Radio personality and media mogul, Tom Joyner, is living up to his reputation as the “hardest working man in radio.” His nationally syndicated radio program, The Tom Joyner Morning Show, was broadcast live across the country from Toledo on Tuesday morning and this was just one stop on his trek across the nation to meet and greet his listeners.

“When we go to places like Toledo and all the places that we visit, we get so much love and the love feeds the energy and you can’t help but have enough energy but to keep doing this,” Joyner said.

Joyner and his morning crew, comedian J. Anthony Brown and co-host Sybil Wilkes, arrived in Toledo on Monday afternoon after spending the day in Cleveland. They were greeted by hundreds of fans at a happy hour event at a downtown bar/​restaurant Our Brothers Place. Then, on Tuesday, after broadcasting from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m from Toledo affiliate WIMX-FM MIX 95.7, Joyner received a proclamation from U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo).

The morning team then attended a reception with about 50 Toledo community leaders. Those in attendance included Toledo City Council members Tyrone Riley and Larry Sykes, Doni Miller, chief executive with the Neighborhood Health Association, Suzette Cowell, chief executive officer of Toledo Urban Credit Union and Paul Hubbard, owner of the Church’s Chicken restaurants in Toledo.

Joyner and company then dashed off to lunch with about 100 more listeners at Hollywood Casino Toledo.

Brown and Joyner both had a lot of fun on the program during Toledo’s recent water crisis. “It was comedic gold,” Joyner said. Brown even penned a satirical song about the water that is so popular Toledo listeners insisted they replay it on the show Tuesday.

“Yesterday, I’m at a restaurant and the waitress came and she poured water and after I gulped about half a glass I thought whoa... but I’m fine,” Joyner said.

He is also nicknamed, “The Fly Jock”, because he commuted between his morning job in Dallas and an afternoon job in Chicago every weekday for eight years. He took his show into national syndication in 1994 with ABC Radio Networks and, according to his website, has more than eight million listeners on 105 stations.

““I look up to him. That’s one of the reasons I’m in radio because I saw him being the fly jock — and I said ooh I can do that,” said Brandi Brown, market program director at MIX 95.7.

Brown said the station has broadcast Joyner’s syndicated show in Toledo for more than 14 years and his media company, REACH Media, also owns the syndicated program that airs during the afternoon on the station, The D.L Hughley Show.

Joyner’s media empire now includes seven syndicated radio programs that are broadcast on urban contemporary stations. Joyner is also well-known for his philanthropy and has raised millions of dollars for historically African-American universities, Brown said.

The Ohio leg of his tour continues in Dayton today, and from there he will go to Columbus and Cincinnati.

Contact Marlene Harris-Taylor at mtaylor@theblade.com or 419-724-6091.

First Published September 24, 2014, 4:00 a.m.