Hair Industry Revolution: 25 Years of The Hair Radio Morning Show

Oh Boy.. It's hard to believe that 25 years have flown by in a blink. That's what it feels like. It was truly a life changing chance encounter that resulted in the creation of "The Hair Radio Show". Think back to 1995, there was no Internet or social media. The very thought of creating a radio broadcast that talked about hair and beauty was outright scoffed and negatively mentioned in local newspapers. I was told that hair is too esoteric to produce a radio show. Many others could not imagine that it was not just possible but it was the very first ever podcast. Podcast, of course, was a word that did not exist at the time, however, the concept of speaking about a particular subject was ushered in on broadcast radio. Yes. "The Hair Radio Show" was born. I've been asked many times about the idea itself. Here's what happened. I remember running in to an associate and over a cup of coffee, I asked what he was doing at the time and he said that he was a hairstylist. I said that I was in radio. It was a lightbulb moment for me. I thought it would be a great idea to produce a program that could talk about hair and beauty on the air. I thought it would be great to have it be inspired by persons of color. I had already begun my broadcast career that started a year or two earlier in Los Angeles, California but this was New Jersey. I was busy producing a daily live radio show called, "Centerstage" that focused on celebrities helping newcomers with insight. That program gave me the structure on how to set up my new hair industry radio show. Simply, "The Hair Radio Show". I remember that I was living in Montclair, New Jersey at the time and decided to use one of the local hairstylists as a program host along with three others. It was really groundbreaking as there were no other shows that mixed the world of cosmetology with the world of natural hair and barbering. The program started out as an intermittent kind of broadcast that was a sidebar to my "regular" daily popular entertainment "Centerstage" program. We were on our way. Me, Kerry Hines, as the showrunner and executive producer, my four co-hosts who were a mix of one gentleman and three ladies all from the New Jersey/New York area. We were on WNJR. It was a radio station that had pretty much seen its heyday. It was located in downtown Newark. I thought it was just beautiful as it was located in a newly constructed skyrise tower and my own production office was in walking distance in the Ironbound section of Newark. It was just perfect. The program debuted and was doing well. The focus at the time time was simple in that the selected hosts would provide hair tips to the listeners. The radio set up was that listeners could call in and ask their questions live. Amazing! "The Hair Radio Show" was born and has now morphed in to "The Hair Radio Morning Show" and was the beginning of an empire. It's gone on to help launch the careers of many in the hair and beauty industry. The show moved on from terrestrial radio (am/fm) to the Internet. First, as a regularly scheduled show and then as a 24-hour hair and beauty network. This, of course, was in the early 2000s. The industry that started, the instituton that was started, www.HaiRadio.com. now broadcasts daily five times a week on BlogTalkRadio.com as "The Hair Radio Morning Show". Stay tuned.