The Breakfast Club - Vibe merges with Rolling Stone! But how do we feel about that?

Episode Date: October 17, 2025

Rolling Stone is joining forces with Vibe…. How are we feeling about this? Is this media gentrification? Do black voices really need this audience that Rolling Stone is offering?YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. The murder of an 18-year-old girl in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved for years, until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls, came forward with a story. America, y'all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns. Listen to Graves County on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to binge the entire season ad-free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network.

Join me every weekday as I share bite-sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. Stories like Erica Hunt. A young mother vanished without a trace after a family gathering on 4th of July weekend, 2016. No goodbyes, no clues, just gone. Listen to hunting for answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. In early 1988, federal agents raced to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin, into New York from Asia.

I had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you do that. Five, six white people. Pushed me in the car. Basically, your stay-at-home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin. All you got to do is receive the package. Don't have to open it, just accept it. She was very upset, crying. Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand, and I saw the flash of light.

Listen to the Chinatown Sting on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere. you get your podcasts. I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight... And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke. A man who robbed a bank when he was 14 years old. And a centenarian rediscovers a love lost 80 years ago. How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again? Listen to heavyweight on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a homeguard that knows a little bit about everything and everybody. You know if you're going to lie about that, right? Lauren came in hot. Hey y'all, what's up? It's Lauren the Rosa, and this is the latest with Lauren the Rosa. This is your daily dig on all things, pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room, baby.

Now, we are back again with another episode of the latest. in this episode, I really want you guys to sound off. I love it when we talk about things here on the podcast and then I see you tweeting me about it. I see you, you know, posting the podcast and talking about it in your Instagram stories. Everywhere you can talk, I need to hear from you guys. L-O-R-E-N-L-O-R-O-S-A on social media. Because I have a question to ask, how do you guys feel about the legendary black you know it is one of the black staple magazines and platforms vibe magazine becoming a part of rolling

stone and when i say becoming a part of rolling stone what i mean is billboard announced this week that rolling stone will be joining forces with vibe uh now vibe will bolster rolling stone's hip-hop coverage and allow the brand to go deeper into the genre vibe will also print special collector's editions of the magazine and launch a new interview series that spotlights in-depth conversations with the most important figures ranging from musicians to superstar athletes and fashion icons. Now, the CEO of Rolling Stone said, we are thrilled to announce that Vibe is joining forces with Rolling Stone. This historical team up will enable Rolling Stone to level up the publication's hip-hop and R&B coverage, allowing Rolling Stone to dive deeper

into the culture. As a part of this move, Rolling Stone will invest in Vibe across video, podcast, long-form journalism, social media, and experimental opportunities, all areas where Rolling Stone is a market leader. Vibe will continue to power cultural conversations and re-establish itself as a driving force for commentary and reporting. Our goal, the CEO continues, is to continue the mission that Vibe was founded on while leveraging Rolling Stone to amplify its presence across all platforms. So essentially what is happening here is like, when.

For instance, when an entrepreneur creates a product, builds that product up, up, up, up, up. Rihanna and Fenty, well, it's a little different because, you know, Rihanna is Rihanna. But builds that product up, up, up, up in a way, and then decides to partner with a bigger, you know, kind of like almost like a distribution deal for a music artist. You decide to partner with a company, a platform, a home that has more resources readily available. has more, you know, financial resources readily available so that you're able to intake what you built and not just make it bigger, but scale it better as far as, you know, what you're outputting.

So to me, there's two folds of this. On one hand, the first thing I thought of when I saw this was, why is Rolling Stone in Black People business? And I get it. Outlets like Rolling Stone, I mean, they cover black people, black talent. know that's a thing um but historically we know that those outlets the vibes the ebonys the jets the essence magazines those outlets um they're ours right i mean but you do have the fact that like BET which is you know black entertainment television is under paramount and you know at one point

it was viacom and those are not black companies uh but i don't know this felt a little different and maybe because it is editorial, maybe because it is, you know, the conversation around vibe is just, I don't know, it's just different. And I'll be really honest with you guys as well, prior to this, I don't know much about vibes partnerships and, you know, who they were working with, who they weren't working with. But this was just loud. It was big. It was everywhere when it dropped because Rolling Stone is such a, it's such a relevant brand and pop culture.

So that was the first thing I thought. And then I read a little bit more. Oh, and also I started seeing, you know, there were a few journalists that I follow that once this announcement came out, they posted tweets like, hey, you know, today is my last day with Vibe Magazine because of the Rolling Stone Vibe merger. And, I mean, I didn't seem anything bad from them, but I did see that as well. is what I've been told, and that's a half-truth is a whole lie. For almost a decade, the murder of an 18-year-old girl from a small town in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved, until a local homemaker, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. I'm telling you, we know Quincy killed her. We know.

A story that law enforcement used to convict six people, and that got the citizen investigator on TV. Through sheer persistence and nerve, this Kentucky housewife helped give justice to Jessica Curran. My name is Maggie Freeling. I'm a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, producer, and I wouldn't be here if the truth were that easy to find. I did not know her and I did not kill her, or rape or burn or any of that other stuff that y'all said. They literally made me say that I took a match and struck and threw it on her. They made me say that I poured gas on her. From Lava for Good, this is Graves County, a show about just how far our legal system will go in order to find someone to blame.

America, y'all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns. Listen to Graves County in the Bone Valley feed on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. and to binge the entire season at free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Hunter,

host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite-sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better

at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tamika Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people, talking on the phone as she made her way

to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tamika never bought the car, and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission, save our girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to hunting for answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight, I help a centenarian mend a broken heart.

How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again? And I help a man atone for an armed robbery he committed at 14 years old. And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke. And he got down. And I remember feeling kind of a surge of like, okay, this is power. Plus, my old friend Gregor and his brother try to solve my problems through hypnotism. We could give you a whole brand new thing where you're like super charming all the time. Being more able to look people in the eye.

Not always hide behind a microphone. Listen to Heavyweight on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In early 1988, federal agents raced to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin into New York from Asia. We had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you name it. But what they find is not what they expected. Basically, your stay-at-home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin. They go, is this your daughter?

I said yes. They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years. Caught between a federal investigation and the violent gang who recruited them, the women must decide who they're willing to protect and who they dare to betray. Once I slowly gone, I tried to take his hand and I saw the flash of light.

Listen to the Chinatown Sting on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your podcasts. So that was my first thought. And then I'm on my timeline on X. And all I see are journalists. Because some of these people I don't know, I just follow because they tweet out the stories that they cover or, you know, they're tweeting different news and I follow news everywhere that's just what I do but I'm seeing like I'm I mean like a inflex of because of the vibe in Rolling Stone merger because of the vibe in Rolling Stone merger over and over again I now no longer have my job thank you for the

three years of this and and you can tell that you know people were keeping it super like it's nothing we could do we was laid off you know what I'm saying but I'm like oh ouch wow okay so that made me to be like, am I supposed to be apprehensive about this? Am I supposed to be happy for Vibe Magazine about this? People are losing her job. It feels like vibe is about to be gentrified. Like, what is going on here? And I come

from, you know, working with major outlets. Before TMZ, I worked in a fashion closet at Cosnipolitan Magazine. Like, I've only ever known outlets that were not black-centered, but had to be inclusive because they just had to be. And it's just different.

Like now, you know, working with the breakfast club and being here on the black effect podcast network is different when you're at something that is for us by us and even if not like fully owned right because breakfast club is a i heart you know show it's black focus and black centric and i work with black people it's very different than anything i've ever experienced in my work career my work life so it made me think about what the new tone in the work energy at vibe will be and i started thinking about that because that tone and that energy and that culture will pour out and will reflect in the content that they put out.

And I think with the way that the landscape is changing in media and what's important and how people are digesting news and opinion and what they care about, people got to really believe it to even want to support. And I think those legacy magazines, I've always wondered what was the, what's the fix for them? I think Essence magazine has definitely figured out how to reinvent their voice a bit. Like, I love it when they do the thread breakdowns whenever something happens. Like, you can always count on that, whether it's on Twitter or it's a swipe through on Instagram.

Their social media team really stepped it up. Their covers really stepped it up. And I don't mean stepped it up in a way of, like, they weren't ever good. I mean, as a legacy media outlet in times where things are changing, you got to reinvent. You got to connect and reach people differently, especially today because there is a, there's somebody. right now at this very moment turning on their camera on their phone about to post a video with an opinion or reporting of something that can potentially go viral and become the number one outlet of whatever genre that is and all they did was turn on their phone. Meanwhile,

you have full, you know, editorial teams at places like vibe, Jet, Ebony, all of these essence, all these places and they now have to compete with that person. Things are just different now. So I've always thought, like, you know, what is the answer for our legacy magazines? Because with me, I want to be in that middle space. I always want to understand that middle space of like, okay, here's all the fly stuff that our legacy magazines were known for. Here's where everything is now. Here's, you know, what the focus of news should be.

And here's how you bring it all together. I've always, like, that's always been like my vision for content of like what was being done before us that stuck and made these really big. careers, whether it's actors, journalists, reporters, personality with what is, where are things now and how do we mesh that together? So on the other

side, I said all that to say, on the other side, when I saw this, I was like, okay, Vibe Magazine can now, I don't know, maybe it's be, I don't know what the issues were internally that made them feel like they needed this merger. But, and I'm sure, you know, there will be

more coming out on that. But now they can have, they can hire more people, but dang, people who lost their jobs. Now, Vibe can be a part of the conversation, you know, potentially, because it still matters what you put out. But, you know, now Vibe has a large platform partner who can position their content in a way where it reaches more eyes. And then I started to think, like, but do we want to reach all those eyes?

Like, why can't we gatekeep what's ours? And it still be just as big and as effective and as golden. like why not like the gentrification conversation like why does a why do why do our neighborhoods have to be gentrified for the price to go up that's how I thought about this it's like a catch 22 of like I want you know us to be able to get the resources we need move on do better in business and you got a partner with where the business the money and the doing better is happening black white green yellow. Doesn't matter, you know, the color of the person or the people or the company doing it. Business is business. But I don't know. It just, I'm kind of stuck in the middle here

because as a business woman, I understand. And I'm like, oh, that was kind of smart for them. And not even just for them. It was smart for Rolling Stone because I think one of the best things that a company can do, right, who doesn't understand something, It's going to hire somebody who do. And hiring a black writer or two or three or five doesn't make you, like, yes, Rolling Stone Magazine has a prestige to it. But with black culture leads, media, trend, all of the things, period. You need a real strong force in trust.

You need brand identity and trust in that area. to be able to be a part of that conversation in a real way. And obviously, Rolling Stone was like, okay, we cover, you know, black music, black things. But we want, they wanted more validity and more trust for whatever their reasoning was too. So, and I mean, now it's vibe. We trust vibe. We've seen vibe. We've grew up on vibe.

We've grew up reading vibe. So it's going to be there. Or is it? I don't need y'all to answer these questions for me. Was this a great business move by Vibe magazine? Yes or no? And again, and I'm not even, I mean, I guess you do got to talk about like business as far as like numbers and things, right? Like, you know, where does this put them budget-wise, you know, per quarter per year to be able to put out products and projects and all these things?

But I would even ask the question just simply as a consumer of media. because it was a shot for me to see Vibe partnering with Rolling Stone. And I think it's because our legacy magazines have always stood on, we're going to figure this out. We got it. We're cool. We're going to figure this out. But hey, maybe that's why, you know,

it's been so hard for a lot of our legacy magazines to take the forefront of conversation the way that they did some years ago. Let me know how y'all feeling. I want to know. Was it a good idea? Was it not a good idea? Were you shocked when you saw the news? Will you continue to support vibe in what they do?

I honestly don't see a reason for us not to. I think it was a shock. And I was trying to figure out like, am I supposed to like this? Like, what is happening? Is this an all right, collab? It's a, yay, business, or girl, you losing it black card because you support it. But at the same time, I mean, I think people's feelings are valid. Because, like I told you, I was watching.

It was like a mass exodus of people. Talk about they lost their jobs. And I'm like, well, why are you getting rid of the people? The black people say they ain't got no jobs. It's supposed to help the people get the jobs. Let me know what y'all think. It's the latest with Lauren the Rosa, getting in streets, getting the tweets. Talk to me, y'all.

You're for the tweets. We outside, we outside, and the tweets. Every other page I go. At the end of the day, you guys could be anywhere with anybody talking about all of these things, but you choose to be right here with me every single time. My lone riders, I appreciate you guys for that. I'll see y'all in my next episode. The murder of an 18-year-old girl in Graves County, Kentucky, went unsolved for years,

until a local housewife, a journalist, and a handful of girls came forward with a story. America, y'all better work the hell up. Bad things happens to good people in small towns. Listen to Graves County on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And to binge the entire season ad free, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite-sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. Stories like Erica Hunt. A young mother vanished without a trace after a family gathering on 4th of July weekend, 2016.

No goodbyes, no clues, just gone. Listen to hunting for answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jonathan Goldstein, and on the new season of heavyweight. And so I pointed the gun at him and said this isn't a joke. A man who robbed a bank when he was 14 years old. And a centenarian rediscovers a love lost 80 years ago. How can a 101-year-old woman fall in love again?

Listen to heavyweight on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In early 1988, federal agents raced to track down the gang they suspect of importing millions of dollars worth of heroin. into New York from Asia. I had 30 agents ready to go with shotguns and rifles and you know that. Five, six white people. Pushed me in the car. Basically, your stay-at-home moms were picking up these large amounts of heroin. All you got to do is receive the package.

Don't have to open it, just accept it. She was very upset, crying. Once I saw the gun, I tried to take his hand, and I saw the flash of light. Listen to the Chinatown Stang on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere. you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.