk with various
college administrators
including Paine president Julius
Scott about the local UNCF
drive.
“As a businessman and as a
citizen, I am deeply concerned
with the soaring
unemployment of minority
youngsters,” Mettler has said.
“The black colleges supported
by the United Negro College
Fund have traditionally offered
minority and financially needy
young people a quality
education and the foundation
for a secure future. We are at a
point in the history of our
nation when we must not only
assist in the survival of the
schools, but we must see that
they are strengthened. We
cannot afford to do
otherwise.”
The United Negro College
Fund is the largest national
Pettigrew participates
in D.C. policy conference
Season ends early
for baseball team
at Paine College
Page 8
black fund-raising organization
in the United States. Its 41
private, predominantly black
colleges and universities enroll
some 50,000 students
annually.
Mettler was elected
Chairman of the Board and
CEO of TRW, Inc. in
December 1977, after serving
as President for eight years. In
June 1978, he also became
Chairman of the Executive
Committee. He is a graduate of
the California Institute of
Technology, from which he
also received his M.S. degree
and Ph.D. in Electrical and
Aeronautical Engineering.
Dr. Mettler recently served
as National Chairman of the
National Alliance of Business,
an organization to help train
and find private jobs for the
disadvantaged.
Previously, he was on the
Advisory Committee for the
UNCF’s Cleveland campaign
and he continues to serve in
many other national and local
capacities: Board of Advisors
of the Council for Financial
Aid to Education, Trustee,
National Safety Council, the
Larry Pettigrew
and Refugees, Southwest Asia,
East Asia, Strategic Balance,
Cleveland Clinic Foundation,
and the National Fund for
Minority Engineering Students,
member of the Policy
Committee of the Business
Roundtable, the Business
Council, the Board of Trustees
and Research and Policy
Committee of the Committee
for Economic Development,
the Emergency Committee for
American Trade, and the
Rockefeller University Council,
among others.
The money raised by the
UNCF’s annual fund drive is
used to help operate and
maintain the organization’s 41
member colleges and
universities. According to a
recent survey, half of the
students at these schools come
from families earning $9,000
or less annually.
Graduates of the UNCF
schools include such noted
public figures as U.S. Treasurer
Azie Taylor Morton, U.S.
Solicitor General Wade H.
McCree Jr., Washington D.C.
Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr.,
Atlanta Mayor Maynard
Jackson, and New Orleans
Mayor Ernest Mortal.
and Sub-Saharan Africa.
While in Washington, Larry
attend a national committee
meeting of the Young
Democrats of America. On
April 16, the Young Democrats
of America sponsored
Congressional Awards Dinner
where ten Congressmen were
honored in Washington.
The Honorable Elliott Le
Vitar of Georgia was among
the ten. The Young Political
Leaders were also invited to
attend a reception with
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance
on Friday and at the White
j House on Thursday.
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