Steve Harvey impact on TV and Radio Steve Harvey has continued to attract attention in every major entertainment arena, the screen, stage, radio, and the television. The resume or the Cleveland native reads like some kind of mini novel: as anchor of the popular show, "It is Showtime at Apollo," for seven years, anchor for the WB sitcom, "The Steve Harvey Show," for six years, a tour with the famous 'Cedric the Entertainer', Bernie Mac and D.L. Hughley in their hugely successful Kings of Comedy Tour. He featured in the movie, "Fighting Temptations" alongside Beyonce Knowles and Cuba Gooding Jr. He was recently featured in a hit movie titled, "The Johnson Family Vacation" alongside Vanessa Williams and Cedric. The WB renewed his "Steve Harvey's Big Time" for one more season and continuously supplies the largest turnout of audiences the WB network has ever seen per week. He is also known to be among the busiest disc jockeys in Los Angeles with his very successful morning show aired within the Dallas metropolis on 100.3 FM ("Steve Harvey does it big" 54).

The Repertoire

In spite of variant roles and successes, the singular major achievement of Steve Harvey continues to be as the top on-air personalities in Los Angeles, known to be the busiest radio market in the entire United States. Plans to syndicate the radio show into some other big market is underway. Harvey combines his unique sense of humor and good political commentary doses that help keep his radio show listeners amused and enlightened at the same time. The executive producer of the "Steve Harvey's Big Time" Rushion McDonald and comedian Madeleine Smithburg brought the idea of a variety/novel talk show. Harvey gathers extraordinarily talented men and women from all parts of the country to Hollywood where he is based. The show equally displays the natural rapport that exists between Harvey and the young people he works with evident in his ability to make them feel at home and air their views confidently. Harvey also made some digital success. He was able to turn his two major comedy series, Steve Harvey: One Man and HBO Comedy Half-Hour into a DVD that turned out to be a best seller. The works of Steve Harvey transcends conventional comedy.

Accolades

The forthcoming annual Hoodies Award which will be the Fourth episode will be hosted at the Las Vegas MGM Grand with a large array of singers, actors, comedians, and news men and women featuring at the event in appreciation of the commitment Harvey has been honoring people whose positive impact in the society go unnoticed and unsung (Taylor 90).

Harvey himself has several accolades to his credit, beginning from 1995 when he became a nominee for the prestigious People's Choice awards for the great role he played in, "Me and the Boys." For the role he played in the "Steve Harvey Show," he got four NAACP Image Awards for the comedy series Outstanding Actor. His role as the host of the then popular, "Showtime" on Apollo also won him an Image Award. Harvey received an honor that could be best described as a crown for his career successes when he was nominated for the "Entertainer of the Year" NAACP Image Award. He keeps venturing into different businesses and risking what most people would rather not risk (Connley 64).

Earnings

Harvey teamed up with late Bernie Mac and Cedric the Entertainer in 1998 to form what they called "Kings of Comedy Tour," which catapulted them to the top of the comedy industry earning about $37 million in box-office receipts in two years; their shows were among the most attended comedy tours of that era. In 2000, armed with professional advice from the director, Spike Lee and accepting D.L. Hughley into the group, they came up with the hit movie, The Original Kings of Comedy earning above $38 million at the U.S. box office. The movie catapulted Steve Harvey and his team members beyond the borders of the urban entertainment markets and ushered them into mainstream America. On Oct. 8, 1985, he performed his first stand-up comedy show at the prestigious Hilarities Comedy Club located in Cleveland, which won him a $50 prize for amateur stage performance. After that night, Harvey decided to resign his job as a life insurance seller to give his comedy profession his full attention. His career as a stand-up comedian began in the 80s.

After about 10 years of solo performances, Harvey gradually established himself as a sought-after comedy brand. His early years in his twenties were spent on different...

Eventually, he found what he was searching for -- on stage as a comedian. Harvey's comedy career really took off from there. And in 1993, he was appointed the new anchor of Apollo's Showtime, that legendary variety show recorded at the prestigious Harlem's Apollo Theater. Until 2000, Harvey stayed as the anchor of Apollo's Showtime, but that was not the only thing he was into at that time.
On-Air

In the year 2000, his daily radio talk show, The Steve Harvey Morning Show was launched. The show first hit the airwaves in Dallas and Los Angeles, but gained national rights of broadcast and a flagship from New York City. Today, dozens of radio stations air the show all around the United States. Housed at WBLS in New York City, Premiere Radio Networks (Ballard 56) syndicated the Steve Harvey's radio show. When the Steve Harvey Show had been aired for seven consecutive years and hosting the "Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge," Harvey entered the syndicated radio world. Both shows were hosted on WB-TV. Even during the period, he was undergoing transformation into a radio personality of repute, Harvey never stopped his career as a stand-up comedian and actor.

After it had aired for six years, the WB Steve Harvey Show was taken off air in 2002, but it did not take Harvey time before he embarked on other projects. Harvey hosted a reality-show competition known as Steve Harvey's Big Time that lasted for just a short period. The reality competition was aired by WB-TV between 2003 and 2005. In 2003, Harvey made his major TV acting debut in the movie, The Fighting Temptations, then in 2004, he won a bigger supporting role in the movie, You Got Served and Johnson Family Vacation. In 2005, he featured as a voice actor in the Racing Stripes animation.

The Syndication

A large number of people started following the Steve Harvey Show, mostly African-Americans and the show remained on air from inception to 2002. The show also created an avenue for a lucrative partnership between Harvey and another multi-talented comedian named Cedric the Entertainer, who acted as best friend to Harvey during the show and was later part of his national comedy tours. Harvey has done a whole lot: that of acting, writing, filming and production for movies and television. Presently, the top-rated syndicated radio program themed, "The Steve Harvey Morning Show, and the syndicated family game show, "Family Feud" as well as the television talk show, "Steve Harvey." In the year 2010, another prestigious TV role was given to Harvey, which was becoming the new anchor of the respected TV game show, Family Feud, Harvey finally found an agreeable niche. He does not stop at flashing his quick wit and trying out some new things on TV, but at the same time never misses a chance to work directly with ordinary people.

In as much as everyday had its own unique stock of new things for the audience from Harvey and his team, their operational DNA was infused with making every second count. He often commutes between Atlanta and Chicago. His radio show is recorded every morning from 6 to 10 a.m., in Atlanta which is accompanied by his regular talk show at the Chicago NBC Tower. All episodes for the Celebrity Family Feud are recorded in Atlanta in the month of March and between May and August, the original Family Feud episode is recorded. Beyond the radio gigs and hosting, Harvey is always engaged with one lengthy meeting or the other concerning several future multimedia projects. Building on the success of his first book, Act Like a Lady; Think Like a Man which became a bestseller in New York, formed the basis for two movies (Triggs 74).

Afro-American Following

Steve Harvey has benefited immensely from syndication, the talented radio host/comic actor/talk show host has seen his two shows top the charts, with a number of people taking his urban hip as a good yardstick to measure success. Today, the comic actor has succeeded in transforming his special brand straight talk on touch love into a staggering $40 million industry and has over 2 million followers on each of his talk shows. The importance of black viewers keeps increasing every day. Both Wendy Williams and Steve Harvey, the two top talk show presenters who witnessed increasing followership year-in year-out, benefitted equally by capturing the interest of the African-American community, who account for about…