Roosevelt “Rick” Wright Jr. is a founding board member of Central Current, Inc.
He is support Central Current because he sees the internet as a great opportunity for professional innovation in journalism, communications and audience engagement. He sees the potential for online news after having a long career in radio broadcasting and in higher education. He has been vocal critic of local commercial radio’s decline, but he also sees the internet as a great resource for multimedia journalism that can relate to an audience in the same way he connected with his listeners throughout his career.
Wright is a professor emeritus at Syracuse University where he taught for nearly 40 years at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He also has been a popular DJ and talk show host on the radio airwaves in Syracuse and across the country. In addition, Wright has held a number of management and consulting roles at radio stations and national broadcast networks.
Wright’s career started in the United States Navy where he obtained a rank of captain and served as a media consultant for the assistant secretary of the Navy, along with other public affairs roles. Wright has also published articles in Billboard Magazine, Black Enterprise, Ebony Magazine, Broadcasting Magazine, Navy Recruiter, Jet Magazine and Black Collegian. He is active on a number of boards and organizations, including the Hiawatha Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the NAACP, American Heart Association, National Council of Negro Women, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, National Naval Officers Association, U.S. Naval Institute, and The Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
