Thomas "Tom" Joyner is an American radio host, host of the nationally syndicated The Tom Joyner Morning Show, and also founder of REACH Media Inc., the Tom Joyner Foundation, and BlackAmericaWeb.com. Recent study has concluded his net worth to be around $30 million dollars. Joyner was born in Tuskegee, Alabama, the son of Frances and Hercules L. Joyner. Tom came from an educated family: his grandfather Oscar was one of only 3,000 black physicians in the United States, earning a degree in medicine in 1909. Joyner had been involved in college radio, and after graduation, he began his broadcasting career in Montgomery, Alabama immediately upon graduation, and worked at a number of radio stations in the South and Midwest, including stations in Memphis and St. Louis, before moving to Chicago in early 1978. In Chicago, he first worked at WVON, doing the morning show, but left the station after only three months to work at a competitor, WBMX-FM. By late July 1978, however, he had been hired away by Charles Mootry, general manager of station WJPC (AM) (now WNTD). This station, named for "Johnson Publishing Company," was owned by John H. Johnson, owner of such black magazines as Jet and Ebony.
Though he was initially interested in a career in music, his family discouraged it, and he shifted his focus to working in broadcasting. He began working at his college radio station. After graduating, he was hired by multiple radio stations, first in Montgomery, Alabama, and then in Memphis, St. Louis, and finally, Chicago. He was offered two jobs at major radio stations in 1985, one in Chicago and the other in Dallas, Texas. He chose to accept both jobs, and flew back and forth between the two stations every day for the next eight years. In 1994, he began hosting his own show, "The Tom Joyner Show". It is now heard in nearly 100 cities, and is broadcast under the umbrella of his own production company, Reach Media. In addition to his radio show, he helmed a popular television show from 2004 – 2006.