{"id":17398,"date":"2012-10-11T16:03:55","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T20:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=17398"},"modified":"2012-10-11T16:05:22","modified_gmt":"2012-10-11T20:05:22","slug":"dj-talks-about-his-life-after-wtmp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=17398","title":{"rendered":"DJ Talks About His Life After WTMP"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY LEON B. CREWS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sentinel Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Randall Craig Milliner<\/strong> can\u2019t remember a day in his life when music wasn\u2019t playing. He grew up not just listening to the music of the 1960s and 1970s, but admiring the men and women he heard on the radio.<\/div>\n

After practicing his craft, at the age of 13, Milliner<\/strong> became known as Randall C<\/strong>, and was playing music for Mr. Charles \u201cGay Pappa\u201d Miles<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Since WTMP went off the air in 2011 after 57 years of broadcasting, all of its staff members had to find something else to do.<\/p>\n

Randall C<\/strong> was no different. He is now employed as a cook at a local hospital, and also has his own entertainment company.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince WTMP closed, things have picked up tremendously for me. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love radio and I miss it, but I\u2019ve had a lot of working coming in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo still be in demand at this age (55) is a blessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really started working at WTMP in 1972 at the age of 15. I moved from station to station, always coming back to WTMP. A lot of people who opened doors for me aren\u2019t around anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randall C<\/strong> said his love and passion for music is why he\u2019s stayed with it all these years, and he\u2019s proof that hard work does pay off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve collected a lot of classics along the way. Jim Murray<\/strong> was my mentor, and I remember him telling me to develop my own personality and not try to copy his. He told me to be my own man, and that meant a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randall C<\/strong> said the journey hasn\u2019t come without a lot of pitfalls along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I had become so popular at the station, I found myself partying with a lot of celebrities, and that meant using drugs. That mistake nearly ended my career, because I was at the top.<\/p>\n

\u201cI left for a while to get myself together, and I eventually worked my way back to the top. I started doing some Gospel music, and I really enjoyed that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randall C<\/strong> said when he did return, he discovered technology had changed everything, so he had to enroll into the Columbia School of Broadcasting to learn how to use all of the new equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I started at WTMP, Louis Muhammad<\/strong> was the manager, and he allowed me to intern there and later gave me my own show.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started cleaning up my life and got off the streets, they gave me a second chance, and I will forever be grateful for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randall C<\/strong> said he believes Tampa will have an African American radio station again, and it may or may not be WTMP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were a powerful voice in the community for a long time, and now all that\u2019s left is the Florida Sentinel Bulletin.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLooking back, I remember Tom Hankerson<\/strong> and Tracy Collins<\/strong> had just left the station, and the ones that remained gave me great guidance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to leave a legacy for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randall C<\/strong> said he gives a lot of thanks to St. John Progressive M. B. Church and Pastor Bartholomew Banks<\/strong> for their support through his ups and downs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will end by saying this. Never look down on a man unless you\u2019re going to reach down and help him up.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer Randall Craig Milliner can\u2019t remember a day in his life when music wasn\u2019t playing. He grew up not just listening to the music of the 1960s and 1970s, but admiring the men and women he heard on the radio. After practicing his craft, at the age of 13, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}