Rickey Smiley says letting Claudia Jordan go was not 100% his call: 'It's not personal'

He saw the release of Ebony Steele a year ago the same way.

"That was a mutual decision," Smiley said. "She didn't leave a day before the contract. She wasn't fired."

[At the time it happened, I didn't get the impression the move was mutual and I don't recall Ebony ever saying it was. Smiley never told her why she was let go.]

Smiley, who is heard locally on Hot 107.9, said he isn't make these calls in a vacuum.

He said there is management from 60 radio stations he has to answer to with his syndication deal. "I'm an independent contractor," he said. "In business relationships, we collectively make decisions. Every decision made is done with somebody else."

In terms of Jordan, he added, "it's what the listeners want. The bosses do polling and research. The company decided they wanted to go in a different direction. If it's what's best for the show, I'm in business with them to do good business."

He said if he had to let go his mother for business reasons, he'd do it.

"We gave Claudia a shot," he said. "It was an opportunity for her to promote herself and whatever she was doing. There are no hard feelings."

Asked if he had any jealousy toward his staff (including Jordan), he said, "I've been performing for 26 years. I sell tickets. I'm not threatened by nobody else. My job is to make sure the show is funny. My job isn't to come in here to prove how funny I am... The most popular person on the show is Gary With Da Tea. When you do polls or we do an event, when Gary walks on stage, he gets the loudest screams."

If he was the jealous type, Gary "would have been gone a long time ago."

Headkrack, he noted, is also incredibly popular on both the radio show and the syndicated TV show "Dish Nation," seen locally at 7 p.m. on Fox 5.

Smiley has been doing his radio show for a decade now and most of his team has been with a bulk of that time, if not all of it. That includes Gary With Da Tea, Special K, Headkrack and Juicy.

Reach Media, which is primarily owned by Radio One (which owns Hot 107.9 and many other radio stations), oversees his syndication network, which includes Dallas, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, St, Louis, Miami, Nashville and New Orleans.

For now, rapper Da Brat is filling in for Jordan's spot, reading the news and providing a female voice on the show. Smiley said Da Brat is on a temporary contract, that he may try out other people as well. Reach Media will do research and they'll make a decision after about 90 days for a permanent replacement.

Smiley said he wouldn't mind having a single mother who could relate to many of the listeners. He didn't rule out bringing Steele back though he said if he did that, he wouldn't need to test her. She already knows the team.

A recent Rolling Out story noted that Smiley has lost four women on the show in recent years, including a manager and a publicist, implying he may have a "female" problem.

"I could care less about someone else's opinion," Smiley said, though he did end up talking to Rolling Out this week as well.  He said he's had female employees who have worked with him for years. And he said publicists are usually on retainer and he hires them on an as-needed basis. He acknowledged his manager departure wasn't clean but "it had nothing to do with her gender. Some males have been let go, too."

Two weeks ago, Smiley went on a tirade on his Facebook page without naming names. Here it is, in case you missed it:

The timing, a week before he let Jordan go, made it seem like this had to do with her. Smiley said it wasn't her at all.

Rather, it was unspecified interns and part timers "who have attitudes and not getting what they want immediately," he said. "You have to work to make a name for yourself. You have to work your way up. It  had nothing to do with Claudia."

He described his leadership style as "easygoing and fun."

"I don't micromanage," he said. "Everyone stay in their lane and do their job and you don't have to deal with me at all. It's fun to work in that room. We have a great time in the room. I'm not throwing tantrums." (Some folks who have been in that room have privately told me they don't agree with that assessment, but it's how Smiley sees it.)

Indeed, he calls his team "a well-oiled machine. Everybody plays their part."

Smiley also just started a charity foundation in his own name, which will help kids who have lost parents and senior citizens in nursing homes who don't have family to visit. "This is not about us being celebrities, being self serving. This is about helping people."

As far as ratings, he said some markets are up, some are down. (In Atlanta on Hot, he's been stable among older listeners, down among younger ones.)

He also praised Porsha Williams, who is part of "Dish Nation."

"She's real bubbly," he said. "Spiritual. Caring. And fun. She's like a little sister. I try to mentor her."

Here's Williams's quote in his defense, which seems to mistake the mental illness of bipolar disorder with a meteorological term: "These rumors are ridiculous and the only thing that’s bipolar is the weather. I am blessed to be able to do what I do and work with Rickey Smiley. He has given me an amazing opportunity & he’s become a great mentor. I get to go to work every day and laugh. Who else can say that?”

I also asked Smiley about his dormant TV One sitcom "The Rickey Smiley Show." He admits it's on ice right now but he might be able to pitch it elsewhere at some point. And he is open to doing game shows and talk shows like his mentor Steve Harvey.

While they are technically competitors in morning radio, Smiley said Harvey helped get him his radio gig in Dallas first a decade ago and has been a great support ever since. "We go on each other's shows," he said. "We're good friends. Two of his kids and my daughter went to the same college. We keep in touch. It's an awesome relationship."