When Bailey hits the airwaves, radio stations around the country note the sound of success.

When Bailey hits the airwaves, radio stations around the country note the sound of success Lee Bailey spent his teen years in Pittsburgh with his ear glued to the radio. Today, 20 years later, the Highland Park resident is sending his own smoky voice over the airwaves in 85 cities nationally, and has ambitions to become one of the largest providers of syndicated radio programming in the country.

Bailey, 40, is president of Lee Bailey Communications Inc. His vehicle is Radioscope, a news-and-interview service oriented to stations that cater to the "urban contemporary" market -- the industry name for the audience made up predominately by young black listeners.

In four years, Bailey says he has doubled his listening audience and increased his office staff to 15 employees. This year's sales, he says, are about $1.5 million.

Radioscope, which is packaged in 60-second spots on weekdays and an hour-long show for weekends, features interviews with recording artists. Often, those artists face direct questions, Bailey says.

"Instead of giving fluff and puff, we approach them from a true journalistic standpoint," Bailey says. "We asked Chaka Khan about her alleged drug problems."

With the success of Radioscope, Bailey has launched several additional series of brief radio spots. "Love Notes," (romantic anecdotes and musings), "First Class" (show business history and gossip), "The Bottom Line" (consumer and financial information) as well as "Gospel Spotlight," "Illustrated History of Black Music" and "The Black Music Experience."

Bailey started his radio career in 1970, working for the next tine nine years as a soul-music disc jockey in Sacramento, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. However, he discovered that disc jockeys had little professional security.

"Being a jock is probably comparable to being a combat pilot, as far as security is concerned," he says. His fears were confirmed in 1979, when he was fired from KUTE shortly after a change in management.

"I was bitter for a while," he recalls. "It took a month to realize that it was the best thing that could have happened."

After four years of freelancing as an announcer in radio advertising, he launched Radioscope as a three-minute talk show featuring himself and music columnist Steven Ivory. The idea, he says, originated during his days as a disc jockey.

"Any disc jockey will tell you that people will call you all the time and ask questions about (recording) artists and music. What better place to give them that sort of information than on radio.?"

However, Bailey fount that many black-music radio stations were reluctant to air programming that they themselves had not produced. In contrast to radio syndicators like the Mutual Broadcasting System or Westwood One, he was a small player.

"They have marketing muscle," he says. "I came to the stations as an unknown... I had to beg and cajole stations to take the programs."

Today, Radioscope can be heard in about 100 "urban contemporary" radio markets, and Bailey is looking at the "crossover" market.

Crossover, he explained, means black music that finds an audience with Top 40 radio listeners. "Top 40 radio stations are playing a tremendous amount of black music, maybe 60 percent to 70 percent," he says.

With the growing popularity of black music across the board, Bailey says there is a place for him in the vast Top 40 radio market. "I see our own products crossing over," he said, 'and that plus us in a very enviable position."