Good vibes, good music and amazing food and drinks flowed as former 92.3 The Beat DJ
Felicia “The Poetess” Morris and friends celebrated the 10th anniversary of Morris Media Studios in Leimert Park on Sept. 28.
Located along Crenshaw Boulevard, the studio has hosted some of the most famous names in entertainment such as Tiffany Haddish, Tommy Davidson, and others. The studio developed after Ms. Morris, along with her father, the late radio DJ and noted broadcast engineer Johnny Morris, initially created a studio.
“Prior to owning this studio, I built another Internet radio studio with my dad for Herb Hudson who owns Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles,” Ms. Morris said.
“So we built that up, and I’ll say that I was unjustly fired from there. So, at that point, I didn’t wanna look for another job at a radio station or work for anybody anymore, so I just took the leap of faith.”
Using her final paycheck from her former employer and with the help of crowdfunding, her dream became a reality in 2014 and she launched Morris Media Studios.
“I had some money saved up, I did some crowdfunding campaigns. And here I am, 10 years later. I just had to plug away and work hard every day,” Ms. Morris said.
“So, getting fired from my last job inspired me to start my own business because I no longer felt like I had the expertise to do that and I made Mr. Hudson’s studio successful. And so, I felt like I can do the same thing for myself.”
Outlining the many purposes of the studio, Morris said, “We do podcasting, voice overs, audiobooks, and classes teach people how to create podcasts. Maybe in the future, we would like to do youth programs here. That was really a part of the original vision.”
She has also given podcasting skills to the community sometimes for free. “We definitely love working with the community. We have given free classes here in Leimert Park and low cost classes to help people really understand how to podcast professionally.”
Morris’ classes offer youth an opportunity to be able to learn a skill that could possibly grow into a career like KFI AM 640 radio personality Mo’Kelly.
“We have to give young people other options and as the media changes, there has to be a learning component,” he said. “It has to be someone who’s willing to reach back and teach people. Yeah, you wanna be on the radio, you wanna do a podcast, but you have to learn how to do that. And why not learn that from someone who is a quintessential professional.”
Derek Williams also feels this is truly a gift to those in the community. “So I think the thing is, we have a lot of young creative minds,” he said. “It’s about connecting with the young. The community.”
Ms. Morris delivers the same sentiment of helping the goals of the neighborhood youth. “I feel it contributes to the community in a way that it gives them an outlet and a platform to express themselves to bring awareness to causes or advocacy. It’s in the community, so it’s accessible,” she said. “You don’t have to be a professional or a celebrity to do a podcast here. We’ve had many people come here that really had no idea what a podcast was, but we taught them.
“I think the other thing is that a lot of people think podcasting is for young people, but a lot of our clients have been senior citizens wanting to share their knowledge and their stories,” she said.
Delighted that his former mentor is the first Black/female media studio owner in Los Angeles, Mo’Kelly admitted, “It makes me proud only because people in the community get to see how important she has been to the community as a radio personality, as a small business owner, as a Black leader, and we need to see more of that. And what’s really good for me is seeing that the community is supporting her.”
Ms. Morris hopes that the media studio grows into a larger market as well. “Our goal is to create a podcast production network, where we produce the content and put it on our platforms,” she said.
“When I first started, I was letting people put their stuff on my platform, but I started getting violated on YouTube. So, what we do now is just help people set up their own platform” she said.
“You wanna build your own content, your own platform, your own brand, and keep building it. A lot of people think it happens overnight, but it is something that you have to nurture and be consistent with.”
