Black Radio Museum

10/15/2026

10/15/2026

Known as “The Black Eagle,” Joe Madison was a celebrated radio host and civil rights activist. As host of The Joe Madison Show on SiriusXM Urban View, he often ranked in the top 10 on Talkers magazine's list of the 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts.

Madison brought a progressive perspective to talk radio when he joined SiriusXM in the 1980s. He used that platform to examine political and social issues with newsmakers, advocates, policy experts, and other leaders, highlighting injustice and urging listeners to act.

Madison’s signature question was, “What are you going to do about it?” He answered it through activism, including a 73-day hunger strike to press Congress to strengthen voting rights; raising more than $200,000 for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture through a Guinness World Record-setting 52-hour live broadcast; and humanitarian work in Haiti and Sudan, where he helped free 7,000 enslaved people.

He began his career in civil rights. At 24, he became executive director of the Detroit Branch of the NAACP and, in 1986, was appointed national political director. Madison later served 14 years on the organization’s board of directors, building relationships with prominent civil rights leaders and Black members of Congress.

His frequent appearances on Detroit’s WXYZ led him to host a weekend talk show. He later moved to WWDB-FM in Philadelphia, then to WRC-AM in Washington, DC.

In 1998, Cathy Hughes recruited him to WOL-AM, where he hosted the afternoon drive show and served as program director. A partnership between XM Satellite Radio and Radio One brought his program to satellite radio. His show became a regular destination for national political leaders. In 2010, he conducted an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.

Born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1949, Joseph Madison attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied sociology, played football, and worked as a campus radio disc jockey. In 1971, he became the first in his family to earn a bachelor’s degree.

After decades of challenging and inspiring listeners, Madison died of prostate cancer in 2024.

10/12/2026

Decades before there was “The Breakfast Club,” there was "Night Talk," the first nationally syndicated live, Black-oriented radio talk show, hosted by Bob Law, a pioneering radio personality known for his influential role in Black media and civic life.

In 1981, Law began hosting “Night Talk,” a midnight-to-5-a.m. call-in show, on WWRL-AM in Queens, NY, which the National Black Network carried to stations nationwide. Law interviewed major political and cultural figures, including Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rep. Maxine Waters, Denzel Washington, and Louis Farrakhan. A fierce advocate for social justice, he weighed in on issues such as economic empowerment and police brutality.

Law’s on-air conversations with Rev. Jackson helped build momentum for the “Run Jesse Run” campaign during Jackson’s 1984 presidential bid. Law, who also served as WWRL’s program director, gave Rev. Al Sharpton his first radio program at 16, helping him launch his career as a civil rights leader. Law also co-chaired the New York contingent of the historic Million Man March, in Washington, DC, in 1995.

After Law left “Night Talk” in 1998, he hosted a morning show on WWRL and eventually moved to New York station WBAI-FM, where he hosted “From the Streets” weekly from around 2013 to 2023. He produced a 2010 documentary, “Saying It Loud: Radio Giving Voice to Black America.”

Robert Louis Law was born on April 6, 1939, in Brooklyn, NY. He attended the Pratt Institute from 1959 to 1961 and became a graphic artist and magazine art director. He was involved in the civil rights movement, working with the Brooklyn branch of the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).

Law’s activism led him into radio. He was invited to discuss a community group’s anti-drug message on a show hosted by Bernie McCain, WWRL’s public affairs director. When McCain left the station in the early 1970s, he asked Law to replace him. Law hosted “Black Dialogue,” a weekly two-hour program, until he began his 17-year stint on “Night Talk.”

Bob Law died on March 30 in Mineola, NY, on Long Island. He was 86.

10/08/2026