Long before the days of Tyler Perry’s takeover, BET laid the blueprint for Black excellence in media. The Promethean network has represented Black culture for 40 years by covering every aspect of programming for us, by us.
BET alumni reunited to celebrate this anniversary during a webinar Friday evening, Nov. 27, 2020. It was a nostalgic night of anecdotes, laughs and “reel” talk as they reminisced. Moderated by Angela Stribling, the former host of “Screen Scene,” the presentation featured video montages of past on-air and behind-the-scenes employees as well as record company execs.
The focus primarily was on a 20-year period of BET’s golden era from 1980 until 2000 — during which BET was the only Black-owned cable network — shortly before Viacom purchased it from its founder and chairman, Robert L. Johnson. Originally planned as an in-person gathering, former “Video Soul” producer Montez Miller volunteered to create the 2020 affair virtually. She engaged former colleagues from across the country to gather photos and video clips along with interviews with many of BET’s most popular on-camera personalities.
Many of today’s prominent Black creatives got their start at BET, including “Empire” director Billie Woodruff and Tuma Basa, director of Black music and culture for YouTube, who joined BET fresh out of college.
“BET was how you got your Black music and Black culture,” said Basa, who shared more about the experience in the video below.
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