SEPTEMBER 23, 2022 | Beat Café is a weekly program on WHIV 102.3 FM that explores the music scene in New Orleans and the broader reach of Louisiana hosted by David Johnson, digital media editor for OffBeat Magazine. The program is broadcast every Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. Central.

This week’s episode featured an interview with Nabil Ayers, a music industry entrepreneur, author and musician. Ayers’ debut memoir, My Life in the Sunshine, was published by Viking Press in June 2022. The book focuses on Ayers’ relationship with his father, the jazz musician Roy Ayers, growing up as a mixed-race person in America, and Nabil’s life in the music industry. Ayers is the U.S. president of the UK-based Beggars Group of record labels. He serves on the Recording Academy’s Board of Trustees, and previously served as a two-term elected governor. Ayers is continually named one of Billboard Magazine‘s Indie Power Players, earning a spot on the list each year from 2019 to 2022.

The second half of the program featured a conversation with Al Copeland Jr., son of the late founder of the Popeyes fried chicken empire. Al Jr. recently collaborated with writers Kit Wohl and Al Rose to produce a combination cookbook and biography titled Secrets of a Tastemaker: Al Copeland, The Cookbook. Al Jr. discusses his father’s larger-than-life personality, his business acumen, and his legacy in finding the cure for the rare cancer that took his life in 2008.