Robert "Rob" Redding Jr. is an American podcaster, journalist, author and artist. From 2012 to 2013, he hosted the weekday syndicated ''

Redding News Review ''Redding News Review'' was a Sirius XM radio show that developed into a subscriber-supported podcast. It focuses on Black news and was founded by Rob Redding. Production Rob Redding founded ''Redding News Review'' to compete with mainstream ...

'' on

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

Personal life and education

Redding's father was a preacher. His mother was a teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools. He was raised in the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

area and attended the University of Louisiana where majored in speech communication. He graduated with a master's degree in communication from

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

in Huntington. He graduated with Master's in Fine Art in painting and drawing in 2022 from

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He is based in

and is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

Journalism and teaching

Redding has taught communications at

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pac ...

and

New York City College of Technology The New York City College of Technology (City Tech) is a public college in New York City. Founded in 1946, it is the City University of New York's college of technology. History City Tech was founded in 1946 as The New York State Institute of ...

. Prior to teaching, he was a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

broadcaster working afternoons at

WAOK WAOK (1380 AM) is a commercial radio station in Atlanta, Georgia. It is owned by Audacy, Inc. and airs a talk radio format aimed at the African American community. WAOK has local hosts in morning and afternoon drive time with the syndicated ...

in Atlanta. He was named one of the "100 most important radio talk hosts in America." He was a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

at several newspapers including

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...

. He started his syndicated news and commentary show while at

KMLB KMLB (540 AM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a talk radio format. Licensed to Monroe, Louisiana, the station is owned by Holladay Broadcasting. All programming is simulcast on FM translator K289CG at 105.7 MHz. Studios are locat ...

where he was also program director. He returned in

radio syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

and other cities a few years after leaving. After about five years doing weekends, his show was also added to weekdays during that same time. The show was taken off the air at

and continues as paid podcast ''Redding News Review Unrestricted'' hosted on ''

'' website since 2014.

Reporting and punditry

In 2004, Redding reported on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

anchor and managing editor

Brian Williams Brian Douglas Williams (born May 5, 1959) is an American retired journalist and television news anchor. He was a reporter for ''NBC Nightly News'' starting in 1993, before his promotion to anchor and managing editor of the broadcast in 2004. ...

saying that there were bigger issues than newsroom diversity. The comments resulted in a meeting between the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

and the NBC. In 2007, Redding broke news of racist threats made against black columnist

Leonard Pitts Leonard Garvey Pitts Jr. (born October 11, 1957) is an American commentator, journalist, and novelist. He is a nationally syndicated columnist and winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. He was originally hired by the ''Miami Herald'' ...

. In May 2011, Redding got into a verbal altercation with

Rush Limbaugh Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American conservative political commentator who was the host of '' The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nationally syndicated on AM and FM r ...

when he asked

Michael Steele Michael Stephen Steele (born October 19, 1958) is an American political commentator, attorney, and Republican Party politician. Steele served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007; he was the first African-American ...

, the former chairman of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

, about a skit in which a Limbaugh staffer "reintepreted" his criticism of Barack Obama's immigration speech in ebonics. In 2012, Redding was syndicated talk radio host on

where he hosted "Where's the Change? Why Neither Obama nor the GOP Can Solve America's Problems," at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

where he discussed the impact of talk radio on the 2012 presidential election. In 2013, Redding interviewed recording artist

Stromae Paul van Haver (; born 12 March 1985), better known by his stage name Stromae (), is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attenti ...

about racism in Europe. Stromae spoke frankly about being called a "monkey", which inspired the singers hit Formidable. In 2017, Redding's reported

CoverGirl CoverGirl is an American cosmetics brand founded in Maryland, United States, by the Noxzema Chemical Company. It was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 1989 and later acquired by Coty, Inc. in 2016. The Noxell Company advertised this cosmetics li ...

James Charles James Charles Dickinson (born May 23, 1999) is an American beauty YouTuber and makeup artist. While working as a local makeup artist in his hometown of Bethlehem, New York, Charles started a YouTube channel, where he posts makeup tutorials. ...

comments about "chubby Black women", Indians and Mexicans in 2017 prompting Charles to apologise for his comments. Redding's interview of

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

professor Tommy Curry resulted in over 80 death threats directed to Curry after his comments were misunderstood. Redding occasionally features in the National Public Radio ''Roundtable feature''.

Writing

Redding has written 13 self-published bestselling books on Amazon's hourly list, including ''Smeared, Target'', ''Dark Soul'' and ''The Professor: Witnessing White Power (2019)'' ISBN 978-1692336233 Redding has two academic articles. He wrote "Black voices, White power: Members of the Black press make meaning of media hegemony" in the

Journal of Black Studies ''Journal of Black Studies'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the fields of social sciences and ethnic studies concerning African and African diaspora culture, with particular interest in African-American cultu ...

He wrote the "Resolution of Risk" in “The Journal of the International Public Debate Association.”

Art

In 2017, art reviewer Per Larson called his work "iconic" and compared him to "James Baldwin" because he once lived in Europe. In 2018 he exhibited his first

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

solo show ''BIG BLACK ̶C̶O̶C̶K̶ CANVAS: SIZE matters - in ART!'' at the NoHoM55 Gallery in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 2018. Redding's artwork ''Black Power: Unapologetically Militant'' was exhibited in the Fridman Gallery and later sold for $10,000. His work appeared in the May 2021 edition of ''

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It i ...

.'' His "Constructive Expressionism" style was described as "highly original" by Black Star News, which covered his new book about his art called ''Smeared'' (2023).

References

External links

Rob Redding official website

''Redding News Review'' website

Rob Redding art site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redding, Rob African-American television personalities African-American radio personalities American infotainers American male journalists American online publication editors American political commentators American political writers American talk radio hosts American television talk show hosts Living people Marshall University alumni The Washington Times people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people Year of birth missing (living people)