Dyson appears on CBS's Face the Nation in March.
Baltimore’s WEAA has begun piloting the Michael Eric Dyson Show, a midday talk show that is being reincarnated for a second try at pubradio syndication.
CPB awarded $505,000 to WEAA last fall to create a new public radio home for Dyson after an earlier production by the African American Public Radio Consortium folded (Current, Oct. 13).
After Dyson and the consortium parted ways, the group created a new program last fall, Upfront with Tony Cox, but it has suspended production to raise money, according to the show’s website.
Dyson is a Georgetown University sociology professor, author and social critic who frequently appears on television talk shows. For the WEAA broadcast, he aims to book many of the same famous guests who appeared on his AAPRC show — such as Oprah Winfrey, Sean Combs, Spike Lee and Skip Gates — and “fresh new voices that deserve wider range and attention,” according to WEAA.
“We want to get listeners talking and thinking about critical issues, especially things that are under-reported from a progressive perspective and with an African American voice,” Dyson said in a news release. “Our approach and our tone will be open-minded. No issue is off the table, no idea is moot.”
WEAA hasn’t set a date for the show’s launch, but is aiming for later this spring. The station recently hired Steve Williams, formerly with ABC Radio’s KGO-AM in San Francisco, to serve as executive producer, and will recruit as many as four additional producers.