L egendary radio personailty Harold “Hal” Jackson, the first black radio announcer on network radio whose career spanned 70 years, died Wednesday at age 96. Sunday Classics with legendary radio personality Hal Jackson ran for decades on WBLS in New York City. On Wednesday the soft-spoken voice went silent as Hal Jackson died in the hospital from an undisclosed illness. He had been on the air as recently as a couple of weeks ago, hosting his Sunday show on WBLS. Hal Jackson was the godfather of black radio. His longevity, his breaking down the doors and breaking the color barrier, really made it possible for Black-Americans to work in the broadcast medium.

Hal Jackson began his career in the late 1930s on Washington, D.C.’s WINX, weeks after the station owner told him, “No nigger will ever be on my radio station.” He made his way onto WINX by finding a white company to sponsor him and not telling the station owner who the announcer would be. He would become the first Black-American play-by-play sports announcer. That was the first of many barriers Hal Jackson would break.

In the 1950s he moved to New Yory City and he became the first black host on WABC, then in the 1970s he joined with Percy Sutton’s Inner City Broadcasting to become the first Black owners of a major AM/FM combination in New York City.The company acquired WBLS, which pioneered the urban contemporary format.

Born in Charleston, S.C., Hal Jackson grew up loving sports and school. He attended Howard University and in 1995, became the first Black-American to be inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

While Hal Jackson was known for his positive attitude, he also said he did not forget the setbacks, slurs, barriers and hard times. Memorial plans are expected to be announced by the weekend.

Check out the tribute video to Ms. Patti — after the click!

G et ready to celebrate! Whitney’s got one more gift to give back to us. We’ve got the world premiere of the very last song she recorded before she passed away: Celebrate a duet with Jordin Sparks. It was produced by R. Kelly for the movie Sparkle, which will hit theaters August 17th. In the movie Whitney plays Jordin’s mother. It will be great to see Whitney’s face on the big screen one last time. Listen to Whitney and Jordin’s duet — after the click…. And I must warn everybody that the song is poor sound quailty — it’s rip from the oringinal verison. I almost didn’t post it!

A rsenio Hall and Clay Aiken – squared off for the title of Celebrity Apprentice on Sunday night, seeking to be Donald Trump’s latest favored protégé. The task at hand was to create a celebrity variety show and a 30-second public-service announcement for their respective charities. In a close race, Arsenio, ended up winning after producing a comedy show with his team. It was déjà vu for Clay Aiken all over again. Nine years after Clay lost to Ruben Studdard in the American Idol finals, the crooner again had to settle for reality show runner-up honors, as Arsenio Hall was named the winner of The Celebrity Apprentice.

Along with the title — which is purely ceremonial since Arsenio will not actually go to work in any capacity for the Trump Organization — comes a $250,000 prize for Arsenio’s charity, the Magic Johnson Foundation.

I t was a night of tributes at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday. The evening’s most emotional moment came during a tribute to the late Whitney Houston. While Jordin Sparks performed the singer’s iconic hit I Will Always Love You and John Legend crooned, The Greatest Love Of All — Whitney’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, broke down in tears before taking the stage to accept the Millennium Award on her mom’s behalf. “I really want to say thank you to everyone who supported us through it all,” said Bobbi Kris, who stood alongside Whitney’s manager and sister-in-law Patricia Houston. “Not just from when it was good but when it was bad, too. Thank you for showing that much love, because she deserved it. I’m just blessed to have been in such an incredible woman’s life. There will never be another one, ever.”

The show also featured several other farewells. British pop star Natasha Bedingfield sang Last Dance, Donna Summer’s 1978 hit, to honor the disco queen, who died Thursday of lung cancer. Goodie Mob performed the Beastie Boys’ (You Gotta) Fight for Your RIght (to Party!) in remembrance of MC Adam Yauch, who lost his own cancer battle on May 4th. Just before the show began, sad news broke that another music great, the Bee Gees cofounder Robin Gibb, had passed away after his long battle with cancer.

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S tars braved the steamy temperatures in Las Vegas to celebrate music at the Billboard Music Awards and show off the latest styles. However, not everyone was up for the task – stars like Beyonce, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj skipped the event. But, there were enough style standouts to keep us happy — and this year hot couples ruled the red carpet. Alicia Keys and hubby Swizz Beatz were there, as well as Jordin Sparks and her boyfriend Jason Derulo. However, dressed in a gorgeous white gown and high platform leopard pumps, singer Monica, stole the red carpet with her NBA baller husband Shannon Brown on her arm. Check out all the red carpet action — after the click:

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B obby Brown pours cold water on the rumors suggesting that his newly-released song Don’t Let Me Die is an ode to his ex-wife Whitney Houston. The New Edition member denies the report through his representative. Bobby’s rep clarifies that the song was written a while back before the New Jersey singer passed away. Its music video was filmed six months ago and it will feature his fiancee Alicia Etheridge. The clip was previewed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show recently, and is expected to come out sometime soon. The song will be included on The Masterpiece, his first solo studio album since 2007’s Forever. The CD is scheduled to be released on June 5th. Take a listen to the song after the click:

He was rumored singing about Whitney due to his brokenhearted lyrics in the song. “I guess I (messed) up pretty bad/ I didn’t know who you were/ I didn’t know what we had,” he sang. “Now I’m stuck living in the past/ Trying to get the pieces back/ But I guess now you’re gone.”

*WARNING EXPLICIT LANGUAGE CONTAIN IN THE SONG*

L isaRaye McCoy covers this week’s issue of Jet magazine. LisaRaye may be the former first lady of Turks and Caicos, but one title still reigns in the brassy actress’ DNA: Queen of Candor. The Chicago native is funny and refreshingly authentic in a girlfriend-giving-it-to-you-straight type of way. In the magazine article, LisaRaye talks about her personal life, as well as life on set of her hit VH1 series Single Ladies. You’ll be happy to know that she finally reveals what went down on set between her and former co-star Stacey Dash, who reportedly got fired at the end of last season. Check out some highlights — after the click…

On moving on without Stacey Dash who played her best friend on the show:
Believe me I wish things had worked out because I thought Stacey and I were great together. She was my age and we were working it. It was sex-symbol to sex-symbol. But she didn’t want to be there. I was disappointed about that. She had some issues. I’m not sure exactly what those issues were. In the end, she and VH1 made a decision.

On the catfights that really went down on set:
Yes, there was a disagreement over a scene. And it really wasn’t with me. It was with the director. I think it was about 2 or 3AM and we’d been shooting all d**n day. Stacey tried to argue with the director about a line. And I’m like: “Girl, if you don’t say what the director wants you to say.” It wasn’t that serious at first, but it went there. It’s a bunch of women on the set. We might all be on our d**n period at any given point. I just wanted us to move forward. Then the argument took on a life of its own. The show decided to use it for publicity. They just ran with it.

On which Hollywood friend she had to dump:
Duane Martin. I introduced him to my ex-husband [former Turks & Caicos Premier Michael Misick], he got buddy-buddy with him and then turned against me. Just recently, this fool Duane up and sold a building he and I bought awhile ago in Los Angeles, without asking…I don’t care if we’re not friends, just don’t try to f**k me in the interim. When I heard about him in the middle of Will & Jada’s divorce rumors, I tweeted: sounds familiar. He really aint got enough business.

TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW,

PICK UP THE MAY 28 ISSUE OF JET, ON NEWSSTANDS NOW!