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Published on Thursday, 01 September 2011 10:08
WPWX-FM, which has parted ways with most of its on-air staff this summer, has shockingly shown the door to yet another star. This time Power 92.3 has released Keno Greer, host the popular Sunday morning program "Street Sermonz with Keno."
Crawford Broadcasting decided that they wanted the station to be entirely Urban, playing nothing but Hip-Hop, Rap and R&B music, so the Sunday morning contemporary Gospel music show has been canceled, as of yesterday. "Street Sermonz with Keno" had been a weekend staple of the station for over 4.5 years, airing Sunday mornings from 7:00am-10:00am each Sunday.
"Street Sermonz" began as a two hour show on WKKC-FM on Sunday afternoons, back when Greer was still a student at Chicago's Kennedy King College, where he went on to graduate from their Media Communications program. At the time, he was known on the air as "K-Gee." After graduating from Kennedy King, WPWX-FM decided to bring on Greer's show as an experiment for just one hour each week. The show proved so successful that it was quickly expanded to a weekly three hour program, often at or near the top of the ratings for the station's target demographic and for religious shows in Chicago.
The unique program can be described as "Holy Hip-Hop." It plays Urban Contemporary Gospel, as well as inspirational songs form current Hip-Hop and R&B mainstream artists. Major label artists, as well as smaller independent artists are all part of the programming that Greer personally selects each week.
"Street Sermonz" and Keno Greer's efforts became nationally recognized in a rapid amount of time. He has twice been nominated for the Stellar Awards Gospel Announcer of the Year. In 2010, radio stations from other markets asked if they could air the program. "Street Sermonz with Keno" now airs at two stations in Michigan, one in Arizona and one in Alabama. (Other stations in other parts of the country are expressing an interest, too.) His popularity also lead him to have two small roles in films, the first in Gospel Superstar Deitrick Haddon's movie "Blessed & Cursed," and the second role in "Dreams: The Movie."
This is far from the end, though. The Sunday morning "Street Sermonz" program will continue on, so the stations in other markets can continue to listen in. A new station to air the program here in Keno Greer's homebase of Chicago is expected to be named in the near future.
He not only plays contemporary Gospel music on the radio, he lives it. Keno Greer has been a licensed Minister for years.
Before hosting "Street Sermonz," Keno Greer was a part-time producer for WPWX-FM, along with Crawford-owned sister-stations WSRB-FM and WYCA-FM. He is just the latest in a long line of top on-air talents
released from Power 92.3 since June. Other let go included Trey Da Choklit Jok, Shawn Knight and Sam Sylk, not to mention the dropping of Tom Joyner's much-heralded syndicated morning show.
(UPDATE: As for right now, Keno Greer is still officially an employee of Crawford and not fired, but his show has indeed been canceled by Crawford and he is done with WPWX-FM.)
Though radio is a passion of his, his primary job is that of an Associate Producer at one of Chicago's PBS television stations WYCC-TV. In 2009, Greer was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on Channel 20 for a special that dealt with violence in the Urban community.
Keno Greer is a native of Grand Rapids, MI, moving to Chicago in 1997. He lives on the south-side of Chicago with his wife and two young daughters.
