(By Charese Frugé) Tamara Young-McCoy is the founder of ArtSoul Radio, a Chicago-based radio network and media company. Since 2014, ArtSoul Radio has focused on Christian Soul (now known as Christian R&B) alongside Contemporary Gospel, Christian Hip-Hop, Christian AfroBeats, and Worship music.
The platform is the only one of its kind owned by a Black Woman which has been pushing these genres since 2014. The network is dedicated to supporting the elevation and expansion of Christian music through these newer genres coupled with its strong focus on Millennials and Gen Z. ArtSoul has been recognized as a forerunner in establishing Christian Soul/Christian R&B as its own genre within the Christian music landscape. In addition, ArtSoul has been thrice nominated for the Stellar Awards, twice nominated for the Spin Awards, and has won two Communicator Awards.
ArtSoul is currently powered by iHeartRadio and preparing to expand even further. Young-McCoy’s work with ArtSoul has led to an invitation for her to become a Co-Leader in the digital division of the National Association of Gospel Radio (NAGR), which represents stations reaching over a million listeners and serves as a key resource hub for the industry. Additionally, her partnerships have included notable companies such as AT&T, Reach Records, Reflection Music Group, the Stellar Awards, Dove Awards, and more.
With this month being Gospel Heritage Month, it’s the perfect time to feature Young-McCoy who has fourteen years of experience in entertainment, media, communications, brand development and emerging technologies. Her background includes TV/Film production, radio production, journalism, traditional and digital marketing, social media, content creation, project management, TV & Radio Production, Artist Relations, and working with diverse creative teams on a variety of digital marketing campaigns and projects.
Young-McCoy’s primary inspiration for ArtSoul Radio began with her desire to “connect listeners to music that would speak life,” she says. “Outside of ArtSoul Radio in my own time, I am a creator and an artist first. I have a background in songwriting, illustration, film production and dance. As an artist, I understand the power that art can have on people and in culture. Watching much of the toxic music that was feeding the younger generation was heart breaking. Prior to starting ArtSoul Radio, I worked in youth ministry for over 10 years. This included ministry in and outside of my church at the time which included working with youth in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. I also worked with Metro Chicago Youth for Christ which focused on working on high school campuses within the Chicagoland area.”
“After several years of working in youth ministry as a teacher and working in a variety of evangelistic efforts, I considered ArtSoul Radio to be a new extension of the work I had been doing over the years. It was a new way to teach and inspire. Most of all, it was a way to create and offer an alternative to what the youth were currently digesting. ArtSoul Radio is now known as the ‘#1 Urban Inspirational Alternative to mainstream Hip Hop and R&B programming.’ My primary goal for ArtSoul Radio has been to serve as the ultimate ‘amplifier’ for the voices of Christian millennials and Gen Z youth and now the Alpha gen, covering a wide range of topics that matter to them while pushing music that speaks to where they are in life. There is an undeniable demand for high-quality inspirational content, and our network stands ready to continue to meet that need with excellence.”
Over the years the ArtSoul Network has expanded considerably. “ArtSoul Radio was founded in Chicago, Illinois. Since then, we have created chapters in five other cities and developed a robust online community that we continue to serve daily,” says Young-McCoy. “From its inception, ArtSoul has been able to reach over 1M youth and young adults with quality inspirational music that serves and an alternative to much of the mainstream music which can be toxic for our youth and our culture as a whole. From the start, our slogan has been ‘Life Music – Music You Can Live To.’ Our goal is to continue to push that to a new generation of youth and to move more into a coaching role for many of them with creative gifts through our nonprofit ‘The ArtSoul Creatives Network.’”
“In 2019, we started a new event series which included Pop Ups beginning in Chicago and branching out from there,” explains Young-McCoy. “Of course, we were disappointed when Covid-19 shut everything down. However, while that season was a surprise to everyone and could often be dark, we took advantage of the moment to get even louder with our audience online offering a new dose of inspiration everyday with fresh music programming, culture news and more. In addition, we started a new radio show specifically for that time titled ‘The Uplift Conversation Series.’ There was so much negative news during that time regarding Covid related deaths, civil unrest due to police violence against black men and women, and so much more. It was difficult to turn on the news and not hear something that could negatively affect anyone’s mental health. Because one of my purposes for starting ArtSoul Radio was to amplify positive music, love and other messaging which includes justice, we decided to amplify hope during this dark time and create a space for people to speak about the hard things happening in our world during that time.”
“We created ‘The Uplift Conversation Series’ to highlight people who were making a difference in their communities and to create space for conversations among people in our music community and in our everyday living communities to speak about how they felt during a time when the only things speaking for us or on our behalf in media seemed to be the TV news stations. But they weren’t yet speaking directly to our Black Men and Women in our communities and asking us how we felt. So, we brought together artists from various Christian genres and industry and community leaders together to speak about those challenges. We featured two conversations in that series: 1) ‘The Black Man: The Complexity of Our Identity’ which featured Jonathan McReynolds, Dee-1, EJ Gaines, Pastor Demetrius Davis, KJ Scriven and Sho Baraka, and 2) ‘Overcoming Personal Trauma: An episode featuring gospel favorites speaking openly about overcoming their personal trauma’ which featured DOE, Latice Crawford, Don Shelby, Dante Bowe, Shanta Akins, Therapist Juanita Tookes and Dee Wilson. These segments were later celebrated by us winning ‘The Communicators Award’ for those radio show segments.”
While Young-McCoy has been very successful over the years, her progress did not come without its challenges. “As a Woman owned business, I unfortunately have been part of the large percentage that has faced challenges with finding the proper funding,” she says. “In 2023, studies showed that women-led startups received around only 2.1% of total venture capital funding in the U.S. This is a small fraction of the total, and despite growing efforts to address this gap. We need more progress in this area. However, I have a couple of board members who have also been like business mentors lately. Their guidance is helping me in that area now as much as it can.”
“For every other challenge that I have faced in business, mentorship, prayer and finding balance have been key answers for me. Years ago, when I first started, I came across this statement: “The music business is often said to be 90% about handling personalities and 10% about talent or music itself. Since then, I have learned from experience that is 100% true! Lol I do my best to keep learning how to be a better leader through classes, etc. Finding the right information can be very helpful. I also keep community close, and I have a therapist. Mental health is wealth! And I believe in both Jesus and therapy. In all seriousness, I would suggest the same for everyone. Keeping a focus on your mental health is important.”
To be more specific, her advice for Women who want to be successful in the business starts with “Learning as much as you can now wherever you are in your journey. Don’t be afraid to work for free and serve where you can,” she says. “People watch your dedication, your commitment to excellence and to your word, and to the work you do for them. Network. But also work on building authentic relationships. Don’t let everything be solely transactional. People may not remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. Be kind and don’t prejudge too quickly. You could meet someone today who might be doing what you might consider ‘bottom of the barrel work,’ but they may end up being your boss or a future bridge you might need later.”
“Don’t let social media followers fool you when networking or when simply meeting new people. Sometimes the most influential are not consistently building followers and staying active on socials. Don’t prejudge too quickly. And most importantly, years ago, I heard Oprah Winfrey say, ‘If you only look for money, you’ll miss a lot.’ She emphasized following your passion and purpose, with financial success being a byproduct of doing what you love. I took that to heart and still do. I take this to heart with balance of course. There’s a time for everything. But what I know for sure is that I have served a lot of people well and sincerely earlier on in my work. They weren’t always people of influence. I simply believed in their work, and I knew that I could contribute to their work. Later, some of those same people became highly influential and have been instrumental in my business ventures and in my personal life via mentorship. The work paid off.”
“As far as DEI in the industry, I do believe we have made significant strides. However, from research and personal experience, I have been able to see that there is still room for growth,” says Young-McCoy. “While the radio industry has improved in terms of diversity in on-air talent, there is still a lack of women and people of color in senior leadership roles such as station managers, program directors and executives (including Founders/CEOs). Because diversity is still lacking in these senior leadership roles, this leads to a lack of diversity in perspectives in day-to-day decision making and in content curation. In addition, when it comes to Minority Owned Radio Stations, we still face significant challenges including less access to proper funding and less access to advertising dollars and other resources in comparison to larger, mainstream stations. This lack of financial support often slows down or simply stifles the growth of these stations and their unique messaging and content creation that these station tend to cater to. It can also slow down the unique impact that Minority owned stations can have within their own communities and within culture and within the music industry as a whole. So, I would say that there is still room for more significant growth in the radio industry relating to DEI.”
While Young-McCoy has a tremendous amount of responsibility as Founder of ArtSoul Radio, she does have a strategy for balance in her life. “Accountability is key!” she says. “My Husband and my close community hold me accountable. They are always helping me find new ways to pull me out of my work mode when I get too locked in. There was a time that without community support, I might not sleep on some nights. But, I have learned the hard way that rest is really the key to success. You can think more clearly, creativity is better and how we handle challenges is also impacted. I have learned that I am better when I am rested.”
“After a few health scares, I have learned to make rest and my overall health a priority now. So, now when I create my schedule for the month, I factor in rest, work outs and meal planning into my schedule each week. Getting a certain number of steps in each day and strength training is a must. I have also learned that my day is better when I’m able to get some form of a workout or movement of any kind done in the morning before I start working. I do not always hit the mark with these goals. But, having a plan and a goal set is half the battle. The rest is just showing up. That’s the part I keep working on along with community being my help.”
“As for what’s ahead for ArtSoul Radio, we are currently in the process of relaunching the Non-Profit arm of our company, ‘The ArtSoul Creatives Network,’ which is centered around educating and equipping creatives while giving them access to community, resources, and tools that will help them thrive in their career, their personal life and in their spiritual growth,” explains Young-McCoy. “More than just playing artists music, we are concerned with the whole artist and building them up helping to become even better than where they already are. We are extremely excited about this work and seeing this part of our company coming alive even more! In addition, after a slight pause, we are kicking off our events again. It has been a little while for us! But we are ready to be back outside again!! We are also looking forward to expanding the current reach of our stations even more! We will have some announcements about that soon!”
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Charese Frugé is an award-winning Content, Broadcast, and Marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, and Las Vegas. As the owner of MC Media, she works with radio brands and individual talents, especially young women, helping them grow their brands and negotiate on their own behalf. Find her at @MCMediaOnline. See more Women to Watch here.
