WS Chronicle

By Busta Brown

“99.9 percent of the people that know me don’t know this. When I was born on 9/10/71, my mother died. And right after that, I was adopted immediately by my uncle, who is now my dad,” shared Stu Robinson. 

He didn’t find out about the adoption until he was older. “Growing up, I found out I was adopted. I’m like … why me? Why did this happen to me?” shared Robinson. 

We know him as the legendary radio personality Hanna’s Baby Boy Stu. While trying to adjust to being adopted, the 102 Jamz alum faced racism as well. “I went to a Catholic school that didn’t have football or basketball, so I played soccer. I remember this one guy ran up to me and said, ‘Hey boy, you wanna watermelon?’ During my time at that school, I had to deal with things like that all the time. I didn’t tell my dad because I knew if he found out, he wouldn’t let me play.”

Stu said looking back on his life, being adopted was a blessing in disguise, and his biological mother, Bertha Irene, was his angel on earth. “There are days I think about what situation I would have been in if I was with my other siblings who were raised by my mom, grandmother, and my oldest sister. Sometimes I feel kind of guilty because looking at their upbringing and some of the decisions or some of their situations that they were put in, I was like, you know what? God looked out for me. Then again, I felt kind of bad because one of my brothers, you know, was not doing so well. He was on drugs and my other siblings raised his kids.”  

Overcoming such challenges at a young age prepared him for a rollercoaster radio career, relationships, and a near-death experience. “It made me a strong kid and eventually a strong man.”

The makings of the legendary Hanna’s Baby Boy Stu began in junior high school. “Mrs. Howell gave us different types of speeches and in the middle of me giving my speech, she’s like, ‘Dude, your voice.’ I was like, huh? What do you mean? ‘You have a voice that commands attention. Use it wisely. Use it well.’ And I was like, OK. I wasn’t, you know, the most popular dude coming from a Catholic school to going into public school. Nobody really knows me. I said it’s OK, I got this!”

Stu’s greatest dream was to be the next Skip Murphy, a radio icon out of Charlotte. “This is who I’m gonna be when I grow up. He was the reason I fell in love with radio,” said Stu. 

After graduating from high school, he attended Winston-Salem State University. During his freshman year, he was discovered by the head of the mass communications department. “He asked the general manager if he heard my voice and he said, I want him on the radio station.” That led Stu to become WSNC’s morning show host.

After college, his golden voice was in the development stage, so the two powerhouse stations, 102 Jamz and Power 97, turned him away. Failure or quitting was not an option for Hanna’s Baby Boy. He continued calling 102 Jamz and landed another meeting with the program director. “He invited me to one of their car washes. I would help out whenever and wherever the station needed me to, and he eventually gave me an opportunity to do weekend overnights.” 

I asked him where the name Hannah’s Baby Boy Stu came from. “I went to my mom’s church and one of her friends said, ‘Look at Hannah’s baby boy.’ It’s like, OK, that’s me! It’s also a way to pay tribute to my mom, my number one person in the whole entire world.”

Stu would eventually leave Jamz and go to work for several stations in different states, between Charlotte, Georgia and Florida. In 2014, he landed a job as the afternoon drive host in Tampa, Florida, where he became an even bigger household name. He was a star! But nothing was more important to Stu than his daughter. “That’s my baby!” 

Each year he held an annual Father-Daughter Dance and Stu’s Toy Box for kids. But one day things took a turn for the worse. “I got a text from the station manager. I get there at 8:30 instead of nine like I do. I walked into his office, and there It was … the general manager, the branch manager and human resources are all in his office. I say, oh hell, what did I do? The GM said, ‘We’re going in different directions. We’re gonna pay out the contract and your severance.’ Things got even worse. I get in my car and my mom calls me crying. I’m like mom? Mom, what’s going on? What’s going on? She said grandma was gone. I was like, wow! That was December 13, 2014. I considered that the worst day of my life. I absolutely love her. During my radio show, I would call her and she would give her recipes. People fell in love with it, so at that time that was the worst day of my life.”

Stu had to find a way to pay the bills, so he took a job with a lawn company and in 2020, he landed a job at a radio station in Charlotte. He’s back in the saddle again! But not for long. “COVID hit, and the station didn’t want anyone inside the buildings. ‘Once the pandemic is over, you know, we’re gonna bring bodies back in here.’” 

That never happened. On December 21, he got a physical. His cholesterol was a little high, but nothing else to be concerned about. “Like the second week of December, I have this lower back pain. I’m thinking about muscle spasms or whatever. And it started to get worse. So, one day I got up. Boom! I fell and I woke up and I’m on the floor. I was like, well, what’s going on with me? My back continues to get worse. I went to urgent care and they sent me to the hospital. He tells me my sodium level dropped. They sent me home and the situation got worse. I’m in pain and still like every time I try to stand up, I’m getting dizzy. So I fell out.”

On December 25, 2021, the story begins. “I have this burning sensation – I tell people I compare it to the middle of winter. You don’t have any gloves on your hands and you just take your hand and you smack it on concrete and you just drag it.” 

It’s now March, the doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong. He can’t hold down food, so the doctor gives him a feeding tube. His condition is getting even worse. Doctors from all over were on a Zoom call trying to figure out what was wrong. His mom and dad were there every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, talking to the doctors, but to no avail. “So here it is, you know, four months,” said Stu. “My sister came to visit me. I looked at her and I said, here’s all my banking information, my bank account, my 401k. She started praying and telling me not to give up. Then my mom comes in one Friday. I said mom, I’m tired. I can’t take it anymore, and she started crying. That was the second time I had seen my mother cry. The first time was when my grandmother died.” said Stu, with tears in his eyes. He continued, “She said, ‘Baby, we got this. I need you. We need each other.’ I’m a fragile person at this point because when I went in, I was weighing 180; by this time I’m like 140 lbs.”

The doctor told Stu there was nothing they could do. To make matters worse, the insurance company no longer covers his medical expenses. After four months the doctor finally gave Stu and his family an analysis. “Fiber neuropathy, orthostatic hypertension, pretty much means my neurological system of small fibers, or all these strands pretty much went haywire.” 

At one point his mother was admitted into the same hospital and his sister took care of them both. But Hannah is a super woman! She got back on her feet and took her baby boy Stu home. “And she had to administer my medicine through the feeding tube. And, you know, all this crazy stuff and help me bathe myself and just watching the strength of that woman, dude, made me get stronger every day. My Mama told me it’s going to be OK. This is the word she used and got from grandma. She knows the doctor that made the doctor that made the doctor.”

Stu was released from rehab at the end of 2022. He’s now walking, cooking, driving, and bathing himself again. “2023 is the rebirth of Stu! You know, people always say God is good all the time and all the time God is good. I was like, no, and God is not good, y’all need to stop saying that. As soon as I say that, people like, are you crazy? And I’m like, no, God is amazing, people, there’s nothing God can’t do, and I disagree. Because God can’t stop loving you. I used to ask God why me. Now I know why. To use my voice to lift others up and give them hope. Like Mrs. Howell said, ‘To use my voice for the greater good.’” 

Stu wears a pink bracelet in honor of his niece Brittni, who fought cancer like a true warrior. “She didn’t lose the battle because she never quit or complained. But God decided it was time for her to come home at the young age of 32. And every day, I pray to be strong like Britt.” 

I asked Stu where he wants to be in five years. “Where I am today, in God’s will. I’m working on opening my own event center, starting a podcast, and eventually getting married. I’m here man! I’m here!” 

My Phenomenal Person of the Week is Stu “Hannah’s Baby Boy” Robinson.