R2C2H2 Speaks About History, Politics, Jazz, and Art

Vaughn: Bloggers have become the news journalists for the public, especially for cases like the Jena 6 and Megan Williams. You have a Blog Talk radio show and a word blog, so you're weighing in at both ends. How do you feel about blogs shaping the media?

Herd: I think blogs present the actual real mainstream of America. When I say mainstream, I'm referring to basically what people mainly talk about on a day-to-day basis. We always confuse mainstream media as i.e., corporate media. You know, the stuff that we see on TV, that's corporate media controlled by business interests and by the government. When you look at blogs and BlogTalkRadio, you're hearing the voices of the everyday citizen voicing their concerns and their opinions, giving their fellow citizens a platform to speak and be heard.

What has been the most memorable topic or person that you've had on your show?

One person that comes to mind is Dr. John Hope Franklin. This guy...he's almost a century old, but yet he only head one headache in his entire life. One headache. Being a Black man in America and the phenomenal work that he has done. I know it may not be appreciated greatly while he's alive, but that work is going to stand the test of time, and I think he really put his talent that God gave him, or whoever gave him the talent, to very good use.

You talk a lot about history, so would calling you a history buff be accurate?

Yeah. I might have a bias, but I guess so. Yes, I'm a history buff.

Where does this interest in history come from?

Well, I've always been fascinated by history. I've been a bibliophile for as long as I could talk and read. And my thing was, I remember when I was in elementary, I was the cat that read the encyclopedia. Versus reading The Cat in the Hat, I was the one in the school library checking out biographies on Andrew Jackson and David Crockett. This was back in elementary. And you know, it's funny in third grade, I wasn't making the honor roll back then, but people always thought I was the smartest person in the room because I knew a lot about the president of the United States. I thought it was interesting.