Multicultural Media Brand Renamed and Rebranded to Urban One, Adds Several New Properties

Roland Smith, Tasha Smith, Brad Siegel, Tamela Mann and David Mann

Thirty-five years after starting out and eighteen years after going public, multimedia brand Radio One recently announced it has changed its name to Urban One. As stated in a press release from the company, “Urban One is the only multimedia company reaching 82 percent of Black America. Its diverse audience is seeking one thing – high-quality, relevant urban content that reflects, acknowledges and pays homage to the Black culture that has impacted every fiber of American life.” The renaming and rebranding initiative, according to its VP of Corporate Communications, Yashima White AziLove, began approximately two years ago. The new entity encompasses all of the already known brands TV One, Radio One, Reach Media, and iOne Digital, and added a few new properties Including Cassius, One Solution, and BHM Digital.

In a recent call with journalists AziLove quoted Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins saying, “We’re in the black people business, and we believe that black culture is sexy, it’s hot, it’s appealing, and we know that black culture impacts every area of American life.”

The call included AziLove, D’Angela Proctor, Senior VP of Programming for TV One, Jay

Stevens, Senior VP of Radio One and Reach Media, Dwayne Whitaker, Senior Director of

Digital Sales and Marketing for R1 Digital, Kierna Mayo, Senior VP Content and Branding

for iOne Digital, Marve Frazier Senior VP of Content for BHM Digital.

Tuwisha Rogers, Vice-President of Strategy Partnerships, and Kim Bandell, Director of

Operations and Shared Revenue initiative

Proctor pointed to changes affecting TV One which will include the following:

• An extra hour of news programming in the morning

• More true crime

• Launch of the TV One app later this year.

• More interstitial video content for its digital platforms and social media.

Whitaker, described one of the new properties, R1 Digital. “R1 Digital is a critical new brand in the Urban One portfolio and is really our go-to-market digital strategy for radio. R1

Digital leverages all of the local radio digital assets in addition to reach its national digital footprint.” To that end, they are revamping their over sixty local and national radio-associated apps.

Former editor in chief of Ebony Magazine Mayo helms the new woman-centric and lifestyle entity known as Cassius, found at cassiuslife.com. For Mayo, the emphasis is on quality before quantity for Cassius’ content. To achieve the type of top flight quality she seeks, she has recruited the sharpest talents from print publications. She emphasized that, “What we’ve decided to do is to create a central location where millennial lifestyle and culture is shaped by the actual culture creators, but offered up to the world. This is yes, black at its nucleus, but it is our greatest hope that we too are considered mainstream.”

Another new outpost of Urban One falls under the umbrella of iOne Digital. It’s called BHM Digital. Headed by newly minted Senior VP Frazier, it is composed of newly acquired but long beloved digital native sites Bossip, Hip Hop Wired and Madame Noire, all brands that at this point can speak for themselves. Frazier played her cards close to the vest but did hint at exciting things to come in the near future saying, “we have some really, really super dope

projects coming this summer. You will have to stay tuned, and we are just super excited again to be a part of this Urban One family.”

One of the biggest stories to come out of the new Urban One multimedia entity was the creation of One Solution, a in-house branded content agency. It is, AziLove explained, designed to “literally take our clients from ideation to execution.” Rogers went into more detail. “We have a diverse talent base. We’re not you regular integrated marketing department. We have a group of teams and folks here who have been brand managers, publicists, media strategists, editors, writers, producers, directors, and more...we actually have our own branded content studio.” The studio, called One X, will create everything from commercials to documentaries. Another component of One Solution will be the Strategic Partnerships department which Rogers stressed will, “provide custom marketing agency services for our premiere clientele and partners.”

Another surprising development was the announcement of a financial management arm of Urban One. Bandell introduced the One VIP card. She explained, “One VIP Card comes with free loyalty access and offers consumers the convenience and safety of a payment card without the constraints of traditional banking services. All of our assets promote financial empowerment and outreach, and this will help level the playing field.” Leveraging its other entities, Urban One will utilize media platforms to drive awareness to repair credit, loans, bill pay, savings accounts, investments, and everyday banking needs.

So there you have it, some of the biggest business news to ever come out of the urban media landscape. What do you think? Was a name change necessary and is Urban One the right name for all that this multimedia company offers?

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