New York, NY, June 1, 2008 — Veteran radio broadcaster Bob Law has partnered with independent film director U-Savior and Black Waxx Multimedia, Inc. to produce a riveting new documentary film that explores and reveals the realities of the racial monopoly that has historically defined commercial radio in general, and Black radio in particular.
In the film, Disappearing Voices - The Decline of Black Radio, Law delivers the insight and analysis he is noted for. However he also brings with him industry insiders like George Ware, executive director of the Black Music Association, Buddy Scott, premier independent record promoter, Joe Long, a key major market independent record retailer and many others who share an insight that the general public would otherwise not have access to.
"After I wrote the story," says Law, "I partnered with U-Savior who created the visual language that turned my investigative report into a captivating film. Black radio is kept poor by design, and my first venture into filmmaking allows me to make that point very clearly." U-Savior points out that "a filmmaker's job is to unearth treasures and bring them to the screen. Disappearing Voices is a rare gem for me because it gave me the chance to bring to life the story of Black jocks and their role in radio, a story that until now has been shrouded in mystery. Bob Law's narrative made my job really easy; his knowledge and experience as a radio personality, and a historian gave me the freedom to explore every avenue of visual storytelling available to me. Together we created something of value for the Black community that will last forever."
Disappearing Voices outlines the racial bias that existed at the creation of commercial radio, and it carefully explains the impact of the structural inequalities in place at the very beginning of radio, inequalities that the film points out, exist to this day.
The film celebrates the glory days of Black radio. It explains Black radio's real significance and exposes the public and private policies that are responsible for Black-owned radio's demise. Disappearing Voices raises a serious question about the role played by ARBITRON, the radio ratings company and their colleagues in the ad industry.
The film remembers legendary radio personalities like, E Rodney Jones, Jack (The Rapper) Gibson, Jocko Henderson, Frankie Crocker, and Gerry Bledsoe among others.
It also lets us hear from activist Reverend Al Sharpton, film icon Melvin Van Peebles, as well as a host of elected officials, media journalists and current broadcasters like Imhotep Gary Byrd, Sanford "The Cut Man" Moore and many other exceptional voices in our community.
In this era of film as a platform for social change, Disappearing Voices may be one of the most important documentary films of the decade.