Live From the Hood is a short audio profile of former AM talk radio host Wes “The HomeBoy” Parker—a working-class firebrand whose voice lit up the late-night airwaves in 1990s Youngstown, Ohio.

Every Friday night, The HomeBoy and co-host Ron Verb took to the mic to call out corporate greed, local politics, and the slow unraveling of their Rust Belt hometown. His sharpest critiques were always aimed at General Motors—the economic lifeline of the region and the very place he worked by day.

To his listeners, he was more than a radio personality. He was an insider, a neighbor, a truth-teller speaking up when few others dared. And then, at the height of his popularity, he vanished from the airwaves without warning.

This piece explores the power of voice, the cost of speaking out, and the legacy of a man who knew the mic could be mightier than the machine.