Our Guest for Wednesday, December 30, 2009 @ 9:25 AM on The Jack Gravely Show will be Dr. James B. Epps, Ph.D, an Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of South Florida - Polytechnic in Lakeland, Florida discussing the developing area of "Engineering Psychology".

The Jack Gravely Show streams live at www.jackgravelyshow.com or www.wlee990.am from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon daily from Richmond, Virginia. The toll free number is 1-877-953-3990.

Dr. Muhammad Sahli, former president of the Islamic Center of Richmond and an adjunct faculty member in VCU’s Department of Chemistry, lectures extensively on the history of the Middle East, Islam and the Muslim world.

Dr. Sahli interview is scheduled for 10:05 AM on Thursday, December 17, 2009

Stay tuned to the Jack Gravely Show, Weekdays 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon, streaming live at www.jackgravelyshow.com.

For our Guest interview on Friday, November 20, 2009 @ 10:05 AM. We will discuss the Media, America and Globalization with Adam Clayton Powell, III.

Adam Clayton Powell, III
CPD University Fellow
Vice Provost for Globalization, USC
As vice provost for globalization since June 2007, Adam Clayton Powell III works with faculty and deans to advance USC’s globalization initiative, which encompasses expanding the university’s international presence, increasing USC’s leadership role in the Association of Pacific Rim Universities and promoting the university throughout the world.

Prior to joining USC in 2003, Powell was general manager of Howard University’s WHUT-TV, the first African American-owned public television station in the United States. Before 2001, he served as vice president/technology and programs for the Freedom Forum. During 15 years with the Freedom Forum, he developed and oversaw digital and new-media conferences and training programs for journalists, media managers, educators, policymakers and researchers in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the United States

Guest interview for Wednesday, November 18, 2009 @ 10:05 am. We will discuss his new book: 2012 The Bible and the End of the World

Mark Hitchcock is the author of more than 17 books related to end–time Bible prophecy including the bestselling Armageddon, Oil and Terror. He earned a ThM and PhD from Dallas Theological Seminary and serves as a senior pastor of Faith Bible Church in Oklahoma, an adjunct professor at DTS, and has served as a contributing editor for the Left Behind Prophecy Club for five years. He also holds a law degree.

You can listen to the live stream of The Jack Gravely Show, here on www.jackgravelyshow.com or www.wlee990.am Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. You can also follow the show @ WLEE 990 am.

Tuesday morning, November 10, 2009 @ 9:30 AM, I will interview a Tow Company owner and operator on The Jack Gravely Talk Show concerning the issue of parking and towing in Richmond, Virginia. The Mayor of Richmond & Other City Council Members have been invited.

Dr. Robert "Dr. Bob" Holsworth, Political Analyst, will be the guest on The Jack Gravely Show, Friday morning, November 6, 2009 @ 10:05 AM. The recent election of Governor McDonnell and other political issues will be discussed.

You can listen to the live stream of The Jack Gravely Show @ www.jackgravelyshow.com or www.wlee990.am Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. You can also follow the show @ WLEE 990 am.

Creigh Deeds, Democratic Candidate for Governor, will be the calling-in guest on The Jack Gravely Show, Tuesday morning, October 27, 2009 @ 10:15 AM (EST). The upcoming statewide political races, Virginia's financial future and major issues facing the next governor will be among the issues discussed.

You can listen to the live stream of The Jack Gravely Show by clicking the the Listen Live link at the top of the page or on www.wlee990.am Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. You can also follow the show @ WLEE 990 am in Richmond, Virginia.

Jim Gilmore, Former Governor of Virginia, will be the guest on The Jack Gravely Show, Thursday morning @ 9:30 AM. The upcoming statewide political races, Virginia's financial future and major issues the next governor will face will be among the issues to be discussed.

You can listen to the live stream of The Jack Gravely Show @ www.jackgravelyshow.com or www.wlee990.am Monday thru Friday from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. You can also follow the show @ WLEE 990 am

Don't miss our special guest for Today!
Professor Hank Chambers, Professor of Law at the University of Richmond Law School in Richmond, Virginia. Tuesday, October 13, 2009 @ 11:05 AM on the Jack Gravely Show!

Listen Live!

The Jack Gravely Show's Hot Topics on Friday:
The Angry GM Drops in and gets the conversation started on Michele Obama. Listeners call in to share there response to Chicago not being selected for the Olympics, Approval of Michele, Oprah Winfrey & President Barack Obama going to Chicago for the 2016 Olympics Selection, Drinking Kool-Aid and more. Don't miss out on the conversation...Listen to the Jack Gravely Show Weekdays 9AM - 12 noon (EST)

Today's guest on the Jack Gravely Show - Wednesday,September 30, 2009 at 10:05 AM (EST) is Jay Ipson, Survivor and Executive Director of the Holocaust Museum of Virginia in Richmond, VA

For more info on the Holocaust Museum of Virginia, click here

Listen as we stream live!

Friday, September 25, 2009 @ 11:30 AM
Special Guest for the Jack Gravely Show, is Mike London
Position:
Head Coach, University of Richmond
Experience:
2nd Year (in 2009)
Alma Mater:
Richmond '83

Jack Gravely, Host
The Jack Gravely Show
WLEE News-Talk Radio
9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
Monday thru Friday

Listen Live!!!

The guest on the Jack Gravely show Wednesday, September 23, 2009, is Frank Schaeffer, author of the New York Times best seller, Crazy for God. The Interview is scheduled for 10:05 AM on WLEE 990 AM, Richmond, Virginia.

www.jackgravelyshow.com or www.wlee990.am.

Be sure to stay tuned today as we share with Michael Vick's Uncle, Casey Vick.

Listen As We Stream Live

Mr. Gene Grabowski, Senior Vice President, Levick Strategic Communications, Washington, DC. Mr. Grawbowski is one of the world's foremost authorities on crisis communications and litigation PR. Mr. Grabowski will discuss issues related to sport figures fall from grace and their redemption. We're also discussing Michael Vick, Coach Rick Pitino and Plaxico.

Published: July 26, 2009


SLIDESHOW
Jack Gravely on the air - Jack's back. Jack Gravely, former head of the Virginia NAACP, returns to Richmond to host a talk show on WLEE.
click to view

MORE• Jack Gravely finds his voice again
• Jack Gravely quick hits

WANT TO LISTEN?
Jack Gravely is on the air Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon on WLEE-AM (990). You also can listen to the show and find out more at jackgravelyshow.com.

One of Jack W. Gravely's favorite new lunch spots is Ambiance Bar & Grill, a stylish little eatery in the heart of Richmond's Jackson Ward.

But he knows the place from another time in his life when it had another name and another look -- and he can almost taste the salmon cakes, eggs, fried apples and biscuits from the old days.

"This was one of the spots," said Gravely, recalling not just the good food but the images of local leaders hunched over cups of coffee discussing issues and strategies. "You could come in and run into anybody of any renown in the black community."

Gravely had some of that renown. The executive secretary of the Virginia NAACP in the 1970s and 1980s, Gravely was a familiar voice on civil-rights matters, rarely avoiding the opportunity to share an opinion or offer a quip. Those days are gone, but Gravely's voice is back on a daily talk show on WLEE-AM (990).

He's happy to engage in discussions on just about anything -- his catch-phrase: "If you live it, we will talk it" -- but he wants to make one thing clear.

"I've never felt comfortable with, 'Oh, you're the black talk-show host,'" he said over lunch in the window seat at Ambiance. "I'm a talk-show host who happens to be black."

Not that Gravely is opposed to pointing out the rich background he brings to the airwaves.

. . .

Gravely, 65, was the seventh of 12 children and grew up in Pocahontas, a coal town in Tazewell County. His mother was a domestic worker; his father, a coal miner, was killed in a mine explosion in 1957.

"After my father died, my mother said none of her sons would ever work in the coal mines, and none of us did," Gravely said.

As a kid, Gravely shined shoes, ran moonshine for gamblers and went to church every Sunday.

He also listened to the radio, as a source of entertainment, cultural pride and, as it turned out, inspiration for future employment.

"I remember my mother making all of us sit down and listen to Sugar Ray Robinson's fights or Jackie Robinson at bat," Gravely recalled. "On Sunday mornings, old-time Bible hours would come on, and we used to listen to those before we went to Sunday school.

"I always loved radio. I guess deep down, I had this, 'I'd like to do that.'"

Gravely went on to what is now Fayetteville State University where he played football and marched against segregated seating in movie theaters and restaurants in Fayetteville and Raleigh. He served in Vietnam in a combat support unit, and graduated from University of Virginia School of Law in 1972.

He came to Richmond to work for the Neighborhood Legal Aid Society and taught at Virginia Union University before he was having lunch one day with friends and heard someone mention that W. Lester Banks, then executive secretary of the state NAACP, was retiring. Gravely applied for the job in 1976 and got it.

He found himself in hot water after he told a reporter he had taken over "a house completely gutted by fire." He didn't mean it as a slap at Banks, a leader in the civil-rights movement, but it came across that way to some. It wasn't the last time Gravely's outspoken manner generated turmoil. He aimed to make the NAACP more visible and more political, though not necessarily in a partisan way, and it rubbed some people in the organization the wrong way, said Michael G. Brown, Gravely's deputy at the time.

"Jack is committed to a philosophy of change," said Brown, now a political consultant who also served as secretary of the State Board of Elections. "He can at times be relentless in the pursuit of what he's going after."

Under Gravely's leadership, the NAACP conducted voter-registration drives, led the call for single-member districts in the General Assembly and developed surveys to determine the extent of minority representation in cities, towns and counties across the state. He still speaks in awe of the opportunity he had to get to know -- and learn from -- civil-rights pioneers such as Oliver W. Hill Sr. and Samuel W. Tucker.

However, the rift with the board never closed, and he resigned from the state NAACP in 1984.

By then, he was already working radio.

Driving down Broad Street, he was listening to WRVA when he heard the Rev. Jerry Falwell make a comment about blacks -- he no longer recalls exactly what it was -- that he vehemently disagreed with. He turned his car around, drove to the station on Church Hill and went in to ask how he could respond to Falwell.

"First time I ever met John Harding," Gravely said of the longtime WRVA news director and operations manager whom he credits with serving as his earliest radio mentor. "He told me to write it out, bring it to him to look at, and then he'd put me in a booth to record it."

He did and later heard himself on the radio.

"I'll be honest with you," Gravely said. "I got a charge out of that."

Harding said he'd been searching for someone to provide a voice for the black community when Gravely came along.

"He was exactly what I was looking for," Harding, now retired, said in an e-mail from his farm in North Carolina. "Raw talent willing to take a little direction. Jack was one of the few lawyers I've ever known who could write something without becoming completely paralyzed in legal psycho-babble. The man could flat communicate."

Gravely did twice-weekly commentaries for WRVA for several years during the 1980s. Harding likened an opinion piece from Gravely to "a can opener." Later, Gravely had his own program, a three-hour talk show on Saturday nights, from 1996 to 2001, when new management cleared out much of the station's local talent, including him.

Funny thing, while Gravely was doing the Saturday night show he wasn't living full time in Richmond. He'd moved north to work first in Arlington County as a special assistant to the county manager, then at National Public Radio as special assistant to the president for affirmative action, then to Baltimore to work at the NAACP national headquarters. He also returned to the Virginia NAACP to serve for a time as president of its board.

Most recently, he was director of diversity for the Federal Communications Commission, a position he held for 13 years and retired from last year. He launched his WLEE talk show in October.

. . .

Gravely, a rare local talk-show host in an increasingly syndicated world, likes the fact -- no, he loves it -- that many of his callers don't agree with him.

"Talk radio is a tremendously engaging medium," he said. "You can take people where they don't want to go if you know how to do it. The greatest compliment a guy like me gets is someone who says, 'I don't agree with a damn thing you say, but I'm going to listen tomorrow.'"

Jim Jacobs, general manager of Davidson Media Group, Richmond, which includes WLEE, knew Gravely from his days at WRVA. Jacobs used to host the afternoon drive-time program.

"He has very strong and well-reasoned opinions," said Jacobs. "He is neither a conservative or liberal puppet. He has his own feelings and he will tell you how he feels, not how he thinks you should feel.

"With all of the things he has going for him as a broadcaster, he really is a very nice fellow."

Gravely prepares for his show by reading newspapers, books and academic reports. He spends several hours each afternoon on the Internet, researching topics for upcoming programs. He routinely shows up at the studio each morning with eight to 12 issues to throw out to listeners.

"If they bite, fine," he said. "If they don't, I'll go with the flow."

Brown, Gravely's friend and former colleague, said one of Gravely's best traits -- particularly for someone who enjoys talking -- is that he listens well.

Gravely lives in Petersburg with his wife, Barbara. He has three grown daughters from his first marriage and a son from a relationship in college.

He and Barbara, a retired teacher, have been married 14 years. They like to travel and to garden. He finds great satisfaction tending his vegetable garden. He's looking forward to fresh collard greens at Thanksgiving.

He also finds great satisfaction in being part of the daily conversation in Richmond again. Enjoying a burger and his usual ginger ale at another of his new favorite spots -- Leigh Street Bar & Grille -- Gravely said he wants his show to be syndicated around the country. But he doesn't want to go anywhere.

"I want to do a talk show from down South," he said. "I don't want to be up North. I want to stay here. I have no desire to go to Washington or New York. I don't want to commute. I've run the roads for 30 or 35 years.

"If it comes down to that, I'll just go over to Virginia State University and teach a couple of classes, live in Petersburg and raise my tomatoes."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Republished with permission from Richmond Times Dispatch - Bill Lohmann

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Jack Gravely Interviews Dr. Robert Holsworth about the Virginia gubernatorial Race.

Prof. Robert D. Holsworth is the former Dean, Department of Political Science,Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia and one of the leading political analysts in Virginia. He provides regular political commentary and analysis on the Jack Gravely Show. His Blog is Virginia Tommorrow.

Veteran Talk Show Host and Analyst
Jack W. Gravely is a veteran broadcaster with over 15 years of experience. From May 1983 to June 1987 Jack produced and aired a 90 second commentary on WRVA-AM radio twice weekly. In November 1989, CNN and Richmond’s NBC-TV affiliate retained Jack as an election night commentator and political analyst along with Dr. Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia to cover the historic election of L. Douglas Wilder as Governor of Virginia.
For five years, 1996-2002, Jack hosted an award winning 3-hour talk show in Richmond, Virginia on WRVA-AM. In April 1997, the Virginia Association of Broadcasters awarded the Metro Radio News Promotion Award to “The Jack Gravely Show”. One caller stated, “Jack’s show simply sizzled every Saturday night.” His guest, topics and interviews attracted calls and comments from St. Louis to Canada to Louisville.
Mr. Gravely has been a guest on the Today Show, Nightline, Crossfire, Good Morning America, The Bill Moyer’s Journal, The Tony Brown Show, C-Span, CBS Morning News, and the Bev Smith Show. He was a frequent quest panelist on local public affairs shows across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
His letters and speeches have been published in the Richmond Times- Dispatch, The Richmond Afro-American, The Free Press of Richmond, the Bluefield Daily Telegraph and The Washington Post. Jack W. Gravely has an extensive background in public service, civil rights, management consulting, public speaking, university teaching and volunteer service. Jack has delivered over 600 speeches across America and Canada.
He was the State Director, Virginia NAACP, Chair, Board of Director and Special Assistant to Dr. Benjamin L. Hooks, National NAACP, Baltimore, Maryland. Jack was appointed the first Director of Diversity, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by Chairman William E. Kennard in September 1995. He has testified before US Congressional Committees, Virginia General Assemble Committees, and has appeared before policy-making boards at the local, state and federal levels.
Mr. Gravely is a graduate of Fayetteville State University, Fayetteville, North Carolina with a BS degree in History and Government and received his Juris Doctor (JD) in Law from the University of Virginia School of Law, Charlottesville, Virginia.