The Washington Star cites Inside Sports as the trail blazer in sports talk in DC.

The Washington Post: NBA legend Red Auerbach and I co-host Inside Sports. Katharine Graham left a trail that Stevie Wonder could follow.

The author Alex Belth of “THE SUNDAY LONG READ” provides inside information and describes in word and a photo show of the Usual Suspects. It turns out Katharine Graham and Richard Nixon had a lot in common, he botched Watergate and she botched the kidnapping of “INSIDE SPORTS!”

I had already launch my INSIDE SPORTS radio talk show in 1972 on W-O-O-K AM seven years before Katerine and her son Donald Graham launch INSIDE SPORTS the magazine. The Washington Post and ESPN discovered INSIDE SPORTS much like Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, native Americans were already occupying the land?

When the Washington Post discovered INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE, writers, columnist and their sports editor George Solomon were frequent guest on INSIDE SPORTS my radio talk show. I was also a freelance writer for the paper (sports & commentary sections and a frequent guest on the Washington Post sports talk show seen on then the old Comcast cable television channel).

My commentary on preachers and politicians who are definitely not making children first.

I met Donald Graham when he was a rookie foot patroman for the DC Police Department in the late 60s. I was working as a Roving Leader for the DC Department of Recreation & Parks (youth gang task force). He told me his mother was not a happy camper with his new job. She told him, “You are just wasting a good Harvard education.” I got the impression he was being just a little rebellious. He was not long for his foot patrolman’s duties on the mean streets of DC. He would join his mother in time to oversee the paper’s most famous period, the Watergate coverage that helped bring down President Richard Nixon. The Dirty Tricks’ team was made up of former FBI and CIA agents. They broke into the offices of the Democratic Party and George McGovern who was the presidential candidate. By coincident in 1970 I was accepting a Presidential appointment from my old frienof Richard Nixon almost the same time Donald was joining his mother at the Washington Post.

My next encounter with Donald would be in a Washington Post newsroom in 1974 after Watergate. I had just left a meeting with my friend Washington Post columnist and later Pulitzer Prize winner, Bill Raspberry. Bill was walking me to the elevator when we met Donald walking toward us and Bill introduced us, but Donald said, “I know Harold Bell” and the look on Bill’s face was priceless. Donald said, ‘Harold what are you doing these days?’ My response, ‘I have my own radio sports talk show and I am still working in the streets with kids.’ He then rushed off saying, ‘The next time you are down this way give me a call.’
Remember, this is the same Washington Post newspaper that gave us the movie “All The Presidents Men” starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. These two legendary actors played the roles of two Wasshington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Berstein who investigated a botched burlary attempt at the Wategate Hotel that took down the Presidency of Richard Nixon.

The Washington Post also gave us the recent movie “The Post” a story based on the first female publisher of a major newspaper. The story is based on the life and times of Ms. Graham. She races to compete with the New York Times to expose a massive cover-up of government secrets that expands three decades and four U.S. Presidenrs. She overcomes major obstacles as she risk her career–and very freedom–to help bring long-buried truths to light. Sounds like the pot calling the kettle calling black! I hope Donald Graham does not mind if I bring this truth to light.

What makes this charade so petty and unprofessional is the fact the Grahams were millionaires over and all Donald or George Solomon (sports editor) had to do was call me and say “Harold we know you don’t have a copy right on “Inside Sports” but we would like to buy the title from you–what you think?” And I would have said “Make me a offer”, but since they have been taking and not paying for the past 400 years—they decided to take again. I wonder if I should ask for reparations? See letter from Donald Graham, he send me chump change after they had stolen “Inside Sports” and convinced my sponsors the Mary Lottery and Coc-Cola to renege on written contracts to cancel my talk show. I asked him for a loan to save my home, but instead he mailed me a check with enough for me to move out and put furniture in storage. In the letter he ask for anonimity!

I understand its all about control and keeping some of us in our place, for example; when black readers of the Washington Post got angry about a lack of people of color gracing the pages of its new magazine, every Monday protesters would leave hundreds magazines at the paper’s main entrance.

The protest was organized by Congressman Walter Fauntroy (D-DC), and several local ministers. Cathy Hughes later jumped on the “Band Wagon!” After three months of protest, the Grahams were on the ropes and didn’t know what to do to quell the protest. But Cathy Hughes solved all of their problem when she made a sneak attack in a side door in the dark of night and made a deal with the Grahams to end the protest. Congressman Fauntroy and the ministers were left in a state of shock–they had no idea about how and why the protest was called off. Cathy Hughes was just being Cathy Hughes–the back stabber she has always been since I have known her. The deal cut with the Grahams was all about her and nobody else in the community. The Grahams made a deal to appear on her radio station WOL once a month for community updates and make sure she had enough sponsors to substain the station. See story below that appeared in the 1986 November issue of the Washington Post on how and why the protest came to an end, read with caution. There is a snake in the grass and she bites.

Urban Radio & TV One’s Alfred Liggins and Cathy Hughes: The Devil wears Prada?

The Washington Post story read, “Cathy Hughes, the leader of a three-month protest over the coverage of blacks in The Washington Post’s Sunday magazine and the daily newspaper, announced yesterday that the protest has ended and that Post Publisher Donald E. Graham and Executive Editor Benjamin C. Bradlee will appear on her radio talk show to discuss news coverage. For 13 consecutive Sundays, the Washington Post Magazine Recall Committee, a coalition of community groups, held demonstrations during which it dumped magazines on the front steps of the newspaper’s downtown building to protest the depiction of blacks in the premiere issue of The Post’s Sunday magazine. That Sept. 7 issue featured a cover story about a black New York rap singer accused of murder and a column sympathizing with Washington merchants who turn away young black men whom they view as robbers and shoplifters. The protest, however, soon expanded to include longstanding objections to what some called negative coverage of blacks in the news pages. The recall committee had voted not to hold any formal talks with Post executives until the newspaper “signaled” that it would seriously consider a demand for balanced coverage of blacks by suspending publication of the magazine. Yesterday, Hughes, the owner of WOL-AM radio, began her three-hour, call-in morning talk show by announcing that the protest would end and that she and Graham had “reached a resolution” of the controversy.

Cathy Hughes reads a news release, issued by The Post, it said Graham would appear on Hughes’ talk show next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 7:30 to 10 a.m. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Bradlee and other Post representatives would join Graham. Although Hughes called the agreement a victory, members of the recall committee had mixed reactions. While most characterized the agreement as “a step in the right direction,” others were skeptical about whether there would be any substantial changes in the newspaper’s coverage of blacks.

The Rev. William Reverly, pastor of Mount Gilead Baptist Church who organized church participation in the protest, said he was shocked to learn of the agreement yesterday morning. “It doesn’t seem like much to me,” said Reverly. “We could have gotten that much several weeks ago.” In the statement released by The Post, Graham said his appearance on the radio show would be to state the paper’s position. “My purpose is to listen, and to affirm that the Washington Post policies include balanced, consistent coverage of the black community, not ignoring any problems, but placing appropriate emphasis on the achievers, the successful, the positive aspects of the community,” Graham said. He declined to comment on how the agreement was reached.

Hughes said Graham made the offer to appear on the radio talk show and she accepted it Thursday after consulting with recall committee members. “The publisher of The Washington Post is giving not his word to an individual or a committee, but to a community,” she said. When asked why the committee dropped the request for a suspension of the magazine, Hughes said the committee’s goal always had been “balanced and objective journalism” and that since the protest began the committee had noticed improvements in Post stories about blacks. Although she refused to provide any details, Hughes said a monitoring system of sorts will be put in place to evaluate the coverage of blacks and that the type of system will be announced when Graham appears on the show next week. Bradlee said no monitoring system is called for in the agreement. “The root causes of the difficulty will need a lot of care and attention,” Bradlee said. “If the goal was to raise the sensitivity of The Post, I think she [Hughes] did that.” (as you can read they can’t even get their lies straight).

In 2008 the Washington Post also published a two-part series on how Cathy Hughes was shortchanging her shareholders and paying her and her son outrageous salaries. Investors grilled the company’s officers during a shareholders meeting questioning the propriety of a new compensation package for chief executive Alfred C. Liggins III and founder Cathy Hughes.

Given the precipitous decline of the value of Radio One stock over the past year, several shareholders asked whether now was the time to give hefty pay increases to Liggins and Hughes, his mother.

Under his new contract, Liggins will receive $1 million for having been underpaid the past three years. He will also get a 70 percent raise that will bring his annual salary to $980,000, plus the possibility of a bonus in that amount. Hughes will receive a 75 percent salary increase, bringing her pay to $750,000 a year.

“This looks kind of flaky; it looks off the wall,” said shareholder Paul Woods. “I can’t see the justification for bonuses at this point in time.”

The Washington Post was not the only one to have a “Deep Throat”, the late Tony Washington was the Marketing & Sales Director for W-O-L and a long time friend gave me the 411 on the whole charade. I wanted to tell Donald that I knew they were behind the kidnapping of INSIDE SPORTS, but I didn’t have his family’s fingerprints on the low blow and sabortage until now.

The trail also leads back to him as it relates to me losing my sponsors for my talk show. I remember I was losing my home when I asked him help me out. He send me check for $1,500 enough for me to move and put my furniture in storage.

Several year later I let Donald know that I knew Cathy Hughes had sold the black community out with an offer from him and his mother she could and would not refuse. He was in denial and said “There was no deal made.” It was in the 90s when he reached back and found another “Usual Suspect.” He made a $50,000 donation to Cora Masters Barry a convicted felon. She was the DC Boxing Commissioner. In the 80s she ripped off the commission for thousands of dollars in fraudulent travel expenses. She is currently multi-tasking ripping off the DC government and the SE Tennis & Learning Center with donations approved by Mayor Muriel Bowser and donations from the tennis sisters, Serena and Venus Williams. She is controling the monies earmarked for the tennis center by using a non-profit organization called the Recreation Wish List, which is a sham. Former World Heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe is now homeless and broke because he took the advice of another “Usual Suspect” Rock Newman. Newman was Bowes’ manager and he made Cora the Director of Bowes’ non-profit Reach Back Community program. The program was established to enhance the development of local youth. The only people that were enhanced were the bank accounts of Rock Newman and Cora Masters Barry. Cathy and Cora have a lot in common they both have never seen a dollar they would not steal or a pipe they would not smoke. I thought Donald Graham was a better man and a better judge of character, but they say “Birds of a feather flock together.

The cast of characters that the Grahams chose from the mothership of the Washington Post as the first INSIDE SPORTS MAGAZINE staffers doomed the magazine from the beginning. For example, John Walsh (Style section), Tom Shales (Style section), Tom Boswell (Sports) and Tony Korhiser (Sports)–all losers.

I am on record saying, “Tony Kornheisner should be glad that he was born Jewish/White and not Harold Bell. This guy has no talent, his ace in the hole was kissing Donald Graham’s butt”. He help make Michael Wilbon one of the biggest liars in sports media. Michael’s colleague and friend John Feinstein said, “Michael Wilbon is the biggest ass kisser in sports media”, that does not sound like a friend to me.

Rev. James Brown (CBS/NFL studio host) is another story, but I will save for now, he has told me more lies than Wilbon–this was almost a photo finish.

NBA legend Sam Jones, James Brown CBS/NFL, HBell and NBA pioneer Earl Lloyd

When it came to sports in the black community from high school sports (Donald Huff was the exception), Redskins, to the Bullets, and Boxing, I was the go to brother. Solomon reminded his writers and columnist to listen to INSIDE SPORTS for the latest (according to writers Byron Rosen & Tom Callahan). The sports pages of the Washington Post followed my lead in the Afro-American Newspaper for example; when Surgar Ray Leonard’s best man Joe Brody was scare that his friend might overdose from cocaine and congac liquor and to add to the confusion he was using his wife Quanita as a punching bag, he called me. I tried to chase Ray down for three weeks, but he was always a step ahead of me. I then decided the only way to get his attention was on Inside Sports. I broke the story and the Washington Post followed my lead.

It was the same when I broke “The Two Faces of John Thompson” story. Dave Aldridge former Washington Post/ESPN sports columnist once called the Georgetown basketball coach a “Scared Cow,” He is one of the biggest fraud in sports. By the way the Washington Post followed my lead again. My story on Big John was published by the Bleacher Report in 3 days the blog had received 55,000 hits. The Afro-American published the same story on January 16, 1999 and the Washington Post published their story February 18, 1999 titled “Georgetown: Casinos Executives, Thompson Aligned”. This was Part 1, it took their investigated reporter, Bill Brubaker one month to verify that everything I said in my story was true. Part 2 was never published, I am betting Brubaker got more information than he bargin for and someone at the paper or Georgetown said, “No Mas” and called the whole investigation off.

Sugar Ray Leonard, HBell, Joe Brody (best man) and Mike Stewart ham it up in the studio of W-O-O-K radio. Danny Lewis looks up from the floor.

So it is safe to say the Washington Post knew who Harold Bell was and his popular No.1 talk show, INSIDE SPORTS.

THE WASHINGTON POST ASSASSINS
The story goes something like this, John Walsh was working in the Style section as an editor of the paper. He decided to pick the brain of sports editor George Solomon as it related to the success of Inside Sports. George and his writers and columnist were frequent guest on my show, and Walsh wanted to know what drove the show’s success and could it be transferred in print to a sports magazine. George said, “Yes.”

Walsh carried his idea and plan to owners Katharine and Donald Graham who agreed bankroll the project. Their next move would be to copy right the titled “INSIDE SPORTS” now owned by Newsweek the magazine owned by the Washington Post.

They mis-evaluated their plot to steal “Inside Sports.” They thought the popularity of the magazine would somehow match the popularity of Inside Sports my radio talk show. The cross-over appeal and popularity of the show on AM radio would transfer to Inside Sports Magazine–it never happen.

Below see the losers and clowns who participated in this charade–it sounded like a “Good Old Boy’s Club and the comedy routine of Albert and Costello’s Who’s On First.”

Jill Nelson a former columnist for the paper, once described the Washington Post as “The Plantation on the Potomac. The make-up of the magazine’s all white staff supports her description of the newspaper.

The blog by Alex Belth the editor of Esquire Classic as well as the proprietor of The Stacks, a site dedicated to preserving great journalism. His blog makes you understand why many see the Washington Post as one of today’s FAKE NEWS leaders in media.

Read carefully the bios of these guys, they sound like a bunch of drug abusers and alcoholics who needed to fit a psychiatrist into their daily routine. They also sound like a bunch of priviledge white men who were use to taking what they wanted.

I am sometimes lost for words when someone points out the progress of black Americans and why we are still using “The Race Card?” Evidently, they didn’t read the Washington Post February 2018, the story was related to “The Economic Policy Institute Report Card. It read 50 years after the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King and the 1968 Kerner Report there has been zero progress in Black America.” Success in America is measured by the dollar bill. How can Black men ever experience success when a white man’s salary will always double his?

The report also said, “The wealth gap between white and black Americans has more than tripled in the past 50 years, according to Federal Reserve data. The typical black family had zero wealth in 1968. Today the median net worth of white families–$171,000–ten times that of black families. The lack of economic progress is especially startling given that black educational attainment of both high school diplomas and college degrees has improved sigificantly in the past five decades.

Despite all the man all the man made obstacles placed in my path by men like Donald Graham and despite all the nay-sayers and player haters in my community who talk about me, but never talk to me–I have made a difference.

When a young black man from a NE housing project in DC hears his middle school principal tell his mother he won’t live to get out of high school it open his eyes. The truth of the matter I was trying to go to hell in a hurry. In retrospect I realized I did live to get out of high school. I also lived to break bread and become friends with the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, have lunch with Red and Dotie Auerbach in their home, and sit on the mountain top with Muhammad Ali, and I have been married to the same lady for 50 years–all the glory goes to God. The bottom-line, everything and everybody else is a distant second. In the big picture I went where there was no trail and I left a path for others to follow, to include the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL and pro athletes everywhere. Despite the uphill battle of racism in front of me, I still believe, “That every black face I see is not my brother and every white I see is not my enemy. It is often said, “The proof is in the Pudding.”

In 1975 I became the first Black Ameican to produce and host his own sports special in prime time on NBC affiliate NBC WRC-TV 4.

Part One:

THE INSIDE STORY: THE KIDNAPPING OF INSIDE SPORTS’ FORMAT BY THE WASHINGTON POST AND ESPN!

Part 2
https://www.sundaylongread.com/inside-sports-oral-history / THE SUNDAY LONG READ
HBell Profile
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAZVZjGeYpY/ HB profile

NOTEWORTHY: HAROLD BELL–KIDS IN TROUBLE–INSIDE SPORTS ARE DRUG FREE ZONES