Philly radio legend Lady B is back on the airwaves after Radio One’s WRNB100.3FM abruptly fired her in December 2017. Although the station never revealed exactly why she was terminated, civil rights attorney Michael Coard believes the veteran radio host was relieved of her responsibilities for speaking out about socially relevant issues.
According to The Philadelphia Tribune, social media exploded after Lady B was fired. In just three days, there were approximately 13,000 reactions on just one Facebook page in addition to thousands of Twitter and Instagram reactions.
While Coard is grateful Lady B has her position back, he's still not happy about how the whole situation was handled.
“I’m not here to condemn anybody, but I am here to throw a little bit of shade,” Coard said. “The community will forgive but we will not forget. We appreciate what [Radio One] is doing now and believe its sincere apology, however apologies mean nothing without changed behavior. We believe that today’s apology means that there will be no further disrespect to Lady B. It’s not just the music that she plays but her community consciousness. That’s unique in the radio industry.”
Lady B struggled over the last year plus to understand why she'd lost her job.
"It broke my heart last year that the young ones were saying, ‘Why aren't you on the radio?’ and I had no answer for them,” Lady B told Metro U.K. “Usually we teach our children when you get fired there is some sort of insubordination or you did something wrong and I didn’t have an answer for them. A year ago, it hurt real bad, especially because I wasn’t expecting it.”
Chuck D, who is a big supporter of Lady B and all she's done for Philly radio, also weighed in.
"Lady B is a worldwide icon and Philadelphia is always being watched,” he told Metro. “You want someone that will be a light and show that women can be leaders in society, not just alongside men. You have hundreds of thousands of people in a big city that came up on Lady B. I don’t have to say anything. All you have to do is ask people in the city and they’ll tell you: Let Lady B do her thing forever.”
Lady B will be on Classix 107.9 for a midday show Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and her Basement Party show will resume on Friday and Saturday nights from 6-10 p.m.
