April Ryan To Join Black-Owned Media Matters Webinar

Reporter, author and White House correspondent April Ryan will take the virtual stage to interview entrepreneur Byron Allen about his crusade to convince big marketers and their advertising agencies to reverse systemic racism in the way they plan their media buys.

The interview will take place at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 15, during a TVNewsCheck Working Lunch webinar.

Allen, who ran full-page ads in the Detroit Free Press, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal to call on advertisers to devote 2% of their advertising dollars to Black-owned media, has begun to get results.

General Motors announced it will dedicate 4% of its ad budget to Black-owned media by 2022 and 8% by 2025. Verizon announced days later that it will partner with Allen in presenting a summit on the issue in May.

Ryan is White House correspondent for The Grio, an African American-targeted TV network and digital news service. She has covered presidencies since the Clinton era. Prior to joining The Grio, which is part of Allen’s media portfolio, Ryan reported for American Urban Radio Networks from January 1997 through November 2020.

Allen is a comedian, television producer/distributor and philanthropist who founded Entertainment Studios and launched his first series, Entertainers with Byron Allen, in 1993. He expanded the company steadily since then, launching more syndicated shows and cable TV networks including Comedy.TV, Recipe.TV and Justice Central.TV. In 2018, Allen acquired The Weather Channel from Comcast and in 2019, he partnered with Sinclair Broadcast Group to acquire Fox Sports Networks. That same year, he began buying TV stations, picking up four from Bayou City Broadcasting and 11 more from USA Television.

Allen has pledged to keep expanding his station portfolio, saying he’s set aside $10 billion to acquire Big 4 network affiliates.

To join the webinar, please register here.