Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Brand Building: Cable Hall of Fame inductee, recognizing his leadership and impact in cable, sports media, and Black‑owned media institutions.

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Brand Building: Cable Hall of Fame inductee, recognizing his leadership and impact in cable, sports media, and Black‑owned media institutions. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to my show. I'm Rashon McDonald, a host of
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Well, we encourage people to stop
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: reading other people's success stories and start planning your own. Now,
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  Speaker 1: a moment right now to follow or subscribe to Money
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  Speaker 1: Making Conversations Masterclass.
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  Speaker 2: It's free.
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  Speaker 1: You can follow me on iHeartRadio, app, Spotify, Apple Podcasts,
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  Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your podcast. New Money Making
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  Speaker 1: Conversations Masterclass episodes drop daily. I want to keep you
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  Speaker 1: on alert because my guests provide tips on how you
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  Speaker 1: can uplift your community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Now, let's
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: get this podcast started. My guest, longtime friend, is the
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: co founder and president of Allen Media Group's HBCU Go.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: HBCU Go is focused on expanding this coverage upcoming seasons
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: of football, basketball, baseball, becoming a version of ESPN Plus.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: In other words, you click it, you want to those
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: HPCU to.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: The website, hpcu'll go app and they will be available
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: to you. As well as original programming, Marquee Classics, Homecoming,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Historic rivalries that define the culture and drive national engagement.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: He has been named to the Cable Hall of Fame
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: Class of twenty twenty six by the Cable Center, and
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: we'll be inducted on April twenty third. He is on
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the show to discuss the growth of HBCU GO, the
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: u NC partnership, and his Hall of Fame induction. Please
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Curtis Simon. How you doing, Curtis,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: heyfy Sean.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: It's good talk to you man, A long time no
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: talk to so it's good to have in fun of him.
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: Man, I appreciate that.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Well, you know the beauty of our relationship, Curtis, we
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: go back when it was just be et' that's how fault.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: We go back.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: It was doesnet but just be et black program would
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: just be e t. That was it, brother, That was
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: that was.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: It all the way.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: That was it all the way, and we kicked it
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: for a long time over there.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: We know the beauty of longevity.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: You get see change, see technology, come in and play
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: games of opportunity. Let's first the fine in your relationship.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: We say Alan Media Group. And when I say Alan
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Media Group, are we saying Byron Allen, is that the person, Yes, we're.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Talking about Byron Allen.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: Byron Allen bought my company HTC go TV back in
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: October twenty twenty one.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Okay, now when he bought it, what you know this
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: is called leverage of relationships.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: You still involved.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Talk about how that it was a financial win for you,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: but you're still involved in the programming and the creative
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: creative process of hbcuill go tell us how that works.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: Well, it was a very interesting concept of how it
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: truly happened, uh Seana. It was that, you know, I
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: was out on the street for about I love BT
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: and O one. I bounced around and did quite a
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: few things, ran a couple of foundations here in DC
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: that I ran the WNBA Washington Mystics for a while
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: for two years. And then it was like I had
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: this itch on me about doing something that come out
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: of state University out of Ohio, grew up on the
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: campus and I wanted to create something around exposure for
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: a story.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: Of black college. So I was trying to sell this
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: concept on the street.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: And really couldn't get a bike, couldn't really get a bike,
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: and out of the blue been on the street for
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: about twelve years.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: A friend of.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Mine called me from La Byron was on a panel
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: and was speaking about he was getting an award, but he
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: was also suing Comcast Cable when the biggest cave opper
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: really is the biggest cave operator out there around the
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: United States. And the whost said, please tell us why
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: you are assuming you know Comcast, and he said, well,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: you want the real reason? She said, yes, she said,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: a good friend of mine, Curtis Simons, is trying to
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: start this HBCU Go channel and they wouldn't give him
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: a channel on That's but pissed me off, and it
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: made me mad at it wanted to come out. I
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: thought he was in the moment. He just said, hey, man,
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: you know when the person send it to me. Another
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: called me and said I want to send you the
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: link on him saying that. You know, it was like
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: late that evening when they called me versus West Coast time.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: So I looked at the link the next day and
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: just repeated back what I just told you, And then
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: you know, I sent him a note said hey, Byron,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: thanks a lot.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: I figured I feel he was just in a moment.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: He was just talking and you know, knew what I
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: was doing and put it out there. But then about
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: four months later, he's in your hometown of Land at
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: the breakfast club and they asked him the same question
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: and he comes off with the same answers. I called
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: him right after. I said, it looked bat it. We
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: need to work together and come up with something. And
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: so he said, look, man, I'm trying to finish out
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: this Comcast deal. But he said, soon I finish it out,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: let's talk and let's see what we can do. So
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: he gets the Comcast deal closed out and we talked
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: and he said, Courtage, what do you want to do?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: I said, no, I need an investor. He said, well,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: look man, I don't invest.
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: I buy. Now.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: I'm falling back in my seat for shot and he
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: said bye because I didn't have as it was just
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: me and like three other guys, right, you know, And
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: so I'm saying, you know, I don't really bring much
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: to the table. But he knew my pedigree for my
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: years of BT and what I did at BT, and
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: he saw me, you know, grow there, right. And he
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: also knew I worked at ESPN and and had eight
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: years there, so he knew I came with a tracker
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: and he said, I tell you what, curse what I'm
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: gonna do. I'm gonna buy your company because I believe
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: in your vision. And that's what he did, and we
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: jumped into it in twenty twenty one, basically nothing, and
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: we've wrote this thing in four years. We've become a
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: very good asset to the HBC's circle. And if you
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: talk to anyone today, it's really the commissioners in the
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: fort different conferences, they will all tell you that HBC
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: GO has made a statement within the you know, television
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: business and streaming business. And I think that one of
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: the biggest things that Alameda gree brought to the table
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: that I said to buy around the gates was one,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: as you.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: Know, I love to say this.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: I want to show the world the two black men
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: can get together and do something successfully. Number two was that,
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: you know, I said to him, look, we got one
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: shot when we put this thing.
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: Up on the air.
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: It's got to be quality. I said, we can't put
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: it on YouTube. You know, nothing that looks kind of scrappy.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: That audience say, oh, this is just garbage. Why they
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: even have even so he backed it by putting up
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: quality programming through the technology that we had, and we
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: we matched every single network out there with a shot
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: as far as our quality and how we put on
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: our show. And we've grown this thing to where we
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: have advertisers now who are beginning to start understanding what
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: we're doing, and you know, they're coming in and supporting us,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: you know, because they're trying to reach that HBCU alumni
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: and students.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: So.
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  Speaker 2: Educated audience.
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  Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people understand that when you
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: starting out the facts about HBCU graduate fifty percent of
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: the school teachers who are black come from HBCUs, forty
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: percent of congress who are black come from HBCUs, seventy
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: five percent of the medical doctors who are black and
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: dennis who are black come from ACPCUS, and thirty I
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: think roughly thirty three percent of the STEM students who
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: are graduates come from APCUS. So you're getting a highly
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: academically trained audience which lies itself in that middle class.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So you're getting the audience there's a maying audience, correct, right.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: Exactly exactly, and so.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: And then I think I think when when you look
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: at the quality of what you're doing, you've got to
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: build on.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: One of the things we were successful be BTT was
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: you know, building.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: Talent, you know, and that you know, the anchor for
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: us is Charlie Neil, who is the black voice and
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: black cous bore right, and so you know, he was
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: able to really help kick off the network we call
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: the John Madden of HBCUs, you know. But he brought on.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: We brought on some you know, great more chalent. John
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: Kelly works with him, Uh James had not Sideline help
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: is incredible. We've got uh Lorenzia Molten and we've got
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: Nia Simon doing a silent with either two great young
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: ladies who who I put him up against anybody?
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: And then we've added more talent. You know. Steve Washing
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: just came on from NFL Network.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: That's my boy right there.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: You know, he's he's hand sexy, you know, see you know,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: he's he's Siver had sexy.
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: Though he got.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Shain't off my gray hairs, courtey, Steve.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: He made great hand Look boy, I showed if my
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: grayhead looked like that like that, like Steve, I'll still.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Be wearing it, bro, I still be wearing it.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: You know, Steve, he's brought a lot of good flow
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: to us and he and he's got a good.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Follower, absolutely absolutely big fan for many years off just
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: se him in sports in general, the beauty of So
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: let's let's talk to the audience before we get to
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: your induction. That's really I want to spend some time
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: on that. But I want everybody to be educated by
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: HBCU go, how do you access it? Is it only
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: on website? Is an app? Talk to us?
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: Yes, it's only at an app as HBC. You go
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: dot TV, if you go to the app store, you
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: can pull it right up. We're on Android, we're on iPhone.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: You know. We have Roku on Fire TV, We're on
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: Apple TV.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: And now we just had to deal put together last
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: year with Amazon Prime. You can pick us up in
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: Amazon Prime now and we'll be making an announcement. I
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: can't say it right now, but we have a big
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: announcement coming up in July to weill add another ten
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: million subscribers the agency go that I think the world
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: is going to like say, wow, these wives are really exploding.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: So we've got some great awareness. I mean, the thing
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: is and you've been around it for sean longs and
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: you've been around me long enough that. I mean, we're
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: just trying to get more more people talking about HPC
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: you go, just the same way we deal with BC. Right,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: you know, we can get we can tap the community
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: and get the communities that really.
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: Taugh and and and and the brand is growing.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I mean my first year taking it out there, ra Sean,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: it was like, right, well, eat an HBC go t
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: shirt out there and.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: People are like, what is that? Right?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: You know, now I put it on and walk anywhere,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: people say stop me and say, I watch your network.
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: You know, I love what you're doing. You know, I
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: graduated from such such such such.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: You know we need more of that, you know. So
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: it's really showing me more and more and we've got
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: to do more. We've got to do more, you know,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: there's no doubt about it. But at least I know
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: A people watching it and b the brand is beginning
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: to grow, and it takes time.
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: My show here, Marcus, he's used it, yes, he said,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: I have. I use HBC you go all the time.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: I use all the time, and.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: So appreciate it.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Now it's not just sports.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: Let's go get let's get clarity there that it's a
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: it's a tool it's a cultural tool.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: Yes, the magic cultural too.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Now you have a relationship with you in CF for
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: an HBCU voices, Yes. Talk about that partnership.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Well, I have to give credit to a young lady
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: by the name is Shannon Henderson. She's the director of Engagement.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: She's been working for the last two years to build
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: a partnership with.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: UNCF.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: Last year we did we kicked it off with I
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: did a fireside chat with Michael Lomax, the chairman and
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: CEO of un CF during the summer summit hit there
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: in Atlanta with you and work out well. But we
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: were able to create almost about three or four shows
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: out of it. But the thing about the partnership that
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: I love about it, Rashana's that it now is they
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: have thirty seven institutions that UNCF has tied to right now.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: That opens us up those doors to be able to
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: talk to alumni, being talking more to the students, and
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: so we're gonna use you know, their newsletters, some of
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: their communication about getting different things out about HBC GO
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: so we could start to chatter going on those thirty
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Southern schools to begin to start driving the brand better.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: And we've had a lot of great feedback from a
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: lot of presidents who want to do more. You know,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: they love what we're doing and they want to figure out.
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: You know, everybody now wants to be on APC go everybody.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I can't go nowhere, head Texas Southern the other day
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: in Houston and the President President Tucker out there was
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: like telling me, you know, Curtis, what do we need
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: to do to get more on HBC go? You know,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: and not just from a sports side, because everybody wants
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: to tell the story. I mean, that's the key thing
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: that we're trying to drive more is storytelling of HBC
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: because Sean you know just as well as I do.
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: But I just want to.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: Let the listening audience know every HBCU has a story
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: that people don't know about. You know, if you look
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: at the movie Figures, when you look at the young
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: lady came out of West Virginia State, who really was
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: the caddists behind you know, the man who walked the moon,
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: John Glynn, the man would not go up if it
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: wasn't for her number and come down if it wasn't
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: for her numbers. A lot of people, including myself, never
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: knew that story and there's more stories like that out
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: there that we want to start telling him more about
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: because it's all about, you know, educating our young people.
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: It's always amazing to me now when I go into
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: these classrooms with the young people and they don't know.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: Their history, don't know their history.
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: I was I was at Morgan State the other day
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: speaking a while back, and I said to the class,
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: I said, are you familiar with the magazine Black Enterprise.
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: No one put their hand up.
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: I said, you don't realize the man who built that
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: went to Morgan State. They didn't know that, you know,
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Earl Grades did that. None students in that room that day,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: And to me, that's that's that's a shade.
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: But he's don't go anywhere.
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations master Class.
• 14:02
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• 14:25
  Speaker 5: back to Money Making Conversations master Class with me Rashaun
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: McDonald well, I.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: Would say it's a shame. But also not building out
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: your brand like you're building out your brand. Brand awareness
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: means means something, you know what I'm saying. Because they've
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: made their legacy on print okay, and you're making your
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: legacy on.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: Digital where all the young people at digital digital right digital,
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: and so.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Because you did you you know, that's just honest truth
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: on that. You know, it's in a few years some peple.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You ask a kid about ebony as by Jet, they
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: will know what that is. And if ess didn't have
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: such a powerful black audience in females, they will disappear.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: And that's why I think it's important that we talk
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: about HBCU GO as not just a cultural phenomenon that's
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: only talking about the culture of HBCUs, but HPCUS people
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: who graduate, people who participate, who advocate for it are
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: like me, that is lessons learned and knowledge expanded upon.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And I think that that's why I wanted to make
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: sure that people understood the value of what you're doing
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: is like history. You know, we have an administration that
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: currently wanted to take away our history, wanted the denounce
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: our contributions. Well, HBCU GO will allow you to not
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: see the truth. And the truth is important.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: That we all understand. It has value that we're going
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: to get with.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: But I don't want to stay on that so long, Curtis,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: because we've been talking fifteen minutes now, because you're good talking.
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Tasha, she called me.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: Nelson called me, say hey, brother, that you know your
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: boy is getting inducted in the Hall of Fame.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: I go, come on there.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: See I've been fortunate, I said, Steve Harvey, get him
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: him a star on the Walk of Fame. You know,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: my boy Stephen A Smith. You know he's inducted in
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the Broadcast Hall of Fame. I feel I got Hall
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: of famers all around me, so I felt it was
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: only appropriate. April twenty third, my boy Curtis is going
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: to get inducted into the Hall of Fame. Man, talk
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: about that, man, because you know, we all keep our
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: head down, Curtis, and we just grind and grind. But
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: we have to appreciate when somebody recognizes what we're doing.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: As being unique.
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Because when you look in these rooms, man, it's not
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: many names. It's not many names.
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: Now, that is real, that's very real, you know, you know,
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: and that's what, you know.
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: I think what was interesting for me Sehanna's dad.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: I've always had a chip on my shoulders through life.
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: Man. I got that chip because my high school coach
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: would not let me play high school basketball. He would
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: cut me every time I got up there. I was
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: always the last guy to get cut. And I just
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: put in my mind and I told him, going to
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: my senior I'm not trying out no him, but you're
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: not going to stop me from playing college basketball.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: And I went on to play four years of college
• 17:19
  Speaker 4: basketball because of that ship. And I brought that same
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: chip into the cable industry. You know.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: When I got an opportunity to step in, my whole
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: mindset was I'm going to build that Curtis Simon's brand
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: and grow with it within the business.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: And I was fortunate. I was fortunate to get some
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: good entities to work for. You know.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: I worked for kind of Cablevision, one of the biggest
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: cable operators of the day, you know, and that becomes
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: as the youngest guy as a general manager of Continentical
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: in Ohio.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Then I jumped to.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: ESPN and through the health ESPN, they helped me grow
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: into the business and began to help me to build
• 17:56
  Speaker 3: that brand, and then I went to work for one
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: of the best black companies in the world, be ET
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: And I remember when.
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: Bob called me about it.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: I really the first words out of his office, I
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: can't afford your course. See if you can find me
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: somebody that could come work with it. I thought about it.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: I was thirty two years old and hit the wall
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: at ESPN. I said to myself, Damn.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: Why not me right? Why don't I call Bob and
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: let me sit down with Bob?
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: And everybody in the industry thought I had lost my mind,
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: said why would you leave ESPN to go work for
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Bob Johnson whose network is just fluttering?
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: They don't know what's getting to happen.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: But then I said, listen, at thirty two years old,
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: if I got an EVP on stamp on my resume, worst.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: I can do is that I've been to is EVP.
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: And so you know the pudding was in the pace man,
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: and so you know it allowed me. Bob taught me
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: a lot of great lessons, taught me how to be
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: a great business person, taught me how to build relationships
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: over the years, taught me how to understand who you're
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: talking to what you're talking to about, how do you
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: grow it?
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: And I really took that and really.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Grew from it, and it's really an honor now after
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: thirty something plus years. It's really funny, you know, in
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: this industry that I've been in for so long, how
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: many people have called me now a shot and said,
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: damn man, you should have been there twenty years ago
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: for what you just said. Well, you know, I always
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: remember my buddy Bobby Daniels when he went in the
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: NBA's Hall of Fame and he said, look, God had
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: a place and a time for me. I'm not looking
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: back on that. So when my time came, I'm here
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: today to tell you I enjoy it. And that's really
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: what I'm gonna tell the people on Thursday. You know,
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: I'm here to say I'm happy. I'm not mad at
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: nobody took thirty years to get here, you know, because
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: everyone in the room knows what I did. Now, however
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: you want to time it out, that's on you. But
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: as far as what I did within the industry and
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: what I'm doing now where the hul Go, I paved
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: the way for a lot of people over time and
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: did a lot of good things that at the end
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: of the day people had to take a great picture
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: of it and say, damn, this guy's done a lot
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: of stuff over the years. I wasn't aware of all
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: the stuff he's done. And so to me, it's a
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: great honor. I'm looking forward to it with Sean and
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: and you know, I'm now that was the icy on
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: the cake for me. I'm in the Cable Pioneer Club.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: I went into Broadcasting Cable Hall of Fame, which is
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: the biggest of hall.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: Of and I'm one of them.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: It's only like ten blacks in that hall Hall of Fame,
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: with Oprah, Bob Johnson, Byron, a few others.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: So to get now my pedigree where I came out of,
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: you know, put me in at the Cable Hall of Fame.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: It's just the icing on the cake for me. Man.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: And I'm just I'll be cheasing come Thursday night.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: You should let me just clear up everybody. Curtis Simon's
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: induction into the Cable Hall of Fame represents industry recognition
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: of both his leadership and the growth of HBCU focused
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: media and that we're talking about.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: HBCU Go dot TV.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: But he was also letting you know that he left
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: ESPN thirty two years of age. That's when you make
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: those decisions, and went over to be ET and really
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: introduced me into black college football because I didn't see
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: it on television but b ET at the time. And
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: now it's across many platforms or now seeing the value
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: of programming or live sports programming.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: Now with that being said, you know you're getting an induction.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: You're gonna you say, you're gonna go up there and
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: speak a little short speech, which I know is not
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: gonna be true.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: He can really really he talked.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Fifteen minutes before I even was able to bring up
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the induction, So you know it can tell you know,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: it can tuk. But I just want to say congratulations, man,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: because when I say it about longevity, that's key because
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: you know, it's really interesting, Curtis, when we look at
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: our lives. You know, when you're thirty two, you don't
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: see forty, you don't see fifty.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: You know, you know what I'm saying.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: You just just geared for that moment and you're feeling
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: good for an opportunity.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: But when you look back, Curtis, and this is.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: A moment and this is what you're going to realize,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and you've already realized because you mentioned many other prestigious
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: honors that you've been bestowed because of your career, longevity
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: and career. That's what you have brother, career. Talk to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: us about that for a minute, Curtis, Well, I.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: Mean I think that that's the you know, being in
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: the right place. I've got a wonderful wife who number one,
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: has helped me extend my life because she has showed
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: me how to eat better, how to treat myself better,
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: you know, and go from a teaching me how to
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: be a good father along with learning how to be
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: a good man at the end of the day, which
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: is hard in this business because you put so many
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: hours in it, you sometimes forget about family because you
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: just grind it, you know. And I think that's what
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: the main thing that I really look back and on
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: as that, you know, I had somebody by my side
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: who believed in me and allow me to do the
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: things I need to do to grow in the business,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: but at the same time took her personal sacrifice to
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: allow me to do that, you know. And so I
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: can take the accolades of these awards, but really the
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: lightning rod behind it is my wife. I mean, I'm
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: gonna stay up there Thursday night. Is that I'm not
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: the one that deserves this war. My wife does, because
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: she's the one that's really put me in a right
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: mind to be able to do what I've.
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: Done over the last few years.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: And you know, people look at me and say, I
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: say seventy, and they say.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: No, way, you're seventy years old. I'm like, look, I'm
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: seventy years old.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: I'm sixteen. I'm sixteen. When the cloud the cloud brother.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're right, We're right there, you know. And I'm
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: praying we can get to eighty because all me and
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: you both get eated age.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: So many people let age be their their their drama peal,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: you know, she appeals, I wake up, man. And I
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: look at people that go you you you the same
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: age me, because I don't. You don't walk like me,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: you don't talk like me, you know, and uh, and
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: that's important that it's all mental.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: How you approach yourself, how you get up, well, you
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: see your future. You know.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Every time I see Andrew young he rolled around that wheelchair,
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: Andrew Rondo, he namedy plus years old. He don't look
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: like he finished. He is participating because when you wake up,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: he knows he can still make a difference, you know,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: And I think that you're making a difference. And I
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: want to make sure people understand.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: HBCU Go. It's the premier football program.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Now they cover baseball, basketball, but that's all done. Were
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: about to go into that fall and that's what if
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: you're trying to follow football, go to HPCU. HBCU Go,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: HBCU go dot tv. It features classics, homecomings, historic rivalries.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm talking about. Fam you come on now,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Grambling and Southern, you know what I'm saying. Pray I
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: View and Texas Southern, you know after and Howard I
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: know him all now, I know him all. Now you
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: know I'm one hundred percent Black. Rivalry es central to
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: HBCU culture and captures the full experience from the game
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: itself to its bands alumni.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: Ocean of sagu up in Texas, the Ocean of Soul.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Everybody be talking about the boone Sonic and all that
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: or boom shaka laka.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: I'm tired of that.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: I'm tired that I grew up with the Ocean of Soul,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: that text or Southern so don't nobody else counts. So
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: it says, stop talking to me about all these other
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: bands and alumni and community traditions, and plush your relationship
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: that you created with UNCF called HBCU voices just a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: dominant role you're playing brother.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: You deserve the honor.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: But more importantly, you're creating a platform that when we
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: all leave, it will become a generational thing to have.
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: You have a history, but you're also planning for the future.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: Talk about the future, HBCU go and HBCU go dot TV.
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: I think it's brighter, Jeohn, I think it's bright man.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: I'm dusting my shoes because I don't know how much
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: I have left in the tank. But I think that
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: you know, we've done a great job to your point
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: that you just outline of starting to show the exposure
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: of historical black colleges, right. I don't want a young
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: African American telling me female or male and on the
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: cultural kids saying I don't know about HBCUs because my
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: job is to develop their knowledge. And I feel that
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: we're on the right steps moving forward to begin and
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: start showing that up. And so the growth of us
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: moving forward is building more and more stories that help
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: people understand what HPCU is all about, you know, and
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: then how they can play a role in being part
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: of that once they get there.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: And I think that one of the things I've been.
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Trying to impress on a lot of presidents out there
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: is that we have to look at these HPC schools
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: as a business and not just as an education center.
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Because the only way you survive in life is business.
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: So you have to make sure you mix those together
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: in order to keep these HPC's life, which we need them,
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: all of them, you know, So it's important that we
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: use that mentality as we try to move forward.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Awesome again, twofold HBCU Go, which is the app HBCU
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Go dot tv, which you can go and.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: Type it in and pop right up.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: But more importantly, we brought this young man on to
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: talk about his induction into the Cable Hall of Fame
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: April twenty third. It recognizes in both its leadership and
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: the great growth of HBBCU focused media which we are
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: today benefiting from. And also because you know, when you
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: create something, you put the word out, everybody want a
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: piece of it. So oh yeah, you know, ten years ago,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to be honest, you couldn't find HBCU go on Nobody
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: TV said, now you find HBCU period on Nobody's TV said,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: like I said, Alan Barron Allen got mad.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Because they wouldn't even give it to it. And again,
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: when you get mad, create action and down and created
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: the actions.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Good brother, man, And I want to thank you for
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: taking the time and allow me to talk to a
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: friend and celebrate with a friend April twenty.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Third, thank you for shot.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: And then I want to thank Tasha for putting us
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: back together you know today.
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: But man, you know you've always been one of my.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Partners who I always look up to you, man, because
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: you're always doing something in the right direction.
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: Man, So keep up the good birth.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: Man the same.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: That's what keep doing man. You know that money.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: I'll be praying for your brother as always been. Be
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: a blessing, a prayer blessing because you've been doing a
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: great thing. And keep doing it. And don't make this
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: interview a long time. So when the fall come like
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: this summer, let's get back on the horn.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Let everybody know that the HBCUs are coming back.
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: On the sports side, that's when you're really gonna drive
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: your downloads and people wanting to get there. So Tasha,
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: let's do it. Let's say, August, let's get back together
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: on the line and I'll be great.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: That can't be great because we can talk about it.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: We talk about football schedule. We got a really good
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: football schedule talking through that.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: Okay cool. Thank you, brother for taking the time.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Appreciate the courages HPCU, go dot, TV Hall of Famer,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: Cable Hall of Famer.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to this episode.
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: No, I need for you to do me a favor
• 29:13
  Speaker 5: right now to follow or subscribe to Money Making Conversations.
• 29:17
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• 29:21
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• 29:25
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• 29:30
  Speaker 2: Keep winning.