Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Adams IV.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Born in Chicago, I’ve lived pretty much all around the city. My mother did her best keeping me safe through elementary school, living in Hyde Park. We eventually moved to the suburbs so that I wouldn’t follow my brother’s steps and get into gangs, etc., I was the youngest in my family so I did a lot on my own… like going through my sisters’ CDs, finding my love for music. My job will hate that I’m admitting this but I used to listen to Mike Love & The Diz on WGCI faithfully! I would listen to the birthday line and also record songs from the radio on to a cassette tape and play them back. That sparked my interest in Rap and R&B, which led me to start writing raps myself. Fast forward to high school, I attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School for my freshman year before I was arrested with some friends for breaking into a house in the Flossmoor neighborhood. Out of frustration, my mother made arrangements for me to start living with my father on 87th Street back in Chicago. I attended Bogan High School until my Senior year. At that time, I fell deeper into bad influences. I was failing almost every class at Bogan. When it was time to graduate, I was held back because I failed Art… yes… Art… and the stupid thing is… I actually know how to draw and love art, but I was so caught up with being “cool”, smoking weed, and ditching school that I failed a class they don’t offer in night school.
Failing an art class was the end of the road for my father’s patience and he kicked me out of the house, which led me to move back with my mom in the suburbs. I was too embarrassed to repeat another year in school, so I found an alternative way to get my high school diploma through a home school program I found in the back of the hip hop magazine XXL. I finished that program over the summer and enrolled in Parkland College in Champaign, IL so that I could be with my peers who would be attending the University Of Illinois. After six months in college and away from home, I got into more trouble and moved back home to stay with my mother and said forget school. My mom at the time became ill and disabled from working as a nurse, so I was her caregiver and helped her with a lot of things she needed to do. Her health benefits allowed a family member to be a paid personal aid so my job became taking care of her. One day, my mother saw a commercial for the Illinois Media School and asked would I be interested in TV/Radio since she knew my passion for music. I was excited when I found out they offered a course on making a music video. Still not really knowing what I wanted to do, I went to the Illinois Media School in Lombard, IL to figure it out. At the time, there wasn’t a Chicago location, so I made that trip every week. In order to graduate from IMS, you had to obtain an internship with either a TV or Radio experience. I turned down shows like Jerry Springer, Judge Mathis, B96, Kiss FM, etc. because I didn’t really have an interest with those shows or companies.
Then, one day, Power 92 submitted to the school saying they needed interns and I immediately requested the information. I had been listening to Power 92 since high school and it became my favorite station after WGCI. Power 92 was more youthful and the Hot Boys, Tone & Shagg, always sounded like the homies on the block and were more relatable. It wasn’t easy getting in either, I had to call the promotions coordinator, Rico, every day for two weeks before he actually responded back with an interview offer. That low key taught me to be persistent and stay on top of the opportunities you want. I scored the internship and after I graduated from IMS, Power 92 hired me to work on the promotions street team. I balanced that work schedule with the time I spent helping my mother out at home and taking her to run errands. Since I had a big responsibility on my shoulders, I couldn’t network after my shift and stay around the studios to build relationships with my coworkers, which put me in an “out of sight, out of mind” situation. People knew me at work… but they didn’t know my aspirations of being on the radio so I was overlooked a lot. Power 92 has three sister stations… I was offered a job with the gospel station WYCA 102.3 as a board operator and I took it! Working at a gospel station wasn’t where I wanted to be, but knew that it was a stepping stone and a learning opportunity to get to the next level. I worked in the gospel station and the power 92 street team and started to build with radio personalities when I worked the street team events. One of the personalities Esko “Let’s Go!” took me under his wing and let me shadow his shifts on Power 92 on the weekends. Esko was eventually promoted to Program Director of another sister station “WYRB Power 106.3” for Rockford, IL.
Not too long after he was promoted, he reached back to me and offered me a position as his producer for the afternoon show. I gave Esko demos to critique before I gave them to the boss at Power 92 and little did I know, he was prepping me for my debut on 106.3 in Rockford! I started doing fill-ins, that lead to my weekend show on Saturday and Sundays in Rockford. I did a few years doing weekends in Rockford but still wanted to be on POwer 92 in Chicago. I eventually became the midday host in Rockford after two people quit and the last option was me, lol. I’ve been doing middays in Rockford ever since. I’ve had the honor of having a number 1` show in Rockford and we are still top 3 in the market. After my hard work with the Rockford station, I was finally offered to do Sunday mornings on Chicago’s Power 92.3 and I’ve held it down and never looked back! I am currently on the radio in two cities… Chicago every Sunday and Rockford Monday through Friday!! It has been a roller coaster but a lot of lessons learned and a lot of lessons I must teach my son about navigating through life trying to find your lane.
Has it been a smooth road?
the hardest obstacle was after my mom passed in 2012, I lost everything. The house we lived in went into foreclosure. my car was repossessed. I lost some of the income I had when she passed, I used to get paid by the state to take care of her so when I lost her, everything started to fail. I moved in with my child’s mother and we couldn’t work it out, so I moved out and lived on 59th with my childhood friend in a two-flat apartment building. I had no car so I had to travel on the redline to the Pace Bus on 95th just to get to Hammond, IN where the actual radio stations are located. It was a two-hour commute to work and I stuck it out for a long time until I eventually couldnt afford the commute anymore. I became friends with a smoke shop owner in Indiana by the radio station who let me sleep in the shop to play as security for the business so that I didn’t have to travel back and forth to Chicago everyday. That saved me and I was able to level myself up and stay on the path with my radio passion. It was either quit radio and give up eveyrthing I worked for… or get a second job and work it out. That’s what I did. The hardest thing about radio is having to fake positive energy everyday for your listeners. I was dealing with so much negativity and depression due to my situation, losing my mom, the house, car, girlfriend, etc. I lost it all. But I couldn’t show it. I faked a smile for three years dealing with this but it was somewhat theraputic. When I turn the mic on, I am “Gskee”… the radio personality… they didn’t know “Joseph” the struggling human being. Making people smile and giving people joy from a simple shout out or giving away tickets to someone who has never won anything before, it all made me feel better and realize my struggle isn’t as bad as others. Making people happy through radio made me more confident.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I may sound cocky but over time, I’ve realized I am one of the best personalities here in Chicago. Everybody can’t be a personality… talking on the radio and giving out random info you just Googled doesn’t make you a personality. You have to have character… you have to say things people want to hear in the real world. I push the limits on things I say and I think that makes me a greater personality than others, not only what I say, but how I say things. My delivery is unique and I feel I relate to the people. A lot of personalities in the city are from out of town so they instantly can’t relate to the city of Chicago’s struggles and triumphs. I’m not afraid to dislike a song we play in. I’m not afraid to say how I feel on the radio. Every DJ shouldn’t be a radio personality and every radio persoanlity shouldn’t be a DJ… it’s simple.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love Chicago for the culture, food, and history. There is not a skyline in the United States better than Chicago!! BIG FACTS!! Although we are diverse, we are also very segregated. The segregation from certain neighborhoods is what I don’t like. Also, I hate the negative assumption that Chicago is full of violence. It’s bad… but it’s very beautiful.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 7086463391
- Email: BookGskee@Gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/gskee
- Twitter: twitter.com/gskee
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
