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Joe Bragg Speaks Out

Story by Angel ColonPhotos by Shem Rajoon

 

Joe Bragg has been a broadcast journalist for nearly three decades. He first began his career on April 2, 1968, but made his radio debut in 1971. He first started out with WHN then went on to WLIB for seven to eight years then to KISS FM for another seven to eight years. Now he is retired, but still writes for different Newspapers here and there, reporting about things the way he sees it - the straight truth.

One of the more memorable stories he reported was about Eleanor Bumpers, a elderly, mentally disturbed woman shot dead in October 1984 by armed police who broke into her Bronx apartment to evict her after she had fallen behind with her rent. He covered the whole case word for word from the courtroom. He sees himself as a people's reporter.

Mr. Bragg also covered City Hall since John Lindsay was Mayor. He also has covered almost every major event that you can think of in New York City and around the World. He went to Africa, to Sudan - Mr. Bragg has done it all.

Mr. Bragg wants young journalists such as the ones with Harlemlive to tell a story as they see it, he doesn't want us (Harlemlive) to lie. "Let the story unfold and tell it how it is." (Hear Mr. Bragg tell it himself - 768k .wav file)

Mr. Bragg said his being so truthful about certain things is the reason why so many radio stations were reluctant to hire him. He says that they (the stations) were scared of the reaction that they would receive from their listeners. Mr. Bragg had no other choice but to leave radio stations such as KISS FM. Even now, many stations are trying to prevent Joe Bragg from reporting again.

"I remember a time when I first left KISS FM; Earl Caldwell was doing a show at WLIB. I went over to see Mayor Dinkins for a 1 o'clock show. Earl called me in to talk about the city budget so I stepped in and started talking. WLIB management sent a note saying 'Get that guy off the air.' They did not want me on the radio because of my reputation. Earl kept me on air for about 45 minutes. A few weeks later, Earl was gone."

He knows a lot of writers that like their jobs but can't do their job right because editors give them a series of questions to ask. Joe Bragg feels that writers should make up their own questions to ask the person they are interviewing. Frequently after interviews that Mr. Bragg conducts, his news director would ask him how does he come up with these kinds of questions, Joe just replies with the simple "I'm creative and professional."

 

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