Talk to Me commentary by Jenna Johnson
Newman described that African Americans in the disc jockey business were crucial in the marketing strategy of radio stations in the late 60’s/early 70’s, and I agree with this position. Especially during a time when the nation was under high racial tension and conflict, in some ways, a more peaceful environment was kept by having figures of the media that the black community could better relate to. This was best demonstrated in the film “Talk to Me” when the news of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination reached the airwaves in Washington D.C. with the help of Petey Green. We saw how effective Petey was in reaching the hearts of his listeners, African American listeners in particular, in such a shocking time in the history of civil rights. In general, as Sponsor specifically argues in the Newman article, “[S]eldom can a Negro—particularly one who is getting more and more proud of his racial heritage as his status improves—find anything in the ordinary air show sponsored by a national advertiser with which he can identify himself.” In other words, the hiring of black radio disc jockeys was one part in the quest towards equality, and blacks positively acknowledged that.
One part of the film “Talk to Me” that viewers may have found difficult to understand was Petey’s lack of excitement about being on the Tonight Show. Dewey did everything in his power to make this happen, as it was his own dream to do so. This paralleled the conversation between Petey and Dewey in which Dewey expresses that Petey could say the things that Dewey could not say, as it was perhaps an inside hope of Dewey’s that Petey would deliver some monumental speech on the Tonight Show. However, when Petey was finally on stage, he couldn’t seem to muster up any insight for the “bunch of white folks” sitting in front of him. He was simply out of his element, and did not feel comfortable. I believe that his sabotage of this chance was a mixture of Petey “keeping it real” and being a bit self-destructive. He only asked to be on radio, and that’s all he felt right doing.