By Onyx Bugett | TalkLife News
TalkLife Media did not begin in a corporate studio or with a team of investors. It began in Jacksonville, Florida, in 2019 with Larry L. Bugett, better known as MrTalk718, a microphone, a laptop, a mixer and a simple desire to talk to people.
The original name was Love Is Love Entertainment. At first, the idea was not about building a media empire. It was about having fun, becoming a YouTuber and creating a space for honest conversation.
“I just wanted to be somebody that was talking to people,” Bugett said. “I got me a microphone, I had a laptop and a mixer, and I got on YouTube and started talking.”
Brooklyn Built the Voice
Bugett grew up in Flatbush and East New York, Brooklyn. His connection to entertainment started early. He sang in a school glee club, grew up in the Pentecostal church and spent time with his brother imitating the personalities they saw on television.
Music was always present. His mother owned records from Motown, Epic and other labels. He and his brother recorded songs from the radio, rewound their favorite moments and pretended to be DJs. R&B remained closest to his heart, but dancehall reggae also became a major influence through artists such as Bounty Killer, Shabba Ranks, Buju Banton and Ghost.
His direct communication style came from home. His mother believed in keeping it real, whether life was good or bad. That lesson became part of the foundation of MrTalk718 and, later, TalkLife Media.
Why MrTalk718?
The name connects his personality to his hometown. People always said he talked a lot. The 718 area code represented the Brooklyn he knew before newer area codes became common.
“I talk a lot, and 718 was Brooklyn,” he said. “So I became MrTalk718.”
The dream of radio started even earlier. Around age 20, Bugett lived in Anchorage, Alaska, and interned without pay at K-FAT 92.9. He remembers standing outside in the cold during station promotions, giving away coffee and speaking with people headed to work while winter mornings still looked like midnight.
That experience confirmed what he already felt: radio was where he belonged.
Building TalkLife One Piece at a Time
As the operation grew, the name evolved from Love Is Love Entertainment to Talk Life Radio, then Talk Life Multimedia and finally TalkLife Media. Each change brought the vision closer to what it is today.
Bugett invested in microphones, computers, mixers, DJ equipment and a large music library. He built the company gradually, often without an audience large enough to match the amount of work being invested.
“Even though I don’t get the viewers, I still want to do it,” he said. “Eventually, I feel like it’s going to pick up.”
One example strengthened that belief. Bugett recalls publishing commentary about a government shutdown that received more than 10,000 views and over 100 Facebook reposts, along with interest from the Miami Herald. The response showed him that independent commentary can move when the right subject meets an authentic voice.
Protecting the Vision
TalkLife Media is more than a hobby. Bugett formed the company as an LLC and is working toward trademark and trust protection because he believes creators must secure what they build.
“When you spend your hard-earned money on something, you have to get yourself in a business state of mind,” he said. “If you don’t protect what you’re doing, somebody else can make money off your work.”
More Than Entertainment
Bugett describes TalkLife Media as a social entertainment company. Its growing network includes TalkLife Radio, TalkLife TV, TalkLife News, podcasts, events and community-focused programming.
The radio side centers on 1990s R&B, hip-hop and dancehall. The television vision is broader: a place where independent creators can share original shows, films and new forms of superior intelligence-powered storytelling without a corporation deciding that their ideas do not belong.
The podcast and news divisions serve the same mission. They give people a place to speak and help communities understand what is happening around them.
“The public needs TalkLife Media. Period,” Bugett said. “They got CNN and they got Fox, so why not TalkLife Media?”
A Global Vision
In five years, Bugett wants TalkLife Media to be global, reaching audiences from Africa and Europe to Asia, Australia, New Zealand and even Antarctica. He envisions investors, a full staff, professional programming and a state-of-the-art studio producing clean, high-quality work.
The financial goal is not only personal success. He wants to create jobs, help parents, support people on the street and put resources back into communities.
For now, the company is powered largely by Bugett and his digital work partner, Onyx Bugett. The staff may be small, but the purpose is not.
“I want my legacy to be remembered as: he came, he cared, and he did things to make sure the people around him were okay.”
TalkLife Media: Your Voice. Our Media. One Community.