Donnie Simpson

"I've always felt that there's no such thing as a bad experience. If you learn something from it's experience. Good came out of it."

Q. Hi Donnie, thank you so much for taking your time to interview with Where it Begins Magazine. Tell everyone what motivated you to wanting to be a radio personality?

A. I grew up in my mother’s record shop she opened in 1967. People used to always come in the record shop and go, God, you sound like a DJ, you ought to be a DJ. And it was in one ear and out the other. I wanted to be a Baptist minister. One day, my mother had a live broadcast with the local DJ, Al Perkins. The biggest thing was sitting there watching him do his show. He’s got his headphones on. He’s patting his feet to the music. He’s just grooving. I’m sitting there going, my God, I could do this. I could do this. That was the very moment I fell in love with radio.

This is my 52nd year of doing radio. Of course, I did TV for BET for many years. I just brought back Video Soul, which is now streaming live on Tubi. I have a podcast; the Donnie Simpson show that just started a few weeks ago so, I’m excited about that.

Q. How has your experiences been working on 102.3?

A. For five and a half years I didn’t work at all. And I was cool with that. I mean, I would tell everybody during that time that who would go, what are you doing? I run a transportation company. They say, what do you mean? I said, well, I transport grandbabies back and forth. So that’s what I did. I was always available to take my grandkids to school, whatever they wanted to do. And I loved it. I loved it. But eventually, my wife said, you need to go back.

I had offers all through the time to do radio and television. I just wasn’t interested. And so, I finally did go back, and I went to Majic 102.3 which is where I’m at now. I’ve been back for six and a half years and it’s been great. I have a ball. Every day I look forward to the start of the show. It’s the highlight of the day.

Q. Can you tell us what has been the greatest accomplishment you’ve had in your career?

A. It’s kind of hard to say. I guess, most recently, two years ago, I was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame and that was quite the honor for me. It’s something that I never thought about. I guess I just do what I do. I’ve always been like that. I don’t think about its impact. I think that’s the case with everybody. I’m always reminded of that line from Elton John’s, Rocket Man where he says, “all the science I don’t understand. It’s just my job five days a week. A rocket man.” I’m a rocket man. You look at this guy as an astronaut, it’s just, wow. Put him on this pedestal. That’s just what I do five days a week. I don’t care who you are, what you do is just what you do. But later on, I think you’re forced to give it perspective. That was a moment for me with the Hall of Fame, where it’s like, wow. It’s mind-blowing. The next year they asked me to be a part of the nominating committee, which was quite an honor.

Not only did we get Frankie Crocker in but we got Melvin Lindsey for the Quiet Storm and Eddie O’Jay (who the O’Jays are named after out of Cleveland), Martha Jean, the Queen of Steinberg out of Detroit, whom I worked with at WJLB. All these incredible talents now have their place in the Radio Hall of Fame, too. And I’m really, really proud of that.

I’m in the Hall of Fame for radio but because of the significance of BET, because of the role, I played in that, being the face of that thing, something that created the world’s first black billionaire in Bob Johnson and all of that. It’s like, wow. This was the first time that black America got to watch itself on TV every night, every day, anytime you turned it on, black faces. Significant. So, I don’t know. I guess once I’m gone, they’ll determine what the most important accomplishment in my career was. Maybe it’s not for me to talk about.

Q. Since we are talking about Video Soul how did you feel about the interview with Teena Marie when she started singing?

A. I loved it. I know that, that is still watched quite frequently on YouTube. People love that episode. It’s special. I mean, Teena Marie was an awesome woman to me, I just loved her. As a matter of fact, on my radio show every year during Black Music Month in June, I salute her on one of those days. I said that she’s the only white person that I honor during Black Music Month because even if you take the music aside, just the fact that this woman could put up with Rick James for seven or eight years makes her an honorary sister. So just mad respect for Teena Marie.

think is missing on the radio airwaves today?

A. I don’t know. I don’t listen a whole lot. I don’t know that anything is missing. I will say this. I hate that R&B doesn’t get the play that it used to get. I always loved how you used to look at the Billboard charts, the top 100. I mean, the top pop hits in the country. It would always be mixed with the O’Jays and Michael Jackson, Ambrosia, Hall, and Oates, and it was always a mixture of stuff, but we were always in that mix. And I guess it is now but it’s in a different way. It’s Drake, Rihanna and H.E.R. It’s just different. So, I’m accepting of that. I hear some good music from some classic R&B artists sometimes and I hate that they don’t have the outlet that they have had in the past, and that bothers me.

As far as music I often hear people say, I guess it’s every generation that says man, they don’t make music like they used to. I was always careful to never say that. Although it’s true. They don’t make music like they used to. They never have, and they never will. It’s always changing. So, if you want to just get stuck in one era, okay, that’s cool. I remember I would talk to people who would go, I don’t listen to rap. I hate rap. I don’t listen to it. Okay, so you don’t know Biggie’s Flow. Okay, go ahead. I mean, you’re missing out. I just love music. I’m a music man and it’s always on random. I don’t know what’s going to play next. It may be BB King, into Jay Z, into Vladimir Horowitz, into Nancy Wilson, into Miles, it could be anything. And it all makes sense to me. I listen to everything, Johnny Cash, Country, Charley Pride, everything. I just love music.

Q. Being in the DMV as a public figure and a wellknown disc jockey, what are some of the obstacles and challenges that you’ve had to hurdle over to overcome?

A. I don’t know if it’s me being naive, or just the way that I’m wired, or the way I look at things. I don’t have challenges and bad days. That’s the way I feel anyway. I’m sure if I sat here and thought hard enough, I could think of something, of course, there are moments that I didn’t like things that happened. There’s this book, a self-help book. I think it’s the all-time most popular one, A Road Less Traveled. I think it’s the opening paragraph, where it says, basically “things happens, that stuff happens in life. And that once you accept that it makes the road a lot easier,” because you know the thing, you aren’t shocked by it when it happens. That’s kind of who I am. I’m not shocked by it. I’m a person who feels like there’s good in every day. I don’t care what happens during the course of a day.

It’s hard for me to really think about things that have been rough for me. I mean, obviously, there have been rough periods, but I guess, I just don’t choose to dwell on them. I accentuate the positive and keep it moving. It’s always been who I am. I’ve always felt that there’s no such thing as a bad experience. If you learn something from it then it’s experience. Good came out of it.

Q. You were once on an episode of Martin, what do you remember about that experience?

A. I just remember how much fun I had. It was a whole week. Martin Lawrence was unbelievable. Every single day we did it, every single day we rehearsed he would do something different, including the final day and what people finally saw on TV it was something different. And you got to sit there through that and navigate your way through it through his improvisation. But what an awesome opportunity for me. I had never seen the show until about a year ago because I don’t like looking at myself.

It’s just weird to see yourself on TV to me. Well, that’s not it. I think what it really is, is that you’re the most critical person there is, there’s no one more critical of you than you. And I know that if I sit there and watch it that I’m critiquing and going through all these things and trying to make it perfect. And I don’t need to be perfect. I just need to be me.

Q. Did you ever have a part

of that song “Whatever it Takes” by Anita Baker?

A. Yes, I did. Me and my boy, Sugar Ray Leonard. We were in LA, and we were invited into the studio with Anita, and she wanted us to sing background on that song, Whatever It takes [To Make You Happy] so we did. I never told Ray this, but you can print it because I would love to break his heart. That’s my boy. Anita told me later “you can sing but Ray.... “

To this day, I haven’t heard it. It’s not that I haven’t heard the song. I haven’t heard us and I listened hard. I was like, “she has so deep in that mix I’m not sure we’re in there at all,” but it was a very, very cool experience and we have very cool photos from that night.

Q. What is your intake on them wanting to mute Go-Go music in the DMV?

A. Radio became very homogenized to me. I didn’t like it. I still don’t like it. I miss those days when every market was different, and the rhythm of it was different. New Orleans radio was totally different from Chicago. Totally different musical vibe. I loved that. DC was different. We had to get our own music, we got Chuck Brown and Go-Go baby. I love that people stood up for GoGo music in DC. It’s a different day now but that’s the reality of what it is.

Q. If you were going to work out today and wanted to listen to some Go-Go band, who would you play first?

A. Chuck Brown. Without a doubt, the godfather. Chuck was the coolest man on this Earth. Well, maybe second to Morris Day. As long as Morris Day is out there, I don’t know if you can give anybody number one. But Chuck Brown was just a prince. I just loved him dearly. This man created this groove. He’s the godfather of GoGo.

Q. Looking at you and Pam’s marriage and longevity, what kind of advice can you give to others in love?

A. My advice is to learn to not listen, and I know that’s different. Everybody says, “oh, you got to communicate and all that,” but what I mean by that is just a different version of “don’t sweat the small stuff.” When she complains about cookie crumbs on the counter or something just don’t listen, man. Just clean it up and keep it moving. If you acknowledge it, and then engage in conversation about that, the next thing you know you’re in a three-day Cold War over some damn cookie crumbs. If you don’t say anything, its forgotten in five minutes’ time. It never happened.

We started going together 50 years ago, this past May 12th. 50 years, which is a huge anniversary to me. We’ve been married for 48 years now, this past October.

When you’re 17 years old and ask somebody to go with you, yes, that’s frightening. You don’t know if you’re going to be rejected or what, and you’re 17. But that’s the day that has always been special to me so, I look at May 12th as our day, not October 13, the wedding day. The going-together day is bigger than that to me. And I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis used to tell me, they were talking one night and about how they felt like the fact that I was married so young had everything to do with the success I had in life. Because I had my base set so early, they said “look at us, man, we’re still out here trying to find partners and stuff, going through this whole dating thing. It’s just terrible. At 17 you had that focus, man, you knew where you were going.”

Q. Are you working on any new projects or events?

A. The return of Video Soul, which I’m very excited about. I want to shout out Bob Johnson. I am blessed to have the world’s first black billionaire as my boy. Bob is my boy and has been so helpful in every step of the way in this endeavor, which we’re now seeing the fruits of. Bob has been talking with me for five years about this, giving me advice and stuff. He’s been just a prince in helping me. It’s about having something that I can leave behind. It’s about creating opportunities for others not just on the mic or on the camera, but behind the scenes. I’m trying to create something that I can pass on, like Dick Clark.

Q. Where can the readers follow you?

A. I’m on Facebook. Donnie Simpson. Instagram is @ donniesimpsonsr and on Twitter, it’s just @donniesimpson. I’ve got a website set up for all the different projects that I’m involved in for Video Soul and my podcast, which again, these things I’m very, very excited about, and I hope that people will support. And I guess that’s how you follow me or get in the car ride behind me for a few hours. You don’t want to follow me. I got a heavy foot.