Former NSU Student Works as Producer on Sherri Show

By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide

A former Norfolk State University student, Jawn Murray, works as the executive producer for “Sherri,” the No. 2 ranked TV talk show.

This means Murray works on a TV talk show that trailed “Live With Kelly and Mark,” the No. 1 TV talk show.  “The Jennifer Hudson Show” ranked third place behind “Sherri.”

“While people see the glory of the story, they don’t know about the blood, sweat and tears that went in behind the scenes,” said Murray, who studied under esteemed NSU Professor Dr. Wanda Brockington, while he majored in mass communication at Norfolk State in the late 1990s to early 2000s.

Murray, “a latchkey kid,” rushed home from school and watched talks shows, as well as Black TV sitcoms such as “ A Different World.” Later, he enrolled in a two-week summer program that led him to attend Norfolk State University and major in mass communication.

There, he learned about video and camera production,scriptwriting, directing, and editing. And he learned how to network, as a member of the Student Government Association. There, he met his best friend and fellow “Behold” cover Alumnus Phil Thornton. They helped SGA plan larger events, like Homecoming and Spring Fest.

Inspired by entertainers such as Arsenio Hall and Montell Williams, Murray also worked on a promising newsletter but left Norfolk State at age 21 “to follow his dream,” he said in a recent statement on Norfolk State’s website.

“By the mid 2000s, Jawn Murray was on the air as a young contributor on the Tom Joyner Morning Show,” he explained, on Norfolk State’s website.

“He wrote an entertainment news column for AOL Black Voices for several years. During this time, he was working tirelessly, accumulating an average of 100,000 frequent flyer miles a year and describing himself as ‘living this rock star media life,’ ” he said.

His big break came after CNN and Headline News contacted him in 2012, after he posted information about Whitney Houston’s unexpected death on Twitter, now X.

Within seven days, Murray held  21 television interviews worldwide. He also provided live funeral coverage with MSNBC on the day of Whitney’s homegoing celebration, which was held in Feb 2012, at New Hope Baptist Church, in Newark.

“That made me a player in the game,” said Murray. “That’s when people took me seriously as a pop culture expert.”

The rest is history.  Murray began making regular appearances on Headline News, CNN, and various TV One series. An early 2000s meeting with Sherri, at the Bobby Jones Retreat in Las Vegas, led to more opportunities.

When Murray recently won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Talk Show, as the executive producer of the “Sherri” show, he told the audience, “Stay the course.”