About Me
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It started when I was a shorty, I always loved radio and dreamed of having my own show. My moms lived in Philly and my dad lived in NY so I was up on good radio and music especially HIP HOP. I am a first generation Hip Hop head, growing up on Kurtis Blow, Flash, Mantronix, Sugar Hill. As a young buck I ate, drank and slept hip-hop and at the time there was limited representation on the radio.
I remember the summer of '82, when 98.7 Kiss blasted off Run DMC Sucker MC's and Its Like that I knew at that point I had to get on the radio. Red Alert and Chuck Chillout was killin the radio mixing which you could only hear in NY. When I was back in Philly, Lady B was just getting started and my jones for radio began. When I was 13, I called Fred Buggs who was doing nights at Power 99 in Philly and we talked all the time. I know I was nagging him but I wanted to know about Radio. Then one day he was gone and there was another DJ on the radio and I was like what the f. That was my first time scratching my head at radio. Then a few weeks later when I was visiting my dad in NY, I hear Fred on the radio at 98.7 kiss and I call him and he is like kid are you stalking me :) but he was happy to hear from me. Then that Christmas break he invited me down to the station and it was when Kiss was number 1 and I walked into the station it was a Saturday night and Fred gave me the tour and I met Red and Chuck and I took mad pictures and so I was hooked on radio.
As soon as I graduated from high school, I called Power 99 in Philly and demanded an internship. I actually started my internship before I started at Temple. When I got in the door, I busted my ass learning as much as I could about radio. After a few months the station hired me as a board op and then producer of the Jo Jo Davis show. At that time he had the number 1 show in Philly and he was that dude. He taught me the game, like getting out into the community making yourself known to the people because they make or break you. I produced the night show for the next 10 years and it was number 1 the entire time with JoJo, Stanley T and Golden Boy. I also created a name for myself and was plotting my next move in the game. During that time, my brother died of AIDS and it devastated me. I was in a dark place and thought about quitting radio altogether. I was also failing out of college but I truly believe my brother is my guardian angel because I had a light bulb moment to create a hip-hop show.
THE BIRTH OF RADIO ACTIVE.......In the summer of 91, I stepped to my PD at the time and gave him a written proposal about a show I wanted to do called Radio Active. At that time the station had a no-rap workday and there was no hip hop presence except at night where I was producing the show but hip hop was still limited. I really didn't expect him to give me a show since I had limited on air experience but because I made a little name for myself, he gave me a shot. During that time there were only a few major market radio stations with Hip Hop shows. Red Alert and Mr. Magic was killin NY radio and Sway and Tech were out west. Radio Active was so hot every Friday night we had the hottest hip hop music. I even did the mix and hosted plus put on a countdown. I was so nervous my first few nights that I taped every break but eventually the show took off. I added DJ Ran who helped take the show to the next level. We then added Cosmic Kev and we had the city on smash. The show got so popular that it was expanded from 2 to 4 hours. In that age of hip hop Radio active birthed the careers of Biggie, Tupac, Wu Tang, NAS, Jayz. Every artist in hip hop came thru the show it was a great time for hip hop. I remember when Mos Def was in a group called Underground Thermal Dwellers (I might have messed the name up) but anyway, this group had this joint called hard-core nights in the city and the lead MC was Mos and Pac when he was in Digital Underground. Old Dirty Bastard came to my show one night after he went solo and spilled Alize all over the board. Another great memory was Jay-Z and Dame coming down to Philly for the first time in twin Lexus GS, they had Dead Presidents vinyl in their trunk. A few weeks later they came back and I used to do shows at a club after the show and I had Doug E Fresh performing and Jay-Z opened up for him. Biggie used to hang in Philly all the time, he would come by or just call in when he was listening. Radioactive was on the cutting edge of Hip Hop at that time. I did that for 7 years and really developed as a radio personality.
In 98 the station offered me nights and I just knew I finally made it. There was so much hate for me, so many people said I couldn't do it, said I was going to fail but I am the kind of person that never listens to negativity and I always believe in myself because if you don't believe in yourself, you're screwed. At the time, I took over the show we were 2nd which we never ever were, after 1 book we went back to number 1 and I took the energy from Radio Active and turned it into a full-fledged night show. I would have all the hottest artist on the show, Cosmic Kev was my DJ and we ran the city. The ratings were the highest in the history of the station and we had competition. It was crazy, for 2 years I held down the night show until my PD offered me the opportunity to do mornings with Wendy Williams. At first I was like no thanks because I was used to working on my own but the challenge of doing mornings and working with a great talent like Wendy was overwhelming.
That started the DREAM TEAM. Wendy, Dee and me, we had so much fun. Wendy brought the controversy, Dee was comic relief and I was the voice of reason. It was at that point that I started to read a lot more as I was maturing. That's when I got married to the love of my life, Simone.
The Dream Team was killin it but we weren't really a team and we were all on some doing our own thing so it was only a matter of time before it fell apart. First the PD who put us together left then Wendy then bounced to NY (Boy that was ugly how that went down) but it was a great learning experience for me about how the game is played and I was so happy for her to get back on in NY. At that time I had been at the station for 16 years and was totally burnt out of doing mornings and I didn't like the atmosphere. I had always wanted to do radio in NY since I spent so much time listening to all the stations growing up but NY radio is a soooo different from any other market. I started snooping around for any opp in NY and it just so happened my company was launching a new station POWER 105.1 and they were looking for staff. Then I got the call I had been dreaming of my whole life, I would be doing afternoons in NY and become the music director.
So I had the biggest going away party on Power 99, it was so crazy how many people were sad that I was leaving Philly. It was March 30, 2002 and it was a day I never forgot and so many people called in and wished me well. There was laughter but lots of sadness and at that moment something told me I was coming back but I didn't believe it because NY was calling.
It was such a huge deal in radio that someone was taking on Hot 97, it was weird for me because I knew many of the Hot staffers because I would put them on when they came to Philly. We launched the station with me, Ed Lover and Dr Dre, Big Tigger, Monie Love, it was crazy but so wack at the same time. For the first time in my life my creativity was being stifled and I was told to read liners, I couldn't do any interviews or nothing. My show was so wack and I was set up to fail. I made the best of it and in my first book I came in 2nd and then I was fired and told that if I wanted I could go back to Philly and Power 99. It was at that point that I said I needed to be a boss so I could control my own destiny and be able to do some different things but I had to suck it up if I wanted a job so I expected to go back to Power but there were people at the station who didn't want me to return and they made a big deal of it. (THANK GOD IT WENT DOWN LIKE THAT BECAUSE THE ENERGY OF THE STATION WAS WACK AND I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO GO BACK) So there I was, without a gig for the first time in my life and I get a call from Radio One, who owned The Beat, my longtime competitor. They offered me the PD position at the Beat. This was an intriguing decision to make go against my former station and it was a no brainer. So here I am, afternoons and PD at the NEW 100.3 The Beat and I have a great staff. Monie and Pooch AND LAIYA in the mornings, The world's number 1 blind DJ Touchtone, The Heavy Hitter Bent Roc, DJ Tactics, Mil Matic, Toshamakia and the Strippa, Envy (congrats Ma), DC Todd. I also have my old bosses back from my early days, Helen and Chester. 100.3 The Beat!!!
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