Rob Parker’s all-Black sports radio station ceases operations: ‘I failed my people’

Less than 90 days after launching the country’s first all-Black sports radio station, Rob Parker’s Sports Rap Radio is no longer on the air.

Sports Rap Radio debuted June 4 on AM 1270 in Detroit, leasing WXYT from Audacy. And on Aug. 27 at 5 p.m. ET, Sports Rap Radio programming was removed from WXYT, with Parker telling Barrett Media the station’s second round of funding didn’t come through.

“Sports Rap Radio, the idea and concept, is viable and serves the underrepresented Black community in sports-talk radio,” Parker said. “I’m proud that we were able to launch the first all-Black sports talk station in this country. I’m proud of the product the staff delivered. But I’m devastated that I couldn’t deliver this for our culture. I failed my people.”

The endeavor was years in the making for Parker, who in 2020, took note of there being no Black full-time sports radio hosts in Detroit. But it’s not just Detroit, minority hosts have long been underrepresented by sports radio stations around the country. Only 10-14 percent of the on-air talent on nearly 800 sports radio around the country were Black or Hispanic as recently as 2020.

Sports Rap Radio attempted to fill the void, launching with an all-Black, all-local lineup from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m., followed by Parker’s Fox Sports Radio show with Chris Broussard from 7 – 10 p.m.. But after less then three months, the endeavor has ended abruptly, with Audacy now flipping WXYT in Detroit back to its BetQL Network.

[Barrett Media]