As part of FestivalSouth, the Stage, Style and Study Radio Talk Show on 92.1 FM WJMG will feature interviews with several high-profile actors, writers and musicians each week throughout the month of June.
The show is hosted by Michael Marks – the founder of Stage, Style and Study – and airs every Friday at noon. The first episode of the June series, which aired June 3, featured actress Denise Nicholas, known for her roles in “Let’s Do It Again,” ”Room 222,” and “In the Heat of the Night,” and included a discussion on her book Freshwater Road.
The June 3 episode also included Jay Dean and Mike Lopinto, co-directors for FestivalSouth, which is an annual, multi-week festival presenting a variety of musical and other arts-related entertainment.
“(Freshwater Road) encompasses the time (Denise) spent in Hattiesburg as part of the Freedom Summer Movement and the Freedom Summer Theater,” Marks said. “And she was talking about how important the arts were back then, and they still are, to Hattiesburg’s history.
“And then (Lopinto and Dean) bridged the gap about how important the arts are today, in celebration of FestivalSouth, particularly the contributions of African-American performers and artists. So it was just a wonderful synergy that was produced by having them on the show today, so we’ll be doing more of that every Friday in June.”
The following is the schedule for the remaining shows in June:
- June 10: Musical director Joseph Brittain, jazz vocalist Katrina Cox and Juneteenth celebration host Ora Reed.
- June 17: Motown Sound creator Mickey Stevens will be the special guest for this episode. Juneteenth celebration host Larry Robinson also will feature on the show.
- June 24: Broadway actor Rashad Naylor will be the special guest for this episode. Also featured will be featured FestivalSouth artist Darryl Anderson.
After the June series concludes, the radio station will hold its 53rd anniversary party on June 25 at Chain Park in Hattiesburg. Regular programming on the radio station will start back at the beginning of next month.
“With FestivalSouth in town this month, I thought I should sort of participate in (Hattiesburg’s) embrace of the arts, and the celebration of the arts,” Marks said. “With FestivalSouth being the largest multi-genre arts festival in the south, I thought it would just be a wonderful opportunity for us to showcase people who have actually had Mississippi contact and legacies.
“To promote the festival at the same time – to me, it was just a no-brainer.”
In previous episodes of the show, Marks has chatted with guests such as Annie McMillan of Mississippi Power; Robert Williams, superintendent of the Hattiesburg Public School District; local university interns; and Logan Green, the National Original Spoken Word Poetry Champion from Hattiesburg High School, among others. Marks said his interest in talk radio began, mostly, when his father hosted a show in Pike County when Marks was a child.
“The highlight of my life as a 12-year-old was getting to be a guest on his show when I won the Pike County Public Speaking Contest,” Marks said. “So I’ve just admired his work, and even today, I go back and listen.
“That was a wonderful legacy that I kept even after he passed. And I love talking, so I love my work at WJMG FM Radio … and I thought it would be wonderful to have a slice of the community in Hattiesburg (on the show).”
WJMG is celebrated as the first minority-owned radio station in Mississippi, and the seventh minority-owned radio station in the United States. The live stream can be listed to at www.921wjmg.com, and more information about Marks and Stage, Style and Study can be found at www.stagestylestudy.com.
