Tom Joyner (left) Steve Harvey(right)

People in Chi-town are asking what in the world is going on in The Windy City?

This morning, listeners of the Chicago radio station WVAZ-FM (102.7) received a rude awakening when instead of hearing the longtime staple ‘The Tom Joyner Morning Show,’ Steve Harvey’s rapidly rising morning show was being aired in its place.

“Tom Joyner has been a great partner with V103 for the past 13 years, making it difficult to part ways,” WVAZ-FM program director Derrick Brown told the Chicago Tribune. “We appreciate all Tom’s hard work and wish him continued success.”

Also known as the fly jock, Joyner has been a favorite on the Chicago airwaves dating back to his beginnings in the 1980s. On the other hand, Harvey began his radio career in 1996 at WGCI-FM and now boasts the #1 syndicated radio show on black radio with a reported 7 million listeners daily. The two broadcasting powerhouses, who both had cameos in Tyler Perry’s latest hit movie ‘Madea Goes To Jail,’ successfully co-existed in the major market for years.

Harvey, who coincidentally appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s Chicago-based talk show to promote his best-selling book ‘Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man’ yesterday was– up until today– only heard on WGCI-FM. The popular comedian’s show is expected to air on both Clear Channel-owned stations until March 31. On April 1, a new programming effort will be unveiled.

Clear Channel also distributes the Steve Harvey Show. Joyner’s show is distributed by Radio One which also owns 51 percent of Reach Media. Reach Media is the holding company of The Tom Joyner Morning Show.

“Steve Harvey is an entertainment and marketing juggernaut,” Brown told the newspaper. “There are very few entertainers who have successfully tackled radio, TV, film, stage, online and publishing. … Being a ‘King of Comedy,’ nobody can beat Steve being funny”.

Reach Media on the other hand has BlackAmericaWeb.com, Fantastic Voyage, Take A Love One to the Doctor, and the Tom Joyner Family Reunion. All are part of the Tom Joyner Morning Show and is used by the Tuskegee Alabama native as a fundraiser for Histoically Black College and University’ (”HBCU”) scholarships.

The show has changed significantly since its; inception. Miss Dupre, Melvin’s Love Line, Tavis Smiling and Myra J. have all left the show leaving Sybil Wilkes and J. Anthony Brown on the air with Tom.

Joyner, who aired pre-taped “Best Of” shows last week while on vacation, was stunned by the sudden chain of events.

“We always say that when we come back from vacation something big has either happened or is about to happen. Well, this one topped them all,” he said in a statement.”After 16 years, the Tom Joyner Morning Show won’t be broadcast on a local Chicago radio station, at this time.”

“Our relationship with the Chicago radio listeners goes back more than 20 years and believe me it has not ended by any stretch of the imagination,” he added, inviting his loyal “friends and family” to listen to the show, which streams live on his website: www.BlackAmericaWeb.com.

“This world is changing but the doing the right thing never does, and we will continue to do what we’ve always done for the African American Community,” the statement concluded.

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