EITM: Donnie Simpson 1/12/24

Surprise! On the phone!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Donnie Simpson, elliot, dude,are you doing man? I am doing
great? How are you? Man? I'm doing great, doing great,
excited? Can I ask you thishonestly and listen. I'll i'll, I'll
be very very honest. I don'thave a very I don't have a very
long history with Donnie Simpson at all. Donnie and I, Donnie, I

(00:23):
think the first time correct me ifI'm wrong. The first time you and
I talked was maybe two years ago, give or take. Yeah, when
you went into the Hall of Fame. Okay, don't say that I called
you to congratulate you on that.Yes you did, Yes you did,
and you were very kind. Youwere very kind. No, but I'm
well, let me ask you this. You said you're excited. Are you?
Are you? Are you excited abouttoday? Like I don't know how

(00:43):
to feel about today. Part ofme wants to be very angry about today.
Yeah, well, you know,Willie shouldn't be. Not for me
anyway. If you have something elseyou want to be angry about, go
ahead, but not me. Iam excited, you know, it's you
know, for me, it's justyou know, I have so many opportunities

(01:06):
to do so many other things,Elliott. You know how they say when
one door closes, another opens,right, So for me it's six or
seven. And so you know,I have my podcast that I can focus
on now. I have, youknow, I brought back Video Souls of
course we made popular and BT manyyears ago and it's on be et Plus.
Now I can focus on that.And there's just so many other things

(01:29):
that I want to do or thatpeople have presented to me that I'm just
kind of sorting through things now.So you know, so it's a bittersweet
day for me because you know,like you just said, I love radio
Man, always have. I've doneit since I was fifteen years old,
fifty five years now, and sofor today to be the last day that

(01:53):
I do this thing, my firstlove, like you, that's difficult.
But I'm so excited about what Godis moving me to man for my next
chapter. I really am. I'mexcited. I guess that's the I guess
that's why I can't see that sideof it, because if today was my
last day doing this, I haveno other Opportunityies, Gonnie, this is

(02:15):
it for me? Yes, youwould. You don't think though, but
you would. You would. Yourlegend man, you would have other things
available to you. But you knowwhat, no go ahead, no no,
no, no by all means youtalk, you say, you stay
on now, you can do thewhole show whatever you want to. Don
No. I was just going tosay that. You know, at one

(02:38):
point, I was in the processof writing a book, you know,
my life story, which is somethingI'm going to revisit again now. But
you know, in working with thiswriter, he kept. He said,
you know, all of your storiesare radio stories. And I said,
wow, I guess that truly ismy first love is radio. He said,
but when you look at everything,your story is really a TV story.

(03:02):
And I know people in DC maynot agree with that, but it
is because of b Et. Youknow, people around the country, man,
ninety five percent of my fans don'teven know I did radio. They
don't. It is true, It'strue. And you know, I mean
all the time people go you doradio. Yeah, you know, around
the country and in other countries theydon't know that. So but all of

(03:27):
my but because this is my firstlove, all my stories, my fondest
stories are always about radio. Buthe says, your story is really a
television story. But and I guessIt's even deeper than that. For me,
my story is just a people story, you know. I mean,
yeah, I love people, anddoing this thing radio for so many years

(03:47):
and doing television has allowed me tomeet so many people. And I don't
just mean celebrities. I mean justpeople on the streets, man, just
people. And I love people andthat's h the greatest blessing for me,
you know. So I'm just thankfulfor radio and television and grateful that I
get a chance to still do bothin a way. You know, Hey,

(04:10):
what was the like you said,you started when you were fifteen,
which is the same age that Istarted. What was it? Yeah?
What was what was your first kid? When you were fifteen? I was
at w JLB in Detroit, right, and at that time, Detroit was
the fifth largest market in the country, So it just started the major market
like that. I mean, whata blessing, you know. I mean

(04:30):
it was crazy, man, Andyou know I was so popular. Well,
I'm sure you experienced the same thing. You know, when you're a
kid, you know, all theother kids are gonna listen to you.
You know, it was like thisteenage idol. It's like that Elton John's
song A teenage idol is what I'mgoing to be the root to shoot myself
to fame every year, life gonnaknow my name and overnight a supersonic king

(04:59):
of the scene. So, youknow, it was just it was just
amazing for me, man, anamazing time, you know, going to
the sock hops and stuff, andgirls literally ripping your clothes off all what's
wrong that kind of stuff? Theydon't do that anymore. La Hey,

(05:20):
So Donnie, let me ask youthat. So, so you're in Detroit,
you're working, get me to theget me to the point where you
get to d C. Yeah,well, I've been to Detroit for well,
that was my home. I wasborn and raised in Detroit. I
left there in seventy seven to comehere for more money, right, I
mean, I was gonna be rich. They were offering me twenty eight five

(05:42):
hundred dollars a year, but youknow, compared to what I was making,
it was a lot of money.But what I didn't realize at that
time was that, you know,I would lose my side hustle because it
wasn't popular here, so you didn'thave those dollars come in and and and
the cost of living like three timeswhat it was in Detroit. So,
man, I was flat broke acouple of years here. Man, it

(06:03):
was tight. It was really tight, man. But you know, I
felt like, well, Kiss wasowned by NBC, so I felt like
there were more opportunities here because ofthat connection, right, And then I
might get a chance to do someother things. And then that led to
me doing sports on Channel four.I was George Michael's backup for three or

(06:27):
four years. And then that ledto a call from Bob Johnson, a
b E, t asking me ifI would be interested in this TV doing
a TV show there called Video Soul. And at first I wasn't, you
know, because you know, youknow, all we have Elliott is image,
right, and I'm very protective ofthat. You know, I can't
give you twenty rebounds a night,you know, so it's just image.

(06:50):
And I was always careful about thethings that I got involved with, and
b Et in its infancy wasn't avery pretty baby, you know. But
the thing that made me do itwas that I thought about it for two
days and it came down to thisthat this is our first black television network,
and if you have something to offerit, you have to do it,

(07:12):
and I did it, and I'mso glad I did. I mean,
you know, Bob gives me creditfor, you know, making that
thing go, absolutely and absolutely soI'm grateful for that man. You know
that. Once again, it's justit's just what I'm feeling now, Eliot,
where God is pushing me where Ineed to be. And that's exactly
what happened. Then, Hey,Donnie, when you when you came to

(07:32):
when you came to d C,was there was there somebody here that when
you got here where you were likeand listen, I get it, you
were coming for all that money,but when you got here where you were
like, I can't believe that I'mworking in the same city and competing against
who was? Did that person existfor you? No? No, no,

(07:57):
I didn't feel that on the radio. I didn't feel like there were
any particular person that I was competingagainst. No, But I mean,
of course there were people that Ijust couldn't believe that I would encounter.
My first day on the radio.Here, you know, I'm doing the
show, and about a half hourin I turned around and there was this
little booth behind the booth that Isaid, and to do my show and

(08:20):
it was a recording booth that TelevisionUS. Sitting there was David Brinkley recording,
you know something for the news thatnight. I turned around, I
went, oh my god, thisis David Brinkley. I couldn't believe it.
I turned back around. I calledmy dad in Detroit. You won't

(08:41):
believe who's sitting behind me right now. You know, David Brinkley. And
so, you know, it wasso on the TV side, And of
course, you know, with JimVans being there, you know, Jim
Van's was just such a presence atNBC. So it was more people on
the television side, I guess.But in radio, no, I didn't.
I didn't necessarily feel that in radio. You know. It's funny,

(09:03):
you know, maybe I'm a littledifferent, la, but I don't.
Never think of radio was in termsof competition or people that I compete against.
I don't listen to other radio shows. I don't. I don't know
who's on the air. Don don'tcome on, tell me a bone,
tell me the show on once.You know you wanted me to be honest,

(09:26):
but I I know you're on.I know that. And when Howard
was here, New Howard was on, but I. I have always had
this lazier focus on what I did. You know, I didn't want other
influences, you know, And Ishould tell you this. I don't listen

(09:48):
to me either, and I don'twatch me when you know, when I
would, I would go in people'shouses and they would have me on television
and stuff. Would it's embarrassing tome. It's like, what the hell
are you doing on TV? Youknow, It's just it was just weird
to me, And I think,well, the biggest reason is because I've
always felt that, you know,when I watch myself or listen to myself,

(10:09):
you're going to be your worst criticand you're just picking yourself apart.
And you know that, so thenyou end up trying to make yourself perfect.
And I never want it. Iwant to be great, always want
and I pray for that every daybefore I do my show, I pray
that the Lord makes me great tothat. But I don't need to be
perfect. What I have to beis me, right, that's it.

(10:33):
So can I tell you you gottabe ment to be me? I'm sorry
about that. No, no,no, no, no, no,
no not at all, not atall. No, you're not no you're
not, no, no, butI want to I want to tell you
a story from from a different way. And I don't want to bore you,
but I want to tell you astory from a different way. Right.

(10:54):
So I'm a generation behind you comingup in radio, right, And
so when I'm coming up as akid, so now I'm fifteen years old
and I'm starting in radio, andthere's certain names that you know, at
least for me that there were certainnames you knew, right, you knew
Scott Shannon's name, you knew,you knew Howard's name, you knew Rick
Diz's name, and you knew DonnieSimpson's name, like those were those were

(11:18):
the four names that you knew,at least for me right on from the
on air part of the Dumpy Dumpythe I am. So so you know
those names, right, So whenyou're a little kid and you're and you're
going through this and you're studying,you go like, who are who's that
generation that you look up to?And you know who these people are?
And it is it's it's those fourAnd you could probably find a couple of

(11:41):
other names that get thrown in there, but that's fine. But those names
always stood out to me. Andthen time goes by and I end up.
I go to Los Angeles, Iget fired. I go to Philly,
I get fired. I end upin New York, and my run
is going to come to an endin New York. And I know that
the company and I are not goingto work together in New York, and
we're trying to figure out out theydon't want me to leave the company,
but they're not gonna let me stayin New York. So we're trying to

(12:03):
figure out where I'm gonna go,and we're going back and forth, and
we're going back and forth. Inone of the cities that comes up is
Washington, DC, and I'm like, I've only been to DC once.
I came here for I came herefor a concert. I came to see
Guns and Roses and Metallica, soanyway, but in my head, I'm
like, oh, okay, well, DC seems cool for a number of

(12:24):
reasons. But one of the reasonswas Donnie Simpson was here, and so
I came here and again not becauseI was like, oh, I'm gonna
go compete against Donnie, but Ijust knew that Donnie was so good I
couldn't take a day off because Ididn't want I didn't want it to be
Donnie and I have no chance ofsurviving here, and because you just can't

(12:48):
make any headway. So not froma competition standpoint, but just for like,
just from a motivation standpoint that Iknew that if somebody like Donnie Simpson
was on the air a g atthe time, But if Donnie was on
the air, and Donnie is sogreat, I can't take a day off.
I have to work hard every singleday. So for that, I

(13:09):
would say thanks for that, Iwould say thank you. And so again,
maybe competition was the wrong word,but you were certainly you were certainly
motivated a motivator without even knowing eachother to go, I can't take a
day off. There are there areso many great people that work there,
and Donnie Simpson leads that pack.Wow, well you say I shouldn't be

(13:33):
honored, but I am Elliott.I mean, that's that's amazing story.
And I can't tell you how enrichingit is for me today to hear that.
Man, that means a lot tome coming from a radio Hall of
Famer, Like, yeah, no, seriously, man, that's that's awesome.
That that is really really good stuff, you know. And I guess

(13:54):
in the end, that's what youhope is that you have that your life
and your career has served as motivationfor somebody else. You know. That
really is the bottom line to itall to me in the end. You
know that you want to know thatyou had a positive impact on somebody.
You know. I was sitting herethis morning and thinking about, you know,

(14:15):
a thousand different things. You know, what am I going to say
on the show today? You know, And one of the things that I
was thinking about is just that justI wrote down the word influence because you
know, I've had like it isso unrelated, but it's so interesting.
It's like three different Sports Center anchors, including Stuart Scott come up to me

(14:37):
and say, Man, you're thereason I do television. You know from
watching you, that's what I wantedto do. You're the reason I do.
Man. I can't tell you howenriching that is man to hear that
kind of thing, you know,And so thank you for that. Man,
I really do appreciate that absolutely.And what is the so so you'll

(15:01):
go in today and this is whereyou're a better person than I am.
Also, I know what I woulddo for four hours. I would unload
on everybody that I have. ButI have to assume that you will be
you will be the exact opposite.Like you will be like you'll be having
the you'll be having the most fun. I would be so angry. Yeah,
well yeah, I'm not. Idon't do angry. Well, I'm

(15:24):
seldom there. Yeah, but youknow, I yeah, it's just spread
and love for me. Man,it's just you know, thank you,
and you know, I'm just sograteful to all the people here that have
helped them make my career what ithas been. I mean, and it's
been an amazing journey for me.And you know, people have accepted me

(15:46):
that and I wasn't sure that theywould, you know, coming here from
Detroit. You know, I feltlike I had built ten advantages in Detroit
that they had watched me grow up. You know, remember what I had
to take off from my show togo to my and you know, the
kind of thing, you know,and you know, but it did.

(16:07):
They accepted me, embraced me andmy family, and uh, that just
means the world to me. Soyou know, so so that's what I'll
say, you know, and youknow, and it is my twin brother,
Lonnie. I know you put themtogether like looney tubes, right,
Lonnie and Donnie. But he's aminister, and one thing that he was

(16:27):
telling me is that you know,just you have to you should always take
the high road. You know,it's the road less travel. So that's
the road. I'll be on theday, man. Yeah, all right,
So last two things, Donnie,Last two things, and then I'll
let you job number one if youif you ever wake up one morning and

(16:49):
you have that itch where it's likeI have to be on the radio today
and right now, open invitation,Oh my man, oh thank you?
Do I have to bring guns andruleses in Metallica? Or can I bring
James Brown and Jay Z. We'llfigure that out. We'll figure that out

(17:12):
part out. But you know,but Ellie'll I'll have to tell you this,
man. I listened to everything,so you know I'm a lover of
music, so you know what I'mlike on the golf course, man,
I got my earbuds on and theycould go from Metallica to Garth Brooks to
Vladimir Horowitz to Jay Z and JimmyHendrick. It could be anything, all

(17:33):
right, you'll bring Metallica, You'llbring Hey, you mentioned the golf course.
Can I ask you something? Willyou will? You? Will you
answer a rumor that's always gone aroundabout you, Donnie, what what is
the There was always a song thatyou would play at the end of the
show, right, yeah, Jesusis loved by the Commodore's Richie. Yeah.
Right. And how long of asong is that? Six minutes?

(17:56):
There was always a rumor that youwould start that song and before it,
before it ended, you were alreadygolfing. Is that you'd leave the station,
you get into I don't know,some Bentley or some some some Rolls
Royce, I don't know what itwas, but you would get into some
fancy ass car and that before thatsong was over, you were already teeing

(18:19):
off on a golf course. Ohmy goodness. That is so funny,
so funny and so close to truth. That's so funny. I had I
had this goal I would try toalways be to ninety five were when we

(18:42):
were in Lantam at the time,and it's about it, but it's probably
about an eight minute drive, butwe try to do it in six.
And it was a trying a goodchance I wouldn't be quite to the golf
course, but I was well onmy way by time that long ended,

(19:04):
you know. And it's so funny, Ell, I'm so glad you brought
it up because says so much aboutme that, like, like today,
when this ends, it will end, I will I'll get in my car
and I'll be done with it.It's like I like, like I've never
the last couple of houses that Ilived in, and I've been in this

(19:25):
one now for like nineteen years.I've never seen the house again. Side
leftern. It's like, once I'mdone, I'm done, I'm gone.
You know. I've always been thatway, So the same way with the
show man. When the show isover, I'm gone, you know.
I just I don't linger, youknow. And and the other part of
that is that I've always hated officepolitics, you know, So I've always

(19:51):
been in the back door and outthe back door. Man right now,
you know what, I don't wantall I don't. I just want to
do my show, That's all Iwant. The same thing at BT,
I was the same way man.They had it set up man where I
would drive almost literally almost right intothe studios because they knew how. That's

(20:12):
how I was. Man, allI want to do is this this thing
that I do that's my sole focus, you know, like for me,
like like one reason I don't listento other radios and radio shows and stuff,
is it when I would sit downin the afternoon at three o'clock and
put those headphones on, and that'sthe first time I heard music today.

(20:36):
It was just magical to me,man, you know, And so I
would purposely avoid music all day justso that moment when my show starts is
the moment for me. The firsttime I hear music today is just I
just love it. So I knowyou're a Nashaul, but I'm just telling
you that to me. Hey,so Donnie, let me ask you this.

(20:59):
Then let me ask you this.So so the show will come to
an end today and the the you'llturn the MIC's off, you'll unplug your
headphones. You'll go running out theback door. Are you gonna? Are
you? Are you still driving aFerrari? No? No, I don't
have the Ferraris I had. Igot rid of them. I had two.
Yeah, it's just you know,Elliott, at some point, you

(21:22):
know, it's like me and mywife, Man, I mean, you
know, I'm about to turn seventyin three weeks, man, And you
know we arrive at a place.Man, I'm looking all cool and everything
man in this nice Ferrari until Igot to hook my doble around and pull
my monitors. Know, It's likeI made a can open to get out

(21:45):
of this thing. Man. Ilook cool as long as I'm ride.
When there's a problem, you seeme on the billway, Man, that's
one cool old brother. Then youdon't want to see me stop and get

(22:07):
out, all right, dude,Hey, Donnie, I appreciate you coming
on today. It means it does. It means the world to me.
I appreciate it. Well, man, it means the world to me too,
Elly, And I appreciate that youasking me to come on. Man,
it was an honor. Man,I appreciate you so much. Congratulations

(22:27):
Again, you seem to shy awayfrom this mention, but the hall of
fame, that's respect comes with that, man, mad respect. And we
still have to get together with dinnerfor dinner. Man, I want to
get meet you and your wives together. Absolutely. You name the time you
swing by in that four seater.We'll head right on after. Hey,

(22:48):
Donney, how they honestly, anytime, anytime you get the answer, more
than welcome. But more than anything, dude, I hope, I hope
the show today is everything you wantedto be. And uh hey and and
just as a big radio nerd,thanks for everything you did for DC,
dude, I can't thank you enough. Well, thank you, Elliot,
I really appreciate you. Man,God bless you and your listeners and your

(23:10):
family. Man. Thank you.Hey, you got it. Thanks Dontie,
I appreciate it.