In Black America; Veteran Radio and TV Personality Donnie Simpson

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America. I was on the air when I got a call that night from a guy named Bob Hennaberry and he was very official and he was white. I could tell that and he says he calls me on the hotline on the radio station and he says, Donnie Simpson, this is Bob Hennaberry from NBC and I went, well who the hell is this really? Because your boys back then would play with you and put on this official white voice if you would and they would come at you like that and then, you know, just trying to hear you get all proper and everything and then they just, hey man, it's clogged, man, what you doing tonight?

You know, so I didn't think it was real but then he told me, no, I'm very serious. We'd like to talk about coming to work for our station and he was consultant for all of their stations. He was out of New York. He wanted to talk to me about working for their station here in DC. The veteran radio and television personality, Donnie Simpson, Simpson began his career in radio at the age of 15 at radio station WJLB in Detroit, Michigan, where he remained for eight years. In 1977, he relocated to Washington DC to work at WRC FM now WKYS. In 1983, Simpson was recruited by Bob Johnson founder of Black Entertainment Television, BET. To help the network's prime time, music, video, show, video, soul, Simpson remained with the show until his cancellation in 1997. He helps his Donnie Simpson morning show in Washington DC on radio station WPGC FM from March 1993 to January 2010.

Currently, he helps the Donnie Simpson show in the nation's capital on Magic 102.3. Johnson is the first urban format radio personality to have an annual salary of over $1 million without being syndicated. In 1998, he was billboard magazine air personality of the year. I'm Johnny Elhenson Jr. and welcome to another edition of In Black America and the beginning of our 47 season. On this week's program, Betjen Radio and TV personality Donnie Simpson. In 1969, that was, so I was really blessed to get such an early start. My mother owned a record shop in Detroit, so I was always around music. From the time I was 12, that's when she opened up her record shop, and so I was always around music in one day. She had a local DJ, Al Perkins, come out and do his show live from there, and I went into the little booth and was like amazed, you know, just see this dude in there patting his foot to the music man and just having a good time, and you know, prior to that, people

used to always come into the record shop and say, you ought to be a DJ, you know, you sound like a DJ, because I had this heavy voice. My voice changed between, during the summer, between seventh and eighth grade, and so, but it was in one ear and out the other, I wanted to be a Baptist minister, and somewhere along the line, George Clinton turned me out, and here I am. Downey Simpson is best known for his sultry voice, warm smile, and piercing green eyes. He's the son of a record store owner, having been exposed to multiple kinds of music, Simpson began his radio career at the age of 15 with WJLB in Detroit, Michigan, where he remained for eight years. He relocated to Washington DC in 1977, where he began working at WRCFM, now WKYS, as a DJ and program director. He remained there for 15 years. Simpson landed his first television job at WRCTV, as backup anchor for the George Michael Sports Machine Show on NBC's Washington station.

Soon after, he hosted video show, a music video program on Black Entertainment Television, BET, and many other network specials. Simpson, eventually hosted a Downey Simpson morning show on WPGCFM, where he continues to captivate listeners for 17 years. He left radio in 2010. On September 17, 2015, Simpson came out of retirement and returned to the radio airwaves. This time on WNMJ to host a Downey Simpson show, recently in Black America spoke with this iconic radio and television personality. I was born a poor black child, in the movie star, I'm like an old jerk, yeah, but all it's true though, so you know, grew up in Detroit, you know, middle-class family, we thought we were rich, because we had two bedrooms in the house, six kids, two parents, and two bedrooms.

Clearly, we were not rich, but you know, when you got brothers and sisters to play with, maybe you are rich, you know, so, you know, I started radio at the age of 15 at WJLB in Detroit. In 1969, that was, so I was really blessed to get such an early start, my mother owned a record shop in Detroit, so I was always around music. From the time I was 12, that's when she opened up her record shop, and so I was always around music in one day, she had a local DJ, Al Perkins, come out and do his show live from there, and I went into the little booth and was like amazed, you know, just to see this dude in there patting his foot to the music man and just having a good time, and you know, prior to that, people used to always come into the record shop and say, you ought to be a DJ, you know, you sound like a DJ, because I had this heavy voice. My voice changed between, during the summer, between seventh and eighth grade, and so, but it was in one ear and out the other, I wanted to be a Baptist minister, and somewhere along the line, George Clinton turned me out, and here I am, you know, so, you know, so that's

how I got my start. I moved to DC at the age of 22 or 23, 27, 23 years old, in 1977, so it's been 40 years now that I've been in DC, and you know, things happen for me in a great way here in DC, you know, BET happened to start out of here, and they called me to do video soul, and you know, so life's been good. I understand. When you got that call from WRC in DC back in, in, in, in, 77, what was your media response? Well, I was on the air when I got a call that night from a guy named Bob Hennaberry, and he, and he was very official, and, and he was white. I could tell that, and he, and he says, he calls me on the hotline on the radio station, and he says, I, Donnie Simpson, this is Bob Hennaberry from NBC, and I went, well, who the hell is this really?

Right. Right. Because your boys back then would play with you, and put on this official white voice, if you would, and, you know, and they would come at you like that, and then, you know, just trying to hear you get all proper and everything, and then they just say, hey, man, it's called, man, what you doing tonight, you know, so I didn't think it was real. And, but then he told me, no, I'm, I'm very serious. We'd like to talk to you about coming to work for our station, and he was a consultant for all of their stations, he was out of New York, but he wanted to talk to me about working for their station here in DC. And it was the disco station, he says, disco 93, and I had no interest in that, because at that point, you know, disco meant just 120 beats per minute, stringing songs together and very little involvement from a DJ. But my oldest brother had always taught me to, at least, listen. And so I did, and they asked me to come in to DC to talk with him, so I did, that was the strangest thing to pick me up at the airport and took me to Arlington Cemetery to talk. I was like, man, this is Washington, this is so clandestine.

You know, who are you really, this CIA, who's just weird. And so, you know, but I ended up liking the station and liking the conversation, and the money, man, I thought the money was great. I was making $13,500 a year in Detroit, and they were all for me, $28.5, I was rich. But, you know, but I also didn't know much and didn't know how to figure in the cost of living, which was three times what it was in Detroit. I couldn't get my hustle on because people didn't know me, you know, so I didn't get the host parties. And, man, I was broke as all get out the first couple of years I was here. It was bad. But it all turned out, you know, it turned around quickly and it's been a great move. When you got to call from BET, was it Bob Johnson or Deborah Tain? No, actually, it was Jeff Lee, who was Bob Johnson right in man. Right, okay. Yeah, who called me and told me they were interested in starting up this show called Video Soul.

I wanted to know if I was interested. I told them no, too. I, you know, I wasn't interested. I'm very careful about what I get involved in. All I have to sell is image. Right. You know, I can't give you 20 rebounds a night. So, you know, I'm very protective of that image and BET in its infancy wasn't a very pretty baby. And so, you know, but I thought about it for two days and then the bottom line became this, that this is our first black television network. If you have something to offer it, you have to do that. And that's why I joined and I'm glad I did, you know, I mean, it was, it was incredible for me. It was a great ride to be a part of that history was amazing. You know, when I started, we were in one and a half million homes. When I finished, the number was about 45 million and, you know, and then, you know, to watch its growth beyond that to 100 million, whatever the number may be today.

But you know, to be considered the person who was the igniter of that fire, you know, it's kind of cool. It's very cool, you know, and I should, I don't mean to make that sound like I'm toot my own horn, but that's something I heard Bob say on numerous occasions, he'll tell anybody that, you know, that if it weren't for that guy, we would not have made it, that, you know, he carried this network on his shoulders and which means a lot to me to hear that from Bob. And who, by the way, is still my boy. I know that's right. Yeah, that's my man. Being in DC for almost on the air for 30 plus years, how do you handle the celebrity? Well, well, it's been 40, it'll be 40 years this August and, yeah, you just handle it. I mean, it's, you know, I, you know, I love people and I think that that's what helps you handle it. So when people come up to me, man, I mean, I embrace them, man, I love it. I love meeting people.

People are fascinating to me. And so, you know, handling celebrity is, you know, I mean, man, I'm not Taylor Swift or somebody. I don't have paparazzi chasing me around Malibu. You know, so, so I'm good, man, but you know, I always felt that even if it were to that level for me, that I would not let it get to that level because I really feel like you control that, that you don't have to be held captive by celebrity. It's how you deal with it, you know, and that I would deal with it like that, man. If I were Denzel Washington, you know, I'd find a way to deal with it, man, let people know I'm approachable, man, you know, we, we, we are one. This breaking Beverly says, you know, anybody, any more special than anybody else, man. How has the industry changed since you were 17 back in Detroit? Well, it's changed dramatically. The biggest change is one that I don't like. It's just, and that is that radio has kind of stripped itself of its personality to me.

You know, it's so homogenized now, you know, the stations, you know, I remember when I used to travel, man, and when wheels were down in Houston or New Orleans or Los Angeles wherever I was, man, I couldn't wait to turn on my little transistor radio to hear what they were doing. And every city sounded different. Everybody had a flavor. And I loved all of those different flavors. He just don't have that anymore. It's just a homogenized sound, you know, it's controlled by a few conglomerates. You've got one person programming, 60 or 70 radio stations, they're all, so, you know, that bothers me. You know, I hate that young people out there now that are coming up with a great set of ears that will never get to express themselves musically, that will never get to express themselves as artists, as who they are, that you've got somebody controlling and telling, oh, you got 15 seconds to talk here, that was 17 seconds, that's too long, you got to cut it. Oh, that kind of stuff just drives me nuts, man, you know, I didn't grow up under that.

It was freewheeling, man, it was, you know, personality, man, that's, you know, and, you know, I learned the first year I was in a radio that we all get the same records now, of course, it's not records, but I'll use that. So the only thing that's going to make you listen to me over somebody else is the personality is the presentation, and, you know, no matter how programmers and management try to convince themselves that it is something else, it is not, it is still that, it's still the personalities, you still need that. Speaking of personalities, you and I grew up at the same time in Detroit, what was it about that we got Martha Jean, LeBaron Taylor, Ken Bell, Al Perkins, Joe Howard, and the listen gets going on and on Butterball Crane. Yeah. What was it about those individuals that really excited you about getting into this business? Again, what I was just talking about, flavors, you know, all those names that you just gave

out, everybody had different flavor, man, a different style of doing radio, and you know, when I was young, I would experiment with those different styles. And yeah, well, I think that that's natural for anybody, and no matter what your line of work is, you know, you're going to come in emulating people that you like, you know, that's who you admire, that's the style you're going to try to be until you find yourself. And for me, that was about 13 years in before, I remember very vividly one morning feeling that like, wow, I'm not trying to be any of those guys anymore, I'm me. And that's when it gets really good, you know, that's when you hit the sweet spot, man, when you realize you are you, I mean, really, that's the best place to be. Everybody else is taken, you know, you may as well do you. I know that's right. You know, and that's when the greatest success comes to, man, and that's always my advice to young people in this business that that's the most important thing is to be you, man.

I, you know, I've always felt that there were a thousand people out there waiting to take my job, and then 500 of them were just as good as I am. The other 500 are better. The only thing that I can beat them all at is being me, man. You can't beat me doing that, you know, so, and that goes, and that's not just for personalities on radio or TV, that's for any walk of life, man, that, you know, being yourself always works. That's the thing that makes people connect to you when they know you're real, that you are you, you're not somebody else, you know, you're real. If it's just joining us, I'm John L. Hanson Jr., and you're listening to End Black America from KUT Radio, and we're speaking with Dany Simpson, radio and television personality, Dany, you retired in 2010, what's up? And then came back. Well, my wife kind of pushed me out the door, I mean, she just put it like that. She was sweet about it, you know, she said, you know, Dany, everywhere you go, all you hear is how much we love you, and want you to come back and do something, and God has

given you a gift that you should be sharing with people, and I looked around the room like, who is this talking to me? I couldn't believe my wife thought I had some talent or a gift, and so that's the way she put it. But she said, what I heard was, get out, it's been five and a half years, it's time to go. So, so I went back to work, man, it has been real cool. She likes this a lot more. It's people always say, man, I'm so happy you're back, I said, you think you're happy, you should talk to my wife. There's a video that so many people have mentioned that it's on YouTube, it's with me and a Reath of Franklin on Video Soul, and I don't remember how the conversation started, but somehow I'd went to Curtis Mayfield, and we were doing a two-hour special at a Reath of House, and so she started, I'm sitting there with her at her piano, and she'd start singing, somehow I mentioned that my favorite song was the makings of you, and she said, I just started crying, because there was so much in that moment for me.

It was like, how did I get here? How did this happen? You're sitting on the Queen's throne. One-on-one, greatest voice I've ever heard in my life, singing to me, one-on-one in my ear, how did this happen? I'm not worthy, you know, she really didn't put me out of here in a minute, you know? But it's just, I put you know what? I guess God puts you exactly where He wants you to be, and so I'm grateful for it. I still don't quite understand how it has all happened, you know, for this little boy from Detroit who admired these people so, to grow up, to become, you know, their friends and, you know, to, it's just, I don't know, it's overwhelming to me. It really is, to be here today, to see this kind of welcome is just, it's overwhelming. When I came back to radio, after five and a half years retirement, I mean, all of the

press and the attention and stuff, it was just, I don't know, I guess I never get used to it. It's just, when I retired, you know, to see it on the front page of Washington Post, you know, above the fold, I'll never forget, I got, seriously, you know, I picked up the paper that morning and I saw that and immediately tears just came in my eyes and I just said, so it was like that. You know, I mean, because, you know, when you do what you do, you do what you do. You know, it's just, I'm rambling, but that's what I do, I'm sorry. But there's a line from Elton John's song, Rocket Man, that I love so much where he says, in all the science, I don't understand, it's just my job, five days a week, you know. People look at, he's a Rocket Man, you know, he's an astronaut, it's just what he does. You know, it's just what I do.

And so, you know, I'm blessed that I have gotten to do it. You know, I took off five and a half years while I ran a shuttle service, shuttling grand babies back and forth, just going, and I was good at it, too. And to some, I was a pool boy. I was good at that, I'm still for hire. You know, it was, when they worked out the deal for me to come back, my best friend, I can't call him my agent or attorney because he's neither. He's just my boy. Other than having to not get up early in the morning, what's different from the afternoon program versus what you came to DC to do in the morning show? Yeah, well, I started afternoons in DC, actually. Okay. And when I first came here, I did afternoons for the first two years. I moved to mornings on January 3rd, 1980. And mornings is different. You know, I like mornings because you get it out of the way. You're done at 10 and I can play golf all day, I'm a botnatic.

So I don't get to play much now because I'm doing afternoons and it's just not the same. I have something to do every day at three. So it's just a different schedule. But the tradeoff for me is that in mornings, it's one song, maybe two commercials. One song, maybe two news and trapping you, you're just always doing stuff. In the afternoons, I get the paint. Gotcha. You know, I get to create moods, man. I get to, you know, I'll have a 40 minute music set sometimes, man, where I can create moods. And, you know, and that's cool to me because I'm a DJ, man. That's what I do. I play music, you know, so I enjoy that. I enjoy that about afternoons that I get the paint. And trolling through Facebook, I ran across your AARP love songs, date night lists. Yeah. How did you all come together on that? Well, AARP, I do work for them. I represent them in half for the last couple of years. And they just called me and asked me if they said for, you know, black music month.

They wanted to do a series of lists, you know, like a picnic party list, you know, just different list. And one was for date nights and, you know, it's my list is whatever I think the best songs aren't for that occasion. I'm asking everyone I speak to this month about the anniversary, 50th anniversary of Detroit ride in 1967. Do you remember that date at July 23rd? Sunday night. Well, it started late Saturday night, but yeah, or I remember very well. One thing I remember so vividly is sitting on my porch because everybody was on lockdown Sunday night. And sitting on my porch, listening to the Esquires, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Get on up. That was the number one song. And it's like, man, all we could do is sit on the porch and listen to that song, you know, and watching these pictures on TV of our city burning. I mean, it was, it was tragic, man, and my father had a rena cop service. You know, I told you my mother on the record shop, my father had a rena cop service.

And, you know, he had to go in there and him and his man, the guard, some of these buildings, you know, some of these tough neighborhoods, man, so we were very scared for him. And, you know, it was just a frightening thing to be a part of, man, I was 13 years old at the time. Right. And it was just a frightening thing to see and hope that we don't see it again. Tell us about Down the After Dark. This your second season? No, we're done with that. That was different specials. Yes. And how was that experience? I was cool. It was good. It was good to be back on TV. I hadn't done TV and, woo, 20 years. And so that was very cool to be, and it was a different kind of format for me. It was like a late night talk show thing, which is pretty cool. I felt like that was a, you know, a good fit. And, you know, it was exciting. It was, it was very cool to be a part of it. Understand you on the wall. It bends chilly ball now. Well, I have been. This is my second go on the wall on the famous bends chilly ball wall. And which is in the alley, which is so cool.

I always tell people, man, and I, you know, it was a little boy from Detroit, from the alleys of Detroit to the alleys of D.C. But I keep good company in that alley, man. I'm with Barack Obama, Chuck Brown, Dave Chappelle, now Prince, Teraji Pianton, a lot of great people, man. You mentioned about access and when we were growing up, we had access to the announces we can actually go down to the radio stations and actually see them there and also see them live on remotes. Do you have individuals coming in to see what you do and may want to aspire to be a Donnie Simpson? Every day. Every day, man. You know, I mean, we sit in a window here, you know, it's open and we get traffic through here every day. We had a young lady near just yesterday that's her goal is to do radio and TV. So she wanted to talk to me because I've done both. And you know, for me, that goes back to one of the people that you mentioned earlier, Ken Bell. Right. We see passed away.

Right. Yeah, just passed away as a matter of fact, I went home to Detroit last weekend. I went to the very, my mentor, you know, Ken was the guy who would sneak me into that radio station, man, let me make tapes, you know, late at night, man, then invite me over to his house to critique them the next day and all that kind of stuff, man. And if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be doing what I do. So you know, I never forgot that. I remember when Tony Perkins was who later became the weatherman for Good Morning America. Tony was working with me on my show. And he says, why do you invite people in when it's such a distraction because somebody let me distract, you know, I mean, and without that distraction, then I don't happen. So I never forget that, man. So people always welcome, man, because you never know, it could just a chance visit, could turn into a career like it did for me, you know, so yeah, man, you can't shut that down. Any final comments, Danny? Hi, mom. No, no, just, you know, I just, I guess I want to just thank people for supporting me through the years for radio and television.

I know a lot of people that are listening to you right now don't even know that I did radio. Most people around the country don't know that. They know me from video. So, right. And, but, you know, I've done radio all my life since I was 15 years old and, but, you know, whichever medium you support at me on, I just want you to know that I appreciate that and that I love you. And, you know, I know that it just sounds like, you know, kind of a flippant thing to say, if you will, but no, it's genuine. I truly, truly do love you, I love the people that support me and even those that don't. I just love people, man, though, but thank you, thank you for your support. One final question, Danny. You had an opportunity to write the line of notes to my, I call it my Marvel shooting buddies is dramatic, because we all grew up together. How was that experience? Well, it was great. I mean, you know, I don't know how old I was then. I guess 15, 18 years old is for somebody to ask you to write the line of notes on an album was pretty amazing.

And I don't remember everything I wrote. I just remember tying it in it. I said something about you're the master of your ship, you're the captain of your ship and the masters of your destiny or something like that. And, but, you know, the dramatics were my boys, man, still are, I love the dramatics. When I go home, man, to Detroit, I got one boy that we hang out with, man, I don't care what he's got to do that day. I hang with him all day, we'll write seven, eight, nine hours straight, man. And all we listen to is the dramatics, you know, so that tells you how I feel about them, man. They were my closest friends in the industry, you know, when I was in Detroit. You know that? My boys, man. Vets and radio and TV personality, Danny Simpson. If you have questions, comments, those suggestions asked your future in black America programs, email us at in black America at kut.org. Also let us know what radio station you heard us over. Remember to like us on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessary, though, of this station

or of the University of Texas at Austin. You can hear previous programs online at kut.org, until we have the opportunity again for technical producer David Alvarez. I'm John L. Hanson, Jr. Thank you for joining us today as we begin our 47 season and please join us again next week. CD copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in black America CDs, KUT radio, 300 West Dean Keaton Boulevard, Austin, Texas, 78712, that's in black America CDs, KUT radio, 300 West Dean Keaton Boulevard, Austin, Texas, 78712. This has been a production of KUT radio.