RADIO MUSIC HOST AND JOURNALIST TAYARI HOWARD HONORED IN LEMON GROVE AFTER BRAIN CANCER DIAGNOSIS

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East County News Service

Photo: Shane Harris, President of the People's Association of Justice Advocates, Tayari Howard, and Mayor Racquel Vasquez raise gold shovel to plant tree in Howard’s honor.

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November 13, 2022 (Lemon Grove) – Community leaders and elected officials gathered at Treganza Heritage Park in Lemon Grove last month to honor Tayari Howard, founder of Legacy Media Publishing, Promotions and Production. The award-winning broadcaster, legendary smooth jazz radio voice and host of the “Music for Lovers” program   and activist was recently diagnosed with brain cancer.

A memorial brick and the city’s first memorial tree planted in Howard’s honor was paid for by the People’s Association of Justice and its President, Shane Harris.

“Tayari Howard has gone above and beyond his profession and has personally raised more than $1.8 million dollars for thirty different San Diego non-profit agencies and has orchestrated or coordinated more than $600,000 in donated media through various community-based organizations as well," said Harris/ "He deserves to be recognized while he's still here to receive it and I will make sure that we accomplish that in appreciation of all he has done for San Diego County".

Hundreds of people across San Diego were saddened to hear the news of Howard's brain cancer diagnosis. Harris led efforts to recognize Howard’s achievements in Lemon Grove, where Howard resides.

Others at the ceremony included Lemon Grove Mayor Racquel Vasquez,  Councilmember Jennifer Mendoza, Howard’s partner and children, Cheryl Morrow, publisher of the San Diego Monitor News, Pastor George McKinney, Dr. Steve Cooper, Pastor of Nu Way Ministries International and Dwayne Hill, an advocate for Higher Education. 

Dr. Tayari Howard has worked in radio, television and newsprint for the past fifty years. Accumulating over 50,000 hours on radio and television he has also spent a significant amount of time in the newsprint profession. Today, he specializes in Media Relations, Digital Internet Radio Programming,  Public Relations, Special Event Promotions, Nonprofit Organizational Development, Authoring, STEM mentoring and public speaking.

Dr. Howard is the second of three generations of his family spanning 91 years in the business of broadcasting. His mother is credited as one  of the first black female radio personalities and producers in the United States. His father spent twenty-one years in radio and is credited for breaking such acts as James Brown and Diana Ross.

He has two grown daughters, Summer Howard and Mercedes Howard, who have also worked in the broadcast industry. Dr. Howard has received numerous awards including "William Tayari Howard Day" in the city of San Diego and acknowledgments by two US Presidents, George Bush, Jr., and a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for philanthropy and volunteerism from Barack Obama.

Howard has been the Voice of the Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade – one of the largest  celebrations of its kind in the United States in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This parade is  coordinated by the Zeta Sigma Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the oldest  African American fraternity in America, founded in 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New  York. Dr. King was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

 


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