Episode 7: On being black in America with Jimmy Malone

Jimmy Malone is the voice Cleveland listens to on the drive to work.

He is co-host of the top morning drive time radio show Nolan, Malone, Kullik and Tracey on WMJI 105.7 FM. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer disturbed him deeply.

“This was a police officer who said, ‘People are filming me and I feel perfectly okay forcing my knee into the neck of an unarmed man because I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.’ That’s what hurt me as a black man,” Jimmy said.

Like many cities across the nation, Cleveland erupted in protests that turned into riots and looting. Protesters burned five police cruisers. They broke windows at the Justice Center that many black Clevelanders call the “Just Us” Center because too often black people receive harsher sentences than white people.

“My black friends sit down with their sons and have The Talk: Here’s what you have to do to avoid getting killed.’ It’s painful,” Jimmy said. “Now we have to start teaching our daughters how to film it.”

Official Bio:

Jimmy Malone was born 1953 in Cleveland, Ohio. He is a radio personality and stand-up comedian who currently hosts the Nolan, Malone, Kullik and Tracey Show on WMJI in Cleveland.

He attended Cleveland State University, Morehouse College in Atlanta and graduated from Ohio University.

In 1985, he joined WMJI FM 105.7 morning show with John Lanigan. Jimmy became a full-time co-host on the program, which became known as Lanigan, Webster and Malone, then eventually just Lanigan and Malone after John Webster left the show in 1996.

In 1996, Jimmy created the annual “Malone Scholarship Golf Classic,” a golf tournament which raises money to give college scholarships to high school students who may not be able to attend college without financial aid.

You can learn more about his scholarship program on his website.