Blair and Brandon Dottin-Haley have taken their conversations about Black culture from Instagram Live to New Orleans radio. The married entrepreneurs behind the Blairisms launched “The Savage Chat Series” on WBOK 1230 AM on Nov. 6.
The couple discussed the move in a GLAAD interview published Nov. 12. Their official YouTube channel carries the Nov. 6 broadcast.
The show airs Fridays on WBOK and streams on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, according to GLAAD.
From Instagram Live to Radio
The show started in 2020. GLAAD writes that the couple “propped their cell phone on a stack of books, lit the space with a lamp,” and went live. The name nods to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage,” which the pair first celebrated with an apparel line.
Home life looked different then. “When we started The Savage Chat series, we were living with my mother-in-law, doing the entrepreneurship thing, trying to get our lives together,” Blair told GLAAD.
“Now we own two homes,” he said.
Back in 2020, the couple described the Instagram series to Right On! Digital as a spinoff of shirts that honored cultural icons. “We started out four years ago with an idea and a dream and a whole lot of determination,” the couple told the site of the brand itself. Early guests included members of En Vogue, Vanessa Williams, April Ryan and Erika Alexander, according to that interview.
A Homecoming in New Orleans
The radio deal ties the show to Blair’s hometown. He was “born and raised in New Orleans,” the couple told VoyageBaltimore in 2023. Brandon was raised in Maryland, and at the time they said they lived in Baltimore.
“The station is housed on Xavier University’s campus, which is Blair’s alma mater,” Brandon told GLAAD.
Blair said the arrangement “all happened serendipitously.” He told GLAAD the station went further than airtime. “They took an empty room, a storage room, and built us a set,” he said, adding that the station “bought us all new furniture and equipment.”
Brandon framed it as a homecoming, too. He said “we get to collaborate with the station to bring a show celebrating Black people to Blair’s hometown.”
Big Freedia and Kenny Lattimore Join the Guest List
Booking went fast. “I booked the first month in the first 24 hours: Kenny Lattimore, Big Freedia, Charnele Brown,” Blair told GLAAD, also naming April Ryan among the first guests. The lineup includes New Orleans bounce star Big Freedia, connecting the show to the city’s music scene.
Brandon also previewed an upcoming conversation. “I’m really excited to talk to Edward Buckles Jr. in a few weeks,” he said. The couple’s wish list includes Colin Kaepernick and painters Amy Sherald and Charly Palmer, according to GLAAD.
Partners in Love and Business
The couple has been together 17 years and married for 15, GLAAD reported. In 2023 they described themselves to VoyageBaltimore this way: “We are Black, queer entrepreneurs and have found so much joy and pain building our business from the ground.”
They also wrote that “as married Black gay men and partners in entrepreneurship, we thrive at the intersection of politics and commerce.”
Brandon told GLAAD he hopes their move opens more doors. “There are still so many barriers to break down and so many firsts to achieve,” he said.
