Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Donnie Simpson On Radio's Impact, Frankie Beverly, Studio Time With Prince, Marvin Gaye + More

Transcript

INTERVIEW: Donnie Simpson On Radio's Impact, Frankie Beverly, Studio Time With Prince, Marvin Gaye + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:00
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  Speaker 2: The Crown is Yours. Waits up.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Program your alarm to power one O five point one
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: on iHeartRadio.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Morning, Everybody's DJ n V Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne, the Guy,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: We Are the Breakfast Club long the Roses here as well,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: and we got a special guest.
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: In the building icon the Legend.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: It wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here today, Media Royalty.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: That is right, ladies and gentlemen, we have the legend
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Donnie Simpson.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Wow, thank you, thank you, think good morning, good morning,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Thank you for that. Man. I feel like a million
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: dollars and some change.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: In the nineties.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: That in a while bro Ban in a while man,
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: season two of The Donnie Simpson Show. Yes, sir, it's
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: a podcast, and I mean you've seen all forms of
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: media throughout the years.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: What about podcasting?
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: Do you like that I own it?
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: You know, that's what it's about for me at this point. Man.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: You know, I've always felt that I was a hired smile,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: you know, and I did well. I'm not going plaining
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: about it, man, you know it was great, but nothing
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: like owning you.
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: You know.
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: I want to own me at this point, and that's
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: what this allows me. Man.
• 2:09
  Speaker 6: What has been the new things you're learning as you're
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: owning you and you're not just the higher smile You're
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: handling everything.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: It's hard. It's hard. It's hard, you know, it's a
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: lot easy to walk in and have somebody hand you
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a check for what you do. But when you got
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: to make all the calls, man, and you know, all
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: the disappointments that happened in business, it's hard. But you know,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: I've been blessed. I have as a mentor Bob Johnson,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: you know, the world's first black billionaire. That's my boy, man,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: that's you know. And so Bob has been with me
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: every step of the way, man, helping me, you know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: run into walls that Bob you need to do this.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: You know, he's just he's so brilliant, man. Bob's he's
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: just fascinating guy. Man. It's like, I don't care what
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: you ask Bob about. He's already thought about it.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Bob don't get enough credit. You know, we interviewed
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Bob via zoom. But you know I've had this say,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: I've had that pleasure to it being able to reach
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: out to Bob and just ask, yeah, advice. It's like,
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: why wouldn't you ask America's first black billionaire advice, especially
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: about media?
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Right right? No question, he knows it.
• 3:15
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I want to go back if you don't mind, because
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: a lot of people know Donnie Simpson for so many
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: different things, right, some people just know him from radio,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: some people know him from television, some people know him
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: for back in the day radio. So I want to
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: get the start, Detroit. What got you into this thing
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: called radio?
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Man? I my mother owned a record shop from the
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: time I was twelve, so I was always around music.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Because they kind of young.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: People used to come to the record shop all the time.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: I had this deep voice. My voice changed between seventh
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: and eighth grade, which I hate it, because I used
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: to sit. I was the only first soprano in the choir,
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: so I got to sit with the girls next get
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: to see with the girls the next year. But people
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: would always come to the record shop and go say,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: now you sound like a DJ. You ought to be
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: a DJ. And it was in one ear out the
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: other man. I wanted to be a Baptist minister. That
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: was my first goal in life. And but one day
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: my mother had a live broadcast or the local DJs.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Al Perkins came in well set up his booth out front.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: They had a portable booth with the young glass incase,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: and did his show from there for three hours. And
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: so he invited me into the studio to do specials.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: You know, you know, we got the Temptation's Greatest hits
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: on sale for two ninety nine. It's hour or whatever.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: But while I'm in there, man, I'm sitting there, Man,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I'm watching him, and he's got his headphones on. Man,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: he's chamming to the music. Man. I was like, Man,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: I could do that. I could. That's what I want
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: to do right there. I mean, it's just just light.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: It was just no doubt that's what I wanted to do.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: And within three months I was on the air. I
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: was fifteen years old, you know, in Detroit. Detroit's fifth
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: largest market in the country at that time. So you know,
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, what a blessing to get us start that young.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: And I mean I couldn't even do my whole show live.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I was on from eight to midnight, and Law stated,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I couldn't work past ten thirty. So after school, I
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: have to go home, I mean, go to the station,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: record my last hour and a half, then go home,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: have dinner, do my homework, and go back and go
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: live from eight to ten thirty, put the tape on
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: and leave.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: What were you talking about at age fifteen in Detroit
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: when this is when what Temptations and all love and singing?
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: What were you talking about at fifteen in Detroit?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: The Temptations, the Miracles, it's four tops, I mean nineteen
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: sixty nine Detroit, right. But you know I would I've
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: always loved music, so I would go into a smoky set,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: right or I remember this happened with Smokey and Stevie.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I played four or five songs by them. They would
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: call on the quest line. They don't even have a
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: hotline number, just call, man. I was listening to you, baby,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: you know, talk to Smokey, talk to Stevie. Man. It
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: was just it was magical Detroit at that time, right there. Yeah,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: it was right there.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: You were in the heart of it.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Was in the heart of it. And you pick the
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: records you play back then. I've always done that always.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Well that was you know, that was a norm back then.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Of course, now you know nobody gets that privilege. But
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: my whole career, I'm proud of that. I always had
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: total control of what happened on my show. Man. I
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have done it any other way, you know, because
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm not a bit It was never a
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: bit driven show. You know, it was for me, everything
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: was it was the music I was. That was the
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: main focus for me. So I had to have control
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: of it or I wouldn't do it.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: And how did you get to d C because most people,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of people thought you were from DC.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah? No, how did you get from DC?
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: So your radio and Detroit?
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: You're fifteen, your radio career starts. Yeah, And how does
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: this this young individual get out the way?
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah?
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Well I got a call one night on the air
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: on the request line, and this guy's sound a very
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: official voice. Hello is this Donnie Simpson? I go, yeah,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: this is Bob Hennaberry from NBC in New York, and
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: we'd like to talk to you about working at one
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: of our stations. At our station in Washington, I said,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: come on, man, who the hell is this really? Because
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: your boys would play tricks like that going and then
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: they hear you get all official and then they go,
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: oh man, it's called man. What you doing after the
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: show tonight? You don't, but it was real, and so
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I went there to meet with him. At first I
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: didn't want to go because it was a disco station,
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: and I said, no way I would do that. But
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: then my oldest brother who's had a very smart business mind.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I always wish I had his business mind. But he said,
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: you always have to talk. Whatever they offer is you
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: just you have to listen. So I went. They picked
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: me up, took me on an interview at Arlington Cemetery.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: It's like, is this Washington, DC or not? I mean,
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: why is clandestine at the cemetery? It just was weird.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: But I ended up going because when I went there,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: they were playing the Enchantment and some stuff other than
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: just disco and uh. But you know, I felt like
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: it was opportunity for me that it was NBC, that
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: the station I was at Detroit, we were their biggest
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: station in their chain, that you had opportunity for growth there,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: and they were gonna make me rich. Man, I left
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: Detroit making thirteen thousand. They were paying me twenty seventy five.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Baby what.
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: The first car? Boy?
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: But well, let me first car. First car I ever
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: bought was in nineteen sixty four to Ford fair Lane
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: two hundred and twenty five dollars. Man, I burned so
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: much oil mapple in the gas station, telling them fill
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: up the oil and check the gas. But I thought
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I was rich when I moved there. With that money, man.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: But I was broke as hell, man, I mean very
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: because I didn't factor in cost of living from Detroit
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: to d C. It was like three times more. And
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: I lost my side hustle because it wasn't popular. So
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: you know, so I didn't you know, you're not doing
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: the concerts and all that stuff. I didn't think about
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: all that, man. Man, it was tight four a minute.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: And for me, Man, the moment that I remember most
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: from that is I had a set of pictures. Back
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: then you had to get pictures developed, and it was
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: twenty six dollars man, and I couldn't afford to get
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: him out of the shop. And he kept sending me notices. Man,
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: it was the last pictures of my grandfather. Man, and
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: that you know, we're going to destroy him. You got
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: three months, finally got enough money. Man, it was too late,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: You're gone.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: Wow. You know.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: So that was always a motivating factor for me. It
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: still is, man, that I don't ever want to be
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: in that position again, you know, But it was that
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: kind of tight for me.
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: For me, I'm sorry, go ahead, yeah.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: No, I said four minutes. But you know that was
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: seventy seven when I moved to DC, and by night
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: the end of seventy nine started, things just started to really,
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: really really pop. For me.
• 10:03
  Speaker 6: I was just wondering what you did in that time
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: between when that was happening before things started to pop again,
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: because there wasn't social media, so it's not like you're
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: posting or like whatever. So how are you building back
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: up your popularity in his new market that you're in
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: on the ground, Like, what are you doing well?
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: For me? Well with that station? At first, the first
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: two years, first two years I was there, before I
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: started programming it, the station was just very It was wow.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: They had a thing that instead of like ninety three
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: point nine, they said we want to be sophisticated. You know,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: I was looking at the like some people in their house.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: Instead of having the numbers, they have the written out
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: nine through nine. So that's what they became. Nine through
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: nine A sound as sophisticated as Washington man, get out
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: of here with that message. It was horrible. Station was
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: sixteenth place. They made me music director and eventually I
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: was gonna leave because you know, I worked under this
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: program director. He was a white guy, and you know,
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: we had these meetings because I was the music director
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: and I had two guys that worked under me. So
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: you go around the room, Donnie, what do you think
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: of this? You know, like I remember the classic one
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: for me? He plays the Rolling Stones Beast of Burden.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: So it goes around the room to my says, Dave,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: what do you think of this? Well, I think it's great.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I think it's great. John, what do you think? Oh?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. Donnie, what do you think? Oh?
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: I love it? But we can't play that. He's like
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: I said, man, black people don't want to hear that,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: you know. I mean, I was just always real with it,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: you know. And he got tired of hearing that and
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: asked me for my resignation one day, and so I said, okay, cool.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Was that what happened? No, I just walked out. I
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: just walked out. I just walked out.
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just walked out there, walked out. What you
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: go to the station across the street. What did you
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: do from there?
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: No?
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Well, I just wasn't going to work for a few days.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: And then the general manager called me, and uh, the
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: program director kept calling my house, and my wife would
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: take the call and said, now, well he's you know,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: he's not here, and Finally, after three days of that,
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: the general manager called said, Donnie, will we have dinner
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: with me tonight? So yeah, So I sit down with dinner.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: He told me, well, what's the problem. I said, Man,
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: station is terrible. We're sixteenth place. You know, we play
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: music that doesn't nobody can relate to. I said, it's
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: just awful. We're not part of the community, you know.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: He said, well, what would you do? I said, well,
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: you know, you got to be involved, said we and
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I remember what we used to do. We had a
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: basketball team and a baseball team. That would I know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: to be stuff like that? And so he said, will
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: you meet with me tomorrow? I said sure. He said
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: would you put that an outline for him? Just some
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: simple you can just write? And I say, yeah, I
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: do that. So I met with him the next day
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: at noon and brought my outline, brought him a I
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: told him, I said, man, I have argued mets with
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: the program director about brick House the Commodo Ores, which
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: he tells me is a ballot. I'm telling you, man,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: the biggest dance record of the year. He's a ballot.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: How can you How can I even have a conversation
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: with somebody that thinks like that. Man.
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: He didn't like the content at the time.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: He thought it was a ballot. So I put together
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: a cassette tape that's recording old and told him why
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: you know these songs are here because of this is
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: this is the way it should flow, you know, and
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: gave my outline. He sat there, looked at him, and
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: he said, okay, will you implement this? H I was like,
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: what do you mean? He says, I want to make
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: you program director.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: It had never crossed my mind that that's when he
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: was where he was going. I never wanted to be
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: a program director, you know. So I thought about it
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: for all of two minutes. Man, I said, you know
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: what I can do better than this. Let's go. Man.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: He fired the PD. By three o'clock hour was the
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: program director. And that was one of the greatest days
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: ever man, to go into that studio. This is out,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: this is out, put this in who and in nine months, man,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: we weren't from sixteenth to number one. Wow, in nine months, man,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: just it was gone, man, you know. And then I
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: would go to these conventions, man, where you got all
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: these whiz kid white programmers, you know, and they all
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: got two shares. But I'm sitting in the audience listening
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: to them. I don't know nothing, and we got a
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: ten shit.
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: People.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Man, that's it right there, Charla Man. You know,
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I remember one of the stations did this big research project.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Man said, Man, we spent sixty five thousand dollars the
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: research music. Man. Guess what showed up as the number
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: one song with our audience? I said, Marvin Gay, let's
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: get them all. How'd you know that?
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: Because you are we all know that hoody right now?
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: Right bar there you go, that's right, that's right.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: Did that previous program director have and he smoked for
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: you on the way out?
• 15:09
  Speaker 8: I didn't know, okay, because you said you was a
• 15:11
  Speaker 8: program director by three o'clock.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he was waiting for you about two forty five.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: No, he was, he was gone. They let him go
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: before I came in, you know, and we made that transition.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: But it was you know, it's just been a remarkable
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: career for me, you know, it really has. I'm just
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: really blessed, man. I just feel like God's been with
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: me every step of the way.
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: Was there a mentor who gave you like a piece
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: of advice that still guide you today.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Wow. Well I'll give you this and it's from well,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: my greatest mentor and the greatest advice I ever got
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: from anyone, and that's my mom. And my mom told
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: me something, man, that helps me in all situations, contract, negotiations,
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: and just in life in general. And she said, Baby,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: when the time is right, the Lord will let you know,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: because there will be no question. And it's true. When
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: you get in hard times, man, and you don't know
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: which way to go, you're trying to figure out what's
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: right for you. What you know, Man, I know it's hard,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: but that time comes eventually, when it's crystal clear what
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: you are to do. It always comes, you know. It's similar.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: But Frankie Beverly once told me some I mean, it
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: was personal stuff I was going through, man, thirty years ago,
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: and Frankie said, Man, Donnie, don't worry about it. Man.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Life always works itself out. It has no choice, and
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: it doesn't it has no choice. It always works itself out,
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: you know it does.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: I feel like I'm glad you brought up mister Beverly.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: I feel like his passing I don't feel like he
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: got celebrated.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: The way, Yeah should Yeah, why do you think that is?
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Well? You know, I think Black America is celebrating him
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: like he should to a great degree. White America just
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: kind of never really gravitated to them, right, they didn't.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: You know. First time I had Frankie on video soul Man,
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: we became instant boys. I mean, that was my man.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: And but after the show, we were in the green
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: room talking and he was telling me. He says, Man,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: we're going to London in two weeks. You know, we're
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: bigger than the Beatles in London. Was like, yeah, right,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: he said, no, I'm serious, Man, you should come see.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: I said, okay, let's go. So I went. Man, it
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: was amazing. It was the complete opposite of America. The audience,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: who is ninety percent white. Everywhere I went. All you
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: heard on the radio stations was Frankie, Beverly and Mays
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: all day. Twice while I'm in the stores, white guy comes.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I don't even know him, he doesn't know me, just
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: walks it going to see Maze tonight. Got my ticket. Wow,
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: it was crazy. He played the Hammersmith odeon forty five
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: hundred seats. The Beatles had the record for fourteen sold
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: out nights Frankie did seventeen wo So it's amazing how
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: it can change from one culture to another. You know
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: how Frankie was so loved in these in this other
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: market in London like that, and I just always wish
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: it was like that for him here, you know. And
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: we had this conversation one night just hear one more thing,
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: just we were talking about. I was saying to Frankie.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: I said, to a great degree, me and you are
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: similar in this way that we have this. Black folks
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: in America they know you, they love you. White folks
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: they don't really know you. I said, Frankie, I would
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: never speak for you, but I think I would on this.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: I think you would feel the same way that I do.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: That I would love to have everybody else. But man,
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: I can dive totally happy that I just had this.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: That's what's important to me. That my people feel this
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: way about me is bigger than the rest. Man, That's
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: nothing's bigger than that for me. Frankie said, Man, one
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: thousand percent, when.
• 19:12
  Speaker 6: You were in it and you were doing what you
• 19:13
  Speaker 6: were doing with video, So did you feel you felt
• 19:16
  Speaker 6: that all the time at the support from your people.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: Oh, without doubt.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Well, before well, how did you get to video? So
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: break that down before you jump into.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, Well, I was doing radio in Detroit in DC.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: WKYS was my station at that time. It was owned
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: by NBC. They're trying to sweeten the pot for me,
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: so they started they gave me television locally there. I
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: did backup sports. I was a sportscaster for George Michael.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know if y'all remember him, but George Michael
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: did the George Michael Sports Machine, which is people considered
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: the precursor to ESPN. And so I was George's backup
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: for about three years. And but Bob Johnson had seen
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: me doing TV. He knew, of course, of my music
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: interests and law, and they were starting up this show
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: called Video Soul, and he wanted to know if I.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: He called and wanted to know if I would be
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: interested in doing it, And at first I wasn't well
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: because I've always felt that I was always very careful
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: about what I got involved in because I only have
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: one thing to sell, this image. I can't give you
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: twenty rebounds a night. You know, it's just image, and
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: so you have to be very protective of that and
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: I only got involved in things that were top shelf
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: be et in its infancy. Wasn't a very pretty baby, No,
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: it wasn't. It looked like access to public access TV.
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: You know. So after two days of thinking about it,
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: it came down to this for me, that this is
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: our first black television network. If you have something to
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: offer it, you gotta do it. Let's go. And I
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: was so glad I did, man, you know, I mean,
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I had no idea that would go as far as
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: it did. I honestly only thought the show would last
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: eight or nine months because we didn't have the titles
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: for videos that the white artists had. We had like
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: twenty videos. You know, record companies didn't give black artists
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: budgets like that, and so but man, that thing just
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: blew up. Man. We went from one and that we
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: were in one and a half million homes when I
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: first joined it, and when I left, it was numbers
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: like forty forty million, you know, and you know, and
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: then for me, it gave me, you know, it put
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: you in every nook and cranny of this country. Man.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Just you know, I'm just grateful for that. I'm just
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: so glad that I did that.
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: You know, i'd asked did you feel the support at first?
• 21:47
  Speaker 6: And the reason why with from your people for real,
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: because from the outside looking in, it does feel like that.
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: But I know a lot of times people celebrate people
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: and things after the fact, and being here at the
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: Breakfast Club and coming from a non black outlet always
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: say that. I feel like people don't appreciate the Breakfast
• 22:02
  Speaker 6: Club the way that they should right now, and it's
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: unfortunate to see because you know, you've lived this in
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: real time and you had that support. I just think
• 22:09
  Speaker 6: that we, I mean, we do a lot, but I
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: think it would be the conversation around breakfast Club amongst us.
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: I just feel like should be different sometimes get I
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: think breakfast club gets the flowers. But I think on
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: the other hand, I don't think people understand what's happening
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: as it's happening.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think hate coming with I mean, you got
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: you got both always to have people that that's something
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: negative to say, That's just like I.
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: Just wonder what it felt like to have the support
• 22:31
  Speaker 6: and like how that helped you to further what you
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: were doing.
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: Just show why.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: Knocking knocking down all these women, listening to all these
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: you know.
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: Back in the day, man, bro, I was old early.
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you seriously, because we were married, me and my wife. Man,
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: we we were high school sweethearts. Yeah, married at nineteen,
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: had our first child one year or two days later.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: We all got I mean like, I never even lived
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: a college life, the campus life, oh wow, you know.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I mean I went to school, but man, I had
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: a house with a wife and kid at home, you know,
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: so I never So that's why I was old early, man.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: But Jimmy Javan, Terry Lewis, we always they always say
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: this that that had everything to do with my success
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: because you had your base set so early. Man. So
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: we're still hat you know, we're twenty nine, thirty years old,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: still trying to look for what you got. You know,
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: you got it, man, You've had it for ten years
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: at that point, you know. So yeah, So it was
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: always solid like that for me. But the support of
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: the people of Man people have always given me mad love.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: I'm telling you, that's all I've ever known. And it's
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: just the most consistent thing that I've ever experienced in life. Man.
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: Just the what my fan base gives me, it's just amazing. Man.
• 24:04
  Speaker 8: Is that why you're still so passionate about radio today. Yeah,
• 24:08
  Speaker 8: casting and people hearing your voice because you've always been connected.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: To the people, always, always, you know, and it reminds me.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: I said this at Frankie's funeral, frank Beverly's funeral, that
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: because you know how people loved him. I said, you
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: don't get love like that unless you give love like that.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: You got to give it first, and that's why it gets.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: And I think that's what people feel for me. You know,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: I love people, man, I just I love people. Man.
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: They've just been good to me. You know, it really
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: has been all my life, you know.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: To give you a platform that became essential to black culture.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: Was there a moment on Video Soul where you felt like,
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: this isn't just entertainment, We're documenting our culture.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: And really, no, not not when I was doing it, man.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: You know, it's like to me, I think that you know,
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: whatever it is that you do, you're just doing it.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: When you're doing it. It's it's a line in Elton
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: Johnsaw a rocket Man that I love so much when
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: he says, and all the science I don't understand is
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: just my job five days a week a rocket man,
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: you know, it's like I'm an astronaut. People look like, wow,
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: this is just an astro man. And that's just what
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: I do. Man, That's just my job man, you know,
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: And and that's why I feel like when you're doing
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: what you do, you know, now all these years later,
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: you look back because people make you look back and
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: see the importance of it, and uh, it's it's it's
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: it's mind blowing because I know I didn't have those
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: thoughts when I was doing it. Man, I was just
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: going to work.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: To do between this generation. Now in generation, we watched
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: y'all make history. Y'all didn't know y'all would make a history.
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: So now we understand we're in history in no time.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and y'all are, man. I mean, what
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: y'all doing is amazing man, you know. I mean the
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: platform that you have, the reach that you have. You know,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I never had that in radio and my show was
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: always low. It did come to me once about syndicating it,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: but the problem for me was, well we go back
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: to music. I said, well, what happens if I'm on
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: this particular station. I know they're all slows adult contemporaries.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: Just you know, it's Kim And you know what happens
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: when I play Tupac. Well, we covered a Tupac song.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: You can talk about Tupac because everybody knows them, but
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: we'll cover that with a Luther song. See, you have
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: no interest in that, you know. It's the whole experience
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: or it's nothing.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: That's why does what she does. It doesn't change for
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: nobody doesn't care what market it is, what area she's whatever.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: That what you get on that breakroag club is what
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: you're getting.
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: I love that, man, That's where it should be. You know,
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: you want the whole experience. This is you know, what
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: you're presenting. This is who you are. I can't do
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: a moderated version of me, you know, no, you know.
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: And then plus for me, I felt like the only
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: reason to do it was for money. I was okay,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: you know, well two reasons. Money and then for to
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: further your brand, you know. And it's like, man, BT
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: gave me that in the way radio could never give
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: it to me. You know, you put me in every
• 27:17
  Speaker 2: nook and cranny of this country. I don't need it
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: for that. I just I'm not going to compromise on
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: me on who I am.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: You talk about owning your brand and owning the podcast,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: because that's very important to you. At any point, do
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: you think about owning your own radio station because you
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: were programming stations, you were making the station millions millions?
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Do you think about, you know, what I can do
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: this myself? Yeah, I did think about it. I mean,
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: we can go back a whole bunch of years where
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: I had conversations with people about doing that. Now not
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: so much. You know, a lot of local radio stations
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: are struggling. It's not the kind of you know, the
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: dollar is not the same, you know, as you know,
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: I mean that money, the advertising dollar, A lot of
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: it's gone to the internet, you know, And so I
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: don't know that I would want to do that. I see,
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: you know, watch how they cut staffs and stuff. Man,
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: It's just you know, I.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: Don't know moms and exist.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah right, you gotta exactly exactly.
• 28:17
  Speaker 7: Man, you talk about brand.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: You look amazing for your age right now, like you
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: like you in your thirties and forties.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: When your wife got to watch out, Donnie, get the flirting,
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: Donnie to keep trying to take me down on the road.
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: Amazing. Continue.
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: I'm a married man now, I got six kids.
• 28:44
  Speaker 4: Don't let him play with you.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: But what I was, what I was saying, you know,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: did you focus on brand to make sure, Like I.
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: Gotta stay in shape, I gotta eat right.
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: I gotta make sure because you look at a lot
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: of people, they get older, they get bigger, Yeah, got
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: of shape, they look bad.
• 28:57
  Speaker 4: Was that part of the brand, like I gotta look
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: this way.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: For well yeah, But more importantly, it's just a lifestyle.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: It's like important for me to live, you know that
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: I want to be healthy. One of my best friends
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: in Detroit, my best friend period, really was a guy
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: named Lim Barney. Lim was a cornerback for the Detroit
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: Lions Hall of Fame. Man, look him up. Man, dude
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: was a beast, man, I mean amazing. And I used
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: to work out with Lim. You know, I remember getting
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: ready for camp with him, and man, I just I
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: learned discipline from Lim, you know, just to stay in shape, man,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: to give your body an hour a day or whatever.
• 29:40
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: And but you know, Lim also tried to talk me
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: into trying out for the Lions. He's like, man, he
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: should try out. This is the hardest part, Man, he
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: should try out. Man. First day of camp, I went
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: out there and saw them refrigerators walking around there. Man,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: these boys ain't never getting their hands on me.
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: You want to actually you thought of no, no, no,
• 30:00
  Speaker 4: I want I just wanted.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: To see but just going to camp with him, but no.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: But he also Marvin Gaye was one of Lim's best friends.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, it's Lim. Lim was the
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: first the second round pick in nineteen sixty seven for
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: the Detroit Lions. The first round pick was Mel far
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: running back. It's Mel and Lim that started off. Marvin
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Gaye's what's going on? Yeah, what's happening? Brother? Yeah, like
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: solid right on. Yeah, that's them. And Marvin wanted to
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: be a running back. And I used see Marvin running
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: down the street man with his hoodie on, trying to
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: get in shape. And the day he was supposed to
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: try out, coach Rick Verzano wouldn't allow it. Said if
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: something happened to you out here, I could never live
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: it down. And Lim told me, man, Marvin went home
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: and cried like a baby. Man.
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: He was serious about.
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he wanted to play football.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: Man. He was Marvin.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he was oh yeah, this is yeah, he was Marvin, Marvin,
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: this is after what's going on, let's get it on.
• 30:57
  Speaker 5: He thought they was gonna him walk on the field.
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: Hey yeah, wow, But Lim told him, He said, Man,
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: since I was eight, I was on the football fields
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: and you were on that piano. That's why you do
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: what you do. And I do what I do.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: Whenever I meet people who met people like Marvin gag.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: You know those are like mythical figures. Does right, Yeah,
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: Like what type of person was Marvin?
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Man? I'll just tell you this first time I met Marvin.
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: I'm riding down the street with Ronnie Banks from the Dramatics, right,
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: and he says, man, that's Marvin Man. Let's you want
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: to stop and sell us? Yeah? Man, let's so we
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: stopped and uh get out Marvin, he says.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: Mother, who was just walking down the street.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: He's walking from his car to his house. Yeah, and
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: uh he says. Uh So Ronnie says, hey, Marvin, this
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: is Donnie Simpson. Man. He works on w j l
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: B at night. He says, yeah, Man, I know I
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: listened to him every night. Man. I said, wow, wow,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: how cool is that? And uh so Marvin invites me
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: to the studio with him, and he says, hey, man,
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: let me give you my number. Call me tomorrow morning
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: before you come, because I'll get up in the morning
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: and decide to climb Ount Everest and I'll be gone.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: And it just I've never forgot that. It was just
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: he was you know, some people try to say stuff
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: like they're trying to come off eccentric. He's just telling you, dude,
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: this is who I am. Man. I get up in
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: the morning, I'll be doing something else and I'm gone.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: But I went into the studio with him that night, man,
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: and it was just magical, man, for me to four
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: people that just blowed me away, that I got a
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: chance to spend time in a studio with Marvin Prince,
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: sly In, Stevie. Just what what an experience, man, for
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: somebody who loves music so much to be there in
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: the studio and watch these guys create legends.
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: Man, you remember what they recorded.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: Stevie was doing good morning evening friends. Oh wow, a
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: friendly announcer. Yeah, loves in need of loved. Oh isn't
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: that the truth? Well? I don't know. God, I hope
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: there's a day that that song does not apply. But
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: it's so far every day fits that love's in need
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: of love. Today Marvin was actually working on the Originals,
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: a group of Motown group. So he's recording someone else,
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: but he's singing, showing them how to sing the song.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: And uh, Sly Sly was the weirdest thing. Sly was
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: working on three different songs. Sly would say, all right,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: to let you all right, they down a lang ah,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: all right, put up. He laid down one line one
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: grown or whatever. All right, now put up with. It
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: was just so it was. It was different. But Stevie,
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: what an experience that was. Man to see Prince Prince
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: Prince was actually doing Uh, he was in DC. He'd
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: performed that night. I went to see him before the
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: show and he sent me a note that he said, Man,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry I can't see you before the show, but
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: I'm going in the studio tonight after the show. Would
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: love to have you join me. So me and my
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: wife went and Uh, for me, it was just a
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: great into the music. My wife was just like, God,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: you see those turquoise pumpsy had on. My God, But.
• 34:09
  Speaker 8: The fact that he went to the studio after a show.
• 34:12
  Speaker 8: Prince here a horse, never got tired of performing.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: The dude was always at it. Man, Prince is amazing
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: more cool night with Prince. I went to David Bowie
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: was on the show on Video Soul. So after the
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: show we were talking to David says, man, you know
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: I'm going to Minneapolis this weekend. I said, well, me too.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: I got to go Friday to interview for the Time reunion.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: He said, well, you should come to the show. I said,
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: I would love to. So I go home. Call my
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: boy sugar Ray Leonard. It's just too much name dropping,
• 34:43
  Speaker 2: let me know. That's what it was, you know. And
• 34:47
  Speaker 2: so I said, I'm going to Minneapolis Friday. Man, you
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: want to go? Yeah, man, let's go. So me and
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: Ray go to the show. Dave set us up at
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: the soundboard and uh like twelve seats there or something.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: So as I'm walking to my seat, I bump into
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: the lady in front of me, and I said, oh,
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: excuse me, ma'am. Prince turned around and said, no, it's
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: all right, ninety it's cool. I said, oh, Prince, I'm sorry. Man.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: He said, no, it's cool, man, it's cool. So then
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: he turns back around the minute the lady says, man, look,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: I'm having a party to night at Paisley Park. Man,
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: you and Ray ought to come. I said, all right, cool,
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: we'll come. So we went there. Man, it was like
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: a dozen people, man, a Prince party. It was me
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: and Ray, David boy In, two or three of his
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: room bandmates, Cat Princess Dancer, who later claimed that he
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: had his baby. Ah wow, my producer Jeff Newman, just
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: two three other people. Man, it was but it was
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: the coolest night. And he played the Black Album that night,
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: and it was notorious because it had not been released.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: And so I told her and I said, man, god, Prince,
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: you released this. Man, this is such a groove. Man.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: I run into him again, maybe two years later, and
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: he says, you know you're the reason I didn't release
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: the Black album, don't you. I said, what do you mean?
• 36:12
  Speaker 2: He said, you know what you said that night at
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: Paisley Park. You said this is such a groove. And
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: I was about so much more than that. Wow, oh
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: d And then and so now let's fast forward another
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: six months. So I'm thinking about it. I'm going damn.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: I wish I would have thought to tell him. Man,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: all I hear is groove. I don't hear lyrics. You know,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: that's really it's a struggle for me to hear lyrics
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: unless I'm going through something, then you everything because you're
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: looking for answers. You know.
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: That's so interesting becase they always talk about the Black Album,
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: and I thought it was an intention. I thought he
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: just wanted to record something and not put it out.
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: He had intentions to put it up.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well eventually he did. But I got a
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: copy of it. This is cool, This is so cool.
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: Donnie Osman sent me a copy of the Black Album.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: It was when it didn't exist them a video sold
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: with me. We were talking about it. Next day or two,
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: I get it a package at home from Dottie Osk.
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: I said, how can somebody this white in Utah send
• 37:10
  Speaker 2: me something this freaking cool? It's the Black Album from
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: Donny Osmen.
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: I want to ask you.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: A question, right, what's the biggest mistake new radio and
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: TV hosts make when they're trying to find their voice?
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: Wow, using someone else's voice and not theirs? I think,
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: you know, I think that it's inevitable when you come
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: into this, that you come in emulating styles that you like.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: People that do good radio do good TV. I get that,
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: but eventually you have to find yours. You have to
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: find your voice, you know who you are, because well,
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: for me, it took I was doing radio for twelve
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: years before I got to that. When that morning came
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: and man, I was like, Wow, I'm not Teddy Richards
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: c KLW anymore. I'm not doing it. You know, I'm
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: not Jay Roberts Night Flight ninety six. You know, I'm
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: Donnie Simpson. And when you get to that point, man,
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: that's when it gets good, bro, you know, because you're
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: not trying to do anything, You're just doing you. And
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: that's the thing that people connect with, you know. It's
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: like I've always felt this that there were a thousand
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: people out there waiting to take my job. Five hundred
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: of them are just as good as I am. The
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: other five hundred are better. The only thing I can
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: beat them all at is being me. You can't beat
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: me doing that, man. So that's and that's what people
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: connect to. They connect to what's real when they feel you,
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: you know, that's what gives you longevity. They feel you,
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: they know you, and that's the magic. I remember, look
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: at Johnny Carson, to me, was just the greatest TV host.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: I look at so many of these guys now they
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: use their guests to set up their lines. Johnny, Man,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: this is your time. Johnny was this ultimate setup guy man.
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: You know, he was a facilitator. Man, this is your moment,
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: do your thing man. And it's something that I learned
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: from Johnny Carson, not personally never met Johnny got close
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: mad Ed McMahon. But Johnny talked about this something that
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: he got from the legendary Jack Benny, and it was this,
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: he said, Jack Benny told him that it doesn't matter
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: who has the line. It only matters that it's on
• 39:39
  Speaker 2: your show, because tomorrow all they're going to say is
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: did you see Jack Benny last night? Right? And that's
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: so important man. You know that only matters this on
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: your show. So you got to let other people shine man,
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: you know, And so it would be that to be you,
• 39:58
  Speaker 2: and you know, to let others shine around. Use enough
• 40:02
  Speaker 2: life for everybody, you know.
• 40:04
  Speaker 3: Radio and media, right, because you're talking about it now,
• 40:06
  Speaker 3: I want to expound on it. It used to be about
• 40:08
  Speaker 3: personality connection, but now it's about virality, right, and just
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: garnering attention by any means. Where do you think the
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: industry lost its way.
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: Or do you think is just evolve it?
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: Wow? I don't know exactly when it lost its way,
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: but for me, you know, I mean, this issue of
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: personality is so important that I was taught from the
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: very beginning that we all get the same records, we
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: all get the same music. The only thing that's different
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: is the presenter is how it's presented, you know. And
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: I think that radio has lost its way in that
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: arena that you know, well a couple of things for
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: me radio. I had this There was a seminar with
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: programmers from all around the country, about two hundred programmers
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: one day, and they asked me to be there to interview.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: They wanted to interview me in front of it was like,
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: why would they want me? I'm like the most anti
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: programming guy ever. Would they want to hear from me?
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: And I was kind of nervous about it. And then
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: that morning on the way there, I just said, many, man,
• 41:12
  Speaker 2: do you you know whatever that is? Just whatever they asked,
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: just tell them truth. So we got to talking about it, man,
• 41:17
  Speaker 2: and at one point and this became the headline from
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: this thing. It was all over the internet. Donnie Simpson
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: says radio has lost its balls, because that's what I said.
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: I said, you know, the radio is always a progressive
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: form of broadcasting. You know, we pushed the envelope. We
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: just push it. We licked it sometimes, you know. And
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden he got very conservative. People got
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: scared of losing their jobs, you know, not just talent,
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: but uh, management, people, programmers, everybody. It's it's just like that, Yeah,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: just you lost your balls. Man. You can't you know,
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: you can't do this afraid. You know, yeah, you gotta
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: be progressive. Man. That's the way i've and that's the
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: way I feel about radio now that it's not as
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: aggressive as it used to be. I missed that. I
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: was talking about my radio station in particular at that
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: time that I said, I walk in the station, man,
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: I said, I hear more music at the dentist office.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: When I walk in. It's so it's like a hell
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: I walk It's like, is this are we doing accounting? Now?
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: What is this? You know? Man? I'm sorry, but it's
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: old school for me. When you walk into a radio station,
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: it used to be a special place. Man. You walk in,
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: you hare the music blast. It was a vibe. Man.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: It was just magical, just magical, man, And that's what
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: it should be, you know, you know, for me, man,
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: like when I would do my show, Like I would
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: not listen to music all day when this was leader,
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: When I was doing afternoons by design, I wouldn't hear
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: any music. Just if I listened to radio would be
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: a talk show or whatever. Because when three o'clock hit, Man,
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: when I sit down in that seat, man and put
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: those headphones on, Man, it's the first time I heard
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: music that day. Oh my god, it's just magical. Man,
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: It's like time to go. This is what I lived for.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: You know, I think that programmers had taken control from talent,
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: which is that's that's the thing that I hate most man.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: You know, like for me, one of the biggest moments
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: of my career, Man, I broke Benny in the Jets
• 43:29
  Speaker 2: by Elton John in Detroit. You know, I loved Elton.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: My boy had turned me on to Elton. Sit there
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: every night, man, I was listening. God, I love this
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: song Ben in the Jets, Man, And but I was
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: scared to play it because Elton. Black folks didn't know Elton. Finally,
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: after week of that fear, I said, Man, Man, I'm
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: playing it. I went on and played it that night.
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: I played it twice because the phones were jumping off
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: the hook. From the first time I played it, I've
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: never seen anything like it before nor since. Man, it
• 43:58
  Speaker 2: was amazing. The next more morning, the morning DJ calls me, Donnie,
• 44:02
  Speaker 2: what's this song you played last night? Jenny and the
• 44:04
  Speaker 2: Nets or something. Man, you gotta bring that thing down here. Man,
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: I get in the car take it down to him
• 44:08
  Speaker 2: so he can play it. In two days, Elton is
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: on the phone from London called the radio station. What
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: is this? I hear Benn in the jets is breaking black?
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: And it was Yeah. Six months later, he comes to
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: Detroit to hold a press conference to present me with
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: a gold record for this thing. It became his biggest
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: selling single ever until he redid Candle in the Wind
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: for Lady Die And but he wasn't in town for
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: a cops. He came there for that reason. That's how
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: big this was. And it was just amazing to me, man,
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: and it was important to him. He always wanted arm
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: he always wanted the black market. Bring all that up
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: to say this that it saddens me greatly that there
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: are young people out there now with great ears man
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: to hear this great music and can't play it. They
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: can't create a moment like that. Being in the JETSA
• 45:06
  Speaker 2: was for me because they're not allowed. Everything's programmed for
• 45:09
  Speaker 2: They can tell you today what they're gonna play next
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: Monday at three. You know, man, that's not radio man.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: You know, I always look out the window kind of guy.
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: You know, I want to feel the day. I would
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: get out go walk around during a break. I literally
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: would go out sidely. I need to feel the day.
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: I know that sounds kind of hokey to some people. True, man, Yeah,
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: Like it's like you know, you lock your fingers and
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: hold it right exactly, Like everything is too Dada driven
• 45:39
  Speaker 3: that right, Like everything.
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: Is about Daddy. Go feel the motherfucking days, no question,
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: brou no question.
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: We used to go out and see what the DJ
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: and the club is playing and bring it back to radio.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: This was the biggest record last night, and break it
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: to an audience that never heard it before. Go to
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: another market and hear something. But like you said, now,
• 45:57
  Speaker 1: it's it's more of an algorithm. What song is, what
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: do we get more calls for? And it's it's if
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: some in our listeners know, they'd be like, I'm tired
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: of hearing I'm tired of that.
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: To be that part of your job as a DJ. Man,
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: I'm solutely telling you or something, and they blame him.
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: They'd be like, what DJ, But they know I think
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: they're playing with it too.
• 46:16
  Speaker 4: They know that.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: Ain't that You know that ain't.
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: Don't In that seminar that I told you, I spoke
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: before all the programmers, man a one point I got.
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: I just yelled, let my people go. Let them go.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: You know, really, man, you got to let let creative
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: people create, right, let them do what they do, you know,
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: I mean you, man, it's a whole different thing that
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: you will get when you control it. And uh as
• 46:50
  Speaker 2: as opposed to having someone it's a different show if
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: I'm presenting me, you know, if I have the freedom
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: to be me and to do but if you know, man,
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: I remember one stretch when I first moved to DC
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: and we had it's the only time I ever worked
• 47:06
  Speaker 2: under control of a program director, and man, it was crazy.
• 47:10
  Speaker 2: He would come in with his stop watch, gul that's
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: eighteen seconds. You know, you're only allowed to speak for
• 47:16
  Speaker 2: fifteen seconds. And eventually I told him, man, I'm talking
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: to your watch. You know, I'm not talking to the
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: people I'm talking to your watch man. So when I
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: started programming, Man, Man, I'm telling you could talk to
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: any of the jocks that ever worked for me. Man,
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: they never got a call from me on the hot.
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: If they got a call from me, it was Man,
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: what's up? Man? Talked to you in a while? Man,
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: You good? Yeah? Kids good? Yeah? All right? All right Man,
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: love you bro later. You know that it was never
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: correcting you on anything. Man, you already knew it was bad.
• 47:47
  Speaker 3: You did it, canack And you just said about talking
• 47:50
  Speaker 3: to the watch. The reason I think that's so dope
• 47:53
  Speaker 3: is because that program director wasn't even listening to the
• 47:56
  Speaker 3: content that was coming out of your mouth. I want
• 47:58
  Speaker 3: to know what the content good. If the content is good,
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: do your thing. Yeah, I say it all the time.
• 48:02
  Speaker 3: I'm like, man, stop listening for time, Listen for the content.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: There you go, there you go. Good content is just
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: as good as music. Man. If you're saying something that's
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: powerful to people, you know, you know, I think about
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: you sharing you know, your struggles and stuff. Man, what
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: what that means to people?
• 48:20
  Speaker 4: You know?
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: How do you put that on a watch? Man? You
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: know you're talking about it, You're helping people. You're saving lives, man,
• 48:28
  Speaker 2: you know, for real, man, it's uh, you know, it
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: can't be it can't be all data driven, you know,
• 48:36
  Speaker 2: it's you know, it's just like to me, the new
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: thing ai. You know, it's like you better embrace it
• 48:43
  Speaker 2: because it's here, this is happening, this is real, So
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: you better figure out how to use it. But don't
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: let it use you. You know, you got to use it.
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: And that's the way I look at all data. Man.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: It's like it's okay, it's input, but it can't dictate,
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: you know, it's just input. It's just another tool. That's
• 49:01
  Speaker 2: the only way to look at it. You have to
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: look at all that stuff like that, you know.
• 49:05
  Speaker 4: And how do you pivot? How did you pivot?
• 49:07
  Speaker 1: When music change?
• 49:07
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: A lot of jock's a lot of radio stations. When
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: they get older, they stop looking to the music like you.
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: You mentioned the Temptations, to Frankie Beverly, to Tupac. How
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: did you know to pivot and say this is the
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: new type of music and have your ears open for
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: all types of music?
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: Well, man, I'm that's just makeup, bro, That's who I am.
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: You know, it's I love music. Period. I don't care
• 49:33
  Speaker 2: what it is. I listen everything. Man, when I'm on
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: the golf course every day. Man, I have my phone
• 49:38
  Speaker 2: on random and I'm telling you it could play Johnny Cash,
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: Vladimir Horwitz, Mahelia Jackson, Biggie Sizza, and it all makes
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: sense to me. You know, it's so for me. It's
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: I always felt this that I never wanted to be
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: that guy that' said. Man, they don't make music like
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: they used to. First of all, it's true they don't.
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: They never have and they never will. It's always changing.
• 50:13
  Speaker 2: You know, the perfect example for me, Quincy Jones is
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: back on the Block album. You know, man, I sit down.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: When I first got it, I talked to La Reid.
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: He had the same experience. I said, here, I'm expecting
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: old jazzy Quincy, Gulamataria or whatever, you know. Put it on.
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: First thing I hear is iced tea. Let me kick
• 50:32
  Speaker 2: my credentials. Young player bred in south central LA. Home
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: with a body bag you want to die, wear the
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: wrong color. Rag. I used to walk in stores and yell,
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: lay down you flinching inch eight case pray down. I
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: was like, whoa, what I mean? It just it took
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: me forty minutes to get through that song. Man. Through
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: the first song, I kept backing it up, couldn't believe
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: what I was hearing. But the point I'm trying to
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: make is that Quincy understood what you're talking about. The
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: change that all the beatbox thing. Oh see music without instruments? Okay,
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: did we be doing it so? But the beat boxes
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Bobby McFerrin and takes six. It's like,
• 51:18
  Speaker 2: all right, So again that comes up with what I'm
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: talking just using whatever it is it's new, to make
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: it fit what you do, you know, And that was
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: just such a lesson to be That album is just
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: so amazing that people that don't know it. It's like
• 51:31
  Speaker 2: a black music history lesson. You should check it out.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: They met, We did a special with Berry White for
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: that album for video soul Man and uh with Quincy.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: Everybody was there at his house. Man that was on
• 51:43
  Speaker 2: the album, Ray, Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Big Daddy Kane,
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: a twelve year old Tevin Campbell, coom O d.
• 51:54
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: It was unbelieved, Well, you know, it's Quincy Man Quincy,
• 51:59
  Speaker 2: but so so for me that that's that defines me. Man.
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: Just I don't care what it is, you know, I
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: just love music. Man, I want to hear everything. What
• 52:08
  Speaker 2: are you doing? You know, I'm always asking my kids,
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: my grandkids, man, what do you I have a feature
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: As a matter of fact, on UH, I have a platform.
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: Well this is going back to what we're talking about
• 52:19
  Speaker 2: at the beginning, by owning your own stuff. Discovered dot
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: tv right that I'm part owner of, and on that
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: we have a feature that I created called play Something
• 52:28
  Speaker 2: for Me. And and the trigger for that for me
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: was you remember these two young brothers that went viral
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: like three four years ago listening to Phil Collins in
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: the air tonight for the first time. I don't know
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: if you ever saw it. And when the drums going
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: and they were, oh my god, they were freaking out,
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: I was like, wow, you know what. I love that
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: and I love playing music for people and uh, but
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: to see their natural reaction to stuff that they haven't
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: heard before. So all of my guests on the podcast,
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: I have to do a segment of play something for Me.
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: The first one was Big Daddy Kane and Man, I
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: played something for Caine and UH, I played this song
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: by eld Barge. That's so serenading you. It's so smooth man.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: So I put it on. It was and this was
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: exactly what I envisioned it to be because he's scenario.
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: You know, we both groove unto it. He starts group,
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: He's like, man, like this, man, what is this? Just wait, man,
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: just wait for the chorus. Man. You hear the background vocals,
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: you'll know Helda bars Man. I love Elder bars Man.
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: Why you play this? I say, because it's smooth man,
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: you don't this is the smooth operator baby. And then
• 53:46
  Speaker 2: he plays something for me and he played a real
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: cool so he played Marvin Gaye piece of Clay and
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: he was talking about how today everybody wants to mold
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: someone into what they want them to be, into their
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: own pieces. You want to mold their own piece of clay,
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: which is you. And just wow, listen, I didn't go
• 54:04
  Speaker 2: that deep. I just went with groove. But that song
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: discovered dot TV. That feature, Man, it's really cool. I
• 54:12
  Speaker 2: love that.
• 54:12
  Speaker 6: How are you finding like your new music now? Like?
• 54:15
  Speaker 5: Are you listening to radio? Is it Pandora?
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: Like?
• 54:18
  Speaker 5: What's feeding you now?
• 54:19
  Speaker 6: Because I saw a list of your like top music
• 54:22
  Speaker 6: pics for people to listen to and Dochi was on
• 54:24
  Speaker 6: there I and I'm like, or is it social media
• 54:28
  Speaker 6: that you're like using as kind of like and r like, well,
• 54:30
  Speaker 6: how do you find music today?
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: Well? From asking my kids, grandkids from for her was
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: just on the Grammys. She just blew me off. Was like, man,
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: who was his sister? She she killed me. She I
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: thought she was just amazing to me. So I download
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: the album masks like, oh my god, I love her.
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: The same thing happened to me. Were like the first
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: time I saw Lady Gaga, you know, it was on
• 54:54
  Speaker 2: the Grammys, and I'll never forget it. Because she comes
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: out and say, okay, all let's make up up and
• 55:00
  Speaker 2: get up and all this stuff's boy George, you know whatever,
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: that's cool. And then she sits down on the piano.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: She starts singing, I go damn, there's a voice there too.
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: Right then she gets to this dramatic passage in the song.
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: She reaches behind her and grabs a champagne bottle and
• 55:15
  Speaker 2: crashes across the piano and said, damn, I'm in love.
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: Who is this that dares to be this different? You know?
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: I love different? You know, I just do. I mean,
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: I just meet again. I talked Jimy and Terror all
• 55:30
  Speaker 2: the time because those are my boys. But we had
• 55:32
  Speaker 2: this conversation about that that for us, different is the
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: norm because we've always been around music. Man. She George
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: clings my friend. You know, Man, I know different, you know,
• 55:44
  Speaker 2: and I'm okay with it. Man. My son always tells
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: people like when he was fourteen, he came home, I
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: forget the rapper that it inspire him, but he had
• 55:52
  Speaker 2: died his hair orange at fourteen. He said, Man, I
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: walked in and my dad said, I like it. Hey, man,
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: as you're here, you know, express yourself.
• 56:03
  Speaker 4: Man, just you know, I got a couple more ques.
• 56:07
  Speaker 8: Is the journalism right? What was your most challenging interview?
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: Ooh, that's a great question. The most challenging. Well, I'll
• 56:19
  Speaker 2: give you two. And they were challenging, but they shouldn't
• 56:21
  Speaker 2: have been. They were challenging only because I was afraid.
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: And that was Maya Angelou and doctor Cornell West. And
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: it's amazing. It's interesting that they're both word masters, and
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: I think that's what intimidated me. They're just so brilliant
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: and I just I dreaded today. I just felt intimidated,
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: like almost to the point of just not feeling worthy
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: of talking to these people. You know, I'm telling you,
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: I just did not. I was not looking forward to it.
• 56:57
  Speaker 2: Then doctor West comes in walks into the student brother Simpson.
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: But Donald's knees, Man, what for? You wouldn't be no
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: b e T what I mean? I was like, whoa?
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: You know, it was just immediately all of that was gone,
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: All of it was gone. He was so cool. He
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: reminded me about my oldest brother Calvin, same kind of guy,
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: looks just and uh. And then the same thing with Maya.
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: She can get down her knees and do all the
• 57:27
  Speaker 2: bowing and all that stuff. But uh, it was just
• 57:29
  Speaker 2: so cool and so sweet, and it's just like, Wow,
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: you had nothing to be afraid of, you know.
• 57:35
  Speaker 5: But you know, I guess you realize they want to
• 57:37
  Speaker 5: meet you too, so it's like.
• 57:41
  Speaker 2: That's always a trip, ain't it. Know y'all experience that too.
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: It's like, man, you know, Wow, you're excited to meet me. Wow?
• 57:47
  Speaker 3: Did people ever tell you stay in your lane because
• 57:49
  Speaker 3: of those interviews? Like you shouldn't be an interviewing, No
• 57:52
  Speaker 3: Maya angelan.
• 57:52
  Speaker 2: Coin out, No, no, no, I never heard that. No,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: but I did hear that line stay in your lane
• 57:59
  Speaker 2: when we were in those conversations about syndication, and because
• 58:04
  Speaker 2: they were saying, man, like, you know we have in
• 58:08
  Speaker 2: syndication if you're on these different stations like we have
• 58:11
  Speaker 2: because once the conglomerate took so took over. You know,
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: well we have a station that plays hip hop, we
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: have a station that does smooth R and B. You know,
• 58:20
  Speaker 2: so you need to stay in your lane. I said, man,
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: you know what, I'm old school man. I was taught
• 58:27
  Speaker 2: that this was broadcasting, not narrow casting, right. You know,
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: see in my lane, I drive like this, man, I'm
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: all I play everything, man, I mean seriously. On the air,
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: I played BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Garth Brooks, I play
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: some everything, play something Garth Brooks. Man, it's all in
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: setup because you wouldn't expect a black station to play Garth, right.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: But I didn't know who he was. But I'm white.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: I mean I didn't. I don't mean to say I
• 58:59
  Speaker 2: know who. I didn't know his music. So but I'm curious.
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: And so one night I went to the store when
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: you had to buy records, went to Tower and got a
• 59:07
  Speaker 2: couple of his albums. Listen to it. Next morning, I
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: go on the show and by then I given up
• 59:12
  Speaker 2: programming of Kiss in DC, and so I said, Man,
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: I wanted to know this guy, Garth Brooks, I said,
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: because I know. I look at the charts. He's got
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: six albums on the left hand side of the chart,
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: meaning top fifty. Behind them little pyramids denoting a million
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: in sales behind that numbers twelve six eight. You know,
• 59:39
  Speaker 2: it's like sixty seven million in cells on the chart
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: right now. I need to know who this is. So
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: I went and got a couple of owls. Man, listen, Man,
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: I love this dude. Just gonna play a little sample
• 59:49
  Speaker 2: of quick things for you, just to show you who
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: he is. So I do a little snippets of three songs. Man,
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: The whole thing takes me five minutes something like that,
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: you know. Man. After the show, program director, who was
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: used to be my assistant now she's a programmer, comes
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: to me, Donnie, why would you play Garth Brooks? I said, Barbara,
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 2: you don't talk to me about music, but why would you?
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 2: We don't have this conversation. You don't talk to me
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: about my music. And next thing, I know that the
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: general manager calls me once we come down his office.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: I go down there. He says, Donnie, you know Barber
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: has a problem with he playing Garth Brooks. Why would you?
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: I said, skip? With all due respect, man, y'all do
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 2: not talk to me about music. See you. I was gone.
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Next morning, front page of the Style section in the
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: Washington Post has a three quarter page article on Garth Brooks.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: First paragraph, it starts out with how big is Garth Brooks?
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: He crossed over to the Donnie Simpsons show yesterday. That's right, man, right,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: so you know, so he goes back to what I
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: was saying early about not being scared, being aggressive. Do
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: what you do do radio man, people. You know I
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: always felt like this, man, if one song is going
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: to end my career, I shouldn't have been doing this anyway.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 2: That's true. You know, I ain't scared of that man.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: Not scared of that man. Do what you do, Do
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: what you do, don't no fear man, be creative.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 4: I got a couple more questions. You always radiate.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 3: Joy, right, but you carry a lot of joy, especially
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 3: on air. But joy is heavy work. So what's something
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 3: the public has never understood about? What it takes to
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 3: be that consistent, joyful presence all of these years.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 2: You know, for me, I think, man, it probably goes
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: back to my beginning man, And what I told you
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: was my first ambition in life is to be a
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: Baptist minister. It's the joy of the Lord that I feel,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: you know, it's it's the joy that the richest me
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 2: every day.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 4: Man.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: I don't mean to get too preachy.
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 4: But it is.
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: And but what about when you down just the moments happened? Yeah,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: but you know, even when I'm in that, man, I
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: still know that, as Frankie said, life always works itself out.
• 1:02:11
  Speaker 2: It has no choice. And you know, and I'm not
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: gonna lie the times when all this advice you've given
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: that you need yourself. It's like, God, I need to
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 2: remember that myself because I'm struggling here right now. You know,
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 2: you have those moments, man, but tomorrow always comes, man.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: And you know it's like even in marriage, man, we
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: you know there always struggles, but always looked at it
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 2: like a tennis match. You know that you can lose
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: a game and not lose the set. You lose a
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: set and not lose the match. You know, So it's
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 2: about that final score, man, And so you know I've
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: stuck through it through the years. Man, Me and my
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 2: wife have been together now for fifty two years. It's
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: not been easy, you know, Thank you, bro. And it's
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 2: not all been easy, you know, but it's you know,
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 2: And I'm gonna give you one more story, man. Just
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 2: the day we did the Quincy Jones special for Back
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: on the Block, I get lost trying to get to
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: Quincy's house. I see this elderly white.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 7: Guy navigation back then, guys.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: But I see this white guy walking down the street
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: for exercise, and I stopped him this excuse me, Can
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 2: you tell me how to Do you know where Quincy
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 2: Jones lives? Yeah? Sure, man. You should have seen the
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: smile on this guy's face. It was so radiant that
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: I knew it could only come from one place, you know.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: And he says, go up two blocks. It was Tony Curtis,
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: legendary actor Tony Curtis man, and I just I never
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 2: forgot his I see it just as clearly right now.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 2: And for me, I always felt that that's what I
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: want people to see in me when they see me.
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: I want you to see that joy, you know, And
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: you know, and I don't want to think about it
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: too much. I think it's just who you are. It's
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 2: the makeup, man, it's I'm always upbeat, just you know,
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 2: I was. You don't ready write a book my story
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 2: for ten years we're talking about this, but the guy
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: was working with said we should call it silver Linings
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: because every story you tell ends there with a silver lining.
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 2: And it's true. That's how I feel. I always see
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: good and stuff, man, It's always something, you know, Like
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: for me, I always felt like there's no such thing
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: as a bad experience. If the word experience is attached
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: to it, then it's good. You know, you learn something
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 2: from it, you know. That's the way I feel.
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 3: Man, How do you want your legacy taught to the
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 3: next generation of wholes broadcast black?
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 4: What's the headline of Donnie Simpson's store?
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: Wow? He did him? You know, he did his thing.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: You should do yours, you know. Just never trying to
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: be anybody else. I never I've never met the band
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be, you know, never have man, you know,
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 2: and I've met some great people, from Bob Johnson to
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 2: Michael Jordan. I never wanted to be any of them.
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 2: I'm the only person I ever wanted to be, you know.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 2: I remember this guy was up playing golf one day.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: I was with this older guy and these kids were
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: in the playground next to the golf course and I
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: hit my ball over there, and so I'm over there
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: and it's this kid, it's about six seven years old,
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 2: and he says, Hi, mister, I know you wish you
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: were Tiger Woods. I said, no, I like who I am.
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: And the guy I was playing with said, that is
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: just the greatest response I've ever heard of anything. I mean,
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: without hesitation, No, I like who I am. You know,
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: I don't be Tiger, you know, his money, his golf game, whatever. Yeah,
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 2: I love it, hit ball like him. But you know,
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: I just I'm happy with who I am. You know
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: I am. I always have been. You know, I'm not perfect.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: We all have faults, you know, but uh, you know,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: even the bad things that have you know, the stuff
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 2: in my closet, man, whatever it is, all of it
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: has made me who I am, you know, And I
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: like who I am because even those bad things, man,
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 2: that you are tests you know, to correct you and
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 2: to make you. You know, who God wants you to be,
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 2: you know, And so you know, so I like who
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: I am?
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: Man, What do you tell the next generation of broadcasters,
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: the one that's waking up right now listening to this,
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 1: is say I want to do this.
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 2: That if this is what you want to do. First
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 2: of all, just to know that it's possible, you know
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 2: that anything can happen, that it's not some pipe dream,
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: that it's real. You know, like I used to take
• 1:07:12
  Speaker 2: my kids with me to everything. Man, my kid's been
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: to Neverland Ranch. You know, they knew Michael and Janet
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 2: and Prince, everybody, you know. And it was for two reasons.
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: It was by design. One was that if you meet Michael,
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 2: then you know that he's human. Two is that if
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: you know one, then you must know that you could
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 2: do that too. It's not magic, it's not you know,
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: whatever it is. I don't care who it is. That
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 2: it's real. I would say that to kids when I
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: spoken to schools that you know that I know parents
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 2: tell you something. Well, let's you know, I want to
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 2: be an actor. I want to be a basketball player.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: You know that's such a full yeh, somebody's gonna do it.
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 2: There will be the next Denzel Washington, there will be
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 2: the next Michael Jordan, it may as well be you.
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 2: Why not? Why not dream big? That's what I would
• 1:08:06
  Speaker 2: say to them, Just dream big man. Just don't be
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 2: afraid of big man. I love people with big eyes. Man,
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: you know, don't be afraid of big man. Whatever that
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 2: big is to you. And it doesn't necessarily mean money.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 2: Not everybody keep score like that. You know, Oh, whatever
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 2: it is, man. So if this is what you want
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 2: to do, then you can go after it. Be relentless,
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 2: be great, and be you.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 4: I love it real quick.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 8: There's so many things that you're known for. So many
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 8: people know you from different things.
• 1:08:36
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 5: I didn't study radio, you know what I mean.
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 8: But I studied comedy and that's where I saw you
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 8: on Martin season for episode Knight Saying and Love Jones
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 8: two episodes and then he was on a Jamie Fox
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 8: show in ninety seven. I saw the shows, right, and
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 8: I'm a comedian, so I love those shows that you
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 8: have fun doing those Oh that was like Chris Rock.
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 2: Oh it was awesome, especially with Chris Rock. And I can't.
• 1:09:04
  Speaker 8: See you at this time, but like my ogs yea,
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 8: and to see you on that show that that's that
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 8: you're sitting in front of me.
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, Chris was so brilliant because I mean every
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: day in rehearsal, you know, because you're there for a week,
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: and it was he would do something different, and then
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 2: they finally tape still Chris is gonna do something totally different,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 2: just have you cracking up the whole time. It was
• 1:09:28
  Speaker 2: just awesome. But for me, it was it was unbelievable
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 2: that they asked me to do that because I used
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: to watch The Love Connection and it's the only time
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 2: I ever watched the show and win I would love
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 2: to host that. That would fit me. Well, I could
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 2: do that and never told anybody that, and then I
• 1:09:46
  Speaker 2: get this call to be the host of The Love
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 2: Jones Connection to do two and two. You know it
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 2: was it was awesome. But you know what you got
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 2: to check out now the coolest thing I've done an
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 2: episode well if last season and now we got a
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 2: new one for this season. But a little calv.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 8: I did little too, you did, Yeah, I miss Loretta,
• 1:10:08
  Speaker 8: so I actually go into episode tomorrow.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 2: But yes, it's awesome. Well I'm Donnie Simpson. That the
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 2: whole thing. I just would love it. You know, I've
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 2: been in like three four movies, but I'm always me.
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 2: It's like, man, I want to be somebody else once.
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 2: I want to have But but it was really cool
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: to see yourself in animation. I never never seen that before,
• 1:10:31
  Speaker 2: and I hadn't seen the episode until just two weeks
• 1:10:33
  Speaker 2: ago and it's been out a year because I never
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 2: thought about it. It's like, you know, I just did
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 2: the voice over. I never thought, like, no, there has
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 2: to be an image, like it's like wow. And then
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 2: it was really cool the way they played and you know,
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 2: and it's so raw. It's awesome.
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 5: So now I can say I'm on a project with
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 5: Donnie Simpson.
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 4: That's what's up?
• 1:10:52
  Speaker 2: Man, that's awesome. I love it. How long have you
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: done comedy?
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 4: Comedy?
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 5: For eleven years?
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 2: Wow? Comedy? Have you seen Eddie's the documentary?
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 4: Twice?
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 2: I love it? Man. Awesome. Man, you talk about inspirational man.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 3: I wanted him to go deeper just in like maybe
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 3: just like his personal life. But as far as like
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 3: how they documented his career and how big he was,
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 3: I thought it was cool, but I still don't think
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 3: they captured how big he actually was.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man, you know.
• 1:11:21
  Speaker 5: What, you even captured that though?
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know because like that was real celebrity. This
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 3: ship we're seeing now in real celebrity. That was real celebrity, man, No.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 2: Question, man, just like as big a star as you
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 2: could be. It's Eddie Murphy man. Not even black this period,
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 2: period period, but that dude.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: Before we close out, you got to tell us a
• 1:11:42
  Speaker 1: Michael story before you before you leave.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 2: Michael George went to the never layd ranch.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 4: You didn't hear what he said.
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 8: He said, I just can't say I took the kids
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 8: never Laying.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 4: It was on rides.
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 3: Bio pit coming out and speaking of celebrity, that's another
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 3: person we be trying to say.
• 1:12:04
  Speaker 4: Stop saying somebody is the new Michael Jackson.
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 2: There is no such number one man, That's right.
• 1:12:09
  Speaker 4: That dude.
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 2: Man, when I first met him, he was God. I
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 2: was sixteen, so Michael would have been fourteen I think,
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 2: I think that's right, or thirteen or something like that
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 2: first time I met him. But uh, man, you know,
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 2: Michael was just he's just a special dude, man. He was.
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 8: Uh.
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 2: The first time I went to the house, and this
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 2: was before you own Neverland, this was the Havenhurst House,
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 2: I couldn't believe they had a little cookout for me.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 2: There right, And uh so when I got there, man,
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 2: all these people standing out across the street, I thought
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 2: it was a bus stop. You're just fans. Wow, it's
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 2: like that twenty four to seven man, twenty four to
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 2: seven man people out there. It was just it's just crazy.
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 2: But Michael, Michael was very, very cool as long as
• 1:12:56
  Speaker 2: it's a small group. You know, if it gets more
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 2: than five six seven people, he kind of tightens up,
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 2: you know. He was just be a little uncomfortable in that.
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 2: But you know, just me and him or a couple
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 2: of people, he's, you know, kick it. Just a regular
• 1:13:11
  Speaker 2: dude man, you know, but just brilliant man. And to me,
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 2: I look at people like him and Eddie and you
• 1:13:17
  Speaker 2: don't get to that level of success without being smart.
• 1:13:25
  Speaker 2: You know, there ain't no accident. That's not just talent.
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 2: This just brains. Man. Michael was just the dude was Bally.
• 1:13:32
  Speaker 2: I knew a guy who used to do lighting for
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 2: him and he told me, he said, one night, Michael
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 2: came to him and said, to look, when you know
• 1:13:39
  Speaker 2: we get to this point in this song, I want
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 2: you to hit me with this particular light. Told him
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 2: what light, which light to hit, and the angle to
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 2: hit him from, and he said, I'm sitting there man, like, man, dude,
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 2: I've been doing this for thirty years. Man told me
• 1:13:50
  Speaker 2: what to do, he said, But I did it because
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 2: he's paying me, you know, he said. But it created
• 1:13:54
  Speaker 2: the exact effect that Michael said that it would, he said,
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 2: And then I realized he's been doing this for thirty
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 2: used to Michael, he was like, like Jimmy jam And
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 2: Terry Lewis told me Prince was.
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 4: That.
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 2: Jimmy says, Man, I was a great piano player. I
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 2: could play. Prince would come in and show me how
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 2: to play my instrument. So I don't care who you
• 1:14:17
  Speaker 2: were he could, I'll play you on your instrument. That's
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 2: Michael Jackson to me. Man. You know, he can look
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 2: at the reverence which all the dancers looked at him,
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 2: and this is it. I mean, they're just freaking These
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 2: are dancers, professional dancers. When Michael does it, it's just
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 2: and on top of that, he's a singer and a
• 1:14:39
  Speaker 2: writer and perform and all that. But he can do
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 2: that part two better than anybody.
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 3: Man.
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 2: You know, that's just.
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 5: Did he have a deep voice for real?
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 2: That room? Yeah? Man, he talked like Berry right, No, no, no, no, no, no,
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 2: it was l I remember one day we had he
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 2: had a party here in New York. As a matter
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 2: of fact, he had just done I think a show
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 2: show for the UNCF and he has a little small
• 1:15:03
  Speaker 2: party and so we went and it couldn't have been
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 2: but twenty people there. Me and my wife Eliza Minnelli
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 2: was there, Cindy Lauper, she had just happened with girls
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 2: just want to have fun, Jimmy and Terry and just
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 2: a few more people. But Michael was upstairs. It was
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 2: a two story townhouse in the hotel. And so finally
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 2: Michael comes down after about forty five minutes, and he
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 2: comes in and he says he's with his bodyguard, Chucky
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 2: the Beasts, and that was his name, d ib Is
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 2: s E. But he looked like the Beasts because he's
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 2: like six foot. Ain't always were top hat if you
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 2: remember that guy. It's very imposing. And Michael walks into
• 1:15:39
  Speaker 2: the room and he goes he says, God, it's so
• 1:15:41
  Speaker 2: bright in here, Chucky standing here, and he posied Chucky
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 2: next to a lamp with the block out the light
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 2: in the room. I was like, damn, this is crazy.
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 2: This is crazy man, a human light sheat now I've
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 2: seen it all, Man.
• 1:15:56
  Speaker 1: Dot and we appreciate you.
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 4: Man. I can't wait to read your book.
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: Man, thank you so much for all you've done for us.
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 2: I appreciate you. Thank you man, Thank y'all and you too.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 2: Thank y'all for having me. Man. I really appreciate y'all.
• 1:16:10
  Speaker 5: The show Season two to Donny Simpson Show. It's right,
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 5: Season two of the Donny Simpson Show.
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 2: That's right, the podcast, check it out, Thank you, check again, man,
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Man, God, bless y'all.
• 1:16:18
  Speaker 4: Thank you for you. Donny Simpson.
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 7: It's the Breakfast Club.
• 1:16:20
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 2: Hold up every day I wake click your ass up
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 2: the Breakfast Club. You're finish for y'all.
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 5: Done