Straight From the Mouth

So, you're first gig was CHR?

Yeah. I did it all through high school, until I started going to college, which was the University of Michigan. One day I came home, it was mid-terms and it was cold and snowy, and I had a message on my answering machine from a guy by the name of J.J. Johnson. He had called me to tell me that he had a tape of me and he really enjoyed the tape and he offered me nights in LA. I was like 19. So, I went. I started doing nights at KDAY in Los Angeles, a legendary station. I did nights there for a while and did some swing shift part time for KFRC and also KHJ. Then I started doing Urban and I went to Chicago and then back to LA for a while to work for a guy by the name of John Rook at KFI, when they switched KFI over to music. That was one of the best learning experiences I ever had. I did KFI for a couple of years and then I went to Chicago and started there and was there for a number of years before I left to go to ABC.

What is the biggest the difference between doing a morning show on Urban and doing a morning show on Pop? Is there a difference?

I think there is a difference, because your audience is different. There are a lot of things that Pop guys can get away with or CHR guys can get away with that I can't. The reason I can't get away with them is probably more that I don't want to get away with them, than the fact that I just can't. I just think there are some things that you can do on the radio and there are so me things you shouldn't. But there are some guys who make an awful lot of money doing very blue humor. I use to do that. I think we all did it at one time or another. You get older, you get kids, things like that. I know that sometimes I am in the car with my kids and I hear somebody doing something that I don't necessarily want them to hear, then it isn't cool for me to turn around the next day and do the same stuff. Other people have kids too. A lot of kids listen to what I do in the morning. I get calls and emails from parents all the time, talking about how much their kids enjoy my show. Being a father myself, and understanding that I do have a bit of a responsibility myself, I try not to do things that are too blue. But we have a good time on our morning show.

Who else is on the show with you?

worked together in Chicago for a lot of years. He does my Sports, and he is just J.J., you'd have to experience him to understand him. Then we have a young man by the name of Coco Butter, who is our Resident Thug. We are probably the only morning show in the country that has a true thug.

Was he hired to play that role?

He was a thug long before he was hired, but he plays the part very well.

You mentioned John Rook. What was it about working with him and KFI that influenced you?

First of all, everyone who had been there, except for me, had been a Program Director somewhere. You had Loman and Barkley in morning and Tim Kelly and his wife Eve, and Eric Chase and Jack Armstrong, who was just great, Ronald Bryan and Dave Diamond, and me. I did 10 to 2 at night there. It was such a great learning experience. I always remember that John Rook had this huge light, like a sunlamp, that would go off when he would call you. John Rook was a theater major in school, so he looked at KFI, as he use to say all the time, 'it's a stage. You are on a stage at KFI.' The signal, 50,000 watt clear channel, for a lot of places KFI was the only radio they got. We went on the station at night, I had 48 states listening in. It was a wonderful learning experience. Working with John Rook was one of the best experiences I ever had.

Do you recall what your first full-time job paid?

First job I ever had? $25,000 a year.

As one of today's highest paid morning jocks--and I hope you don't mind me saying, well beyond the seven figure mark--what did you do to get from point A to now?

I tell people all the time, it took a long time to get to this point and the biggest thing people have to understand about this business is that you have got to learn to pay your dues. Especially with the way radio is now, with the diversity that there is, it's not the way it use to be, when you could just go to one radio station and make a ton of money. Or you go to one some. place else and you might get a little bit more money. Lots of times you are in the situation now where the radio stations you are looking at are all owned by the same company and they are only going to pay you so much money. I got where I am by working hard and paying my dues. I learned radio from a lot of people who are very good.

I've heard from other Urban morning personalities that the Urban audience tends to be the most sensitive, especially when it comes to leaders, public leaders, religious leaders, etc. Do you agree?

You know what, I tell people this all the time, if you take 100 African-American listeners and you put them in a room and you take a 100 White listeners and put them in a room, the White listeners who listen to Pop radio, CHR radio, can maybe tell you some things about their favorite personality, 9 times out of 1 0 they can tell you about the morning personality. I don't know if they can tell you about the rest of the day parts. You take the 100 African-Americans and ask them about their favorite radio station and what they know most about the radio station, they can tell you everything you want to know. They can tell you who's on the air, what about them sticks out, what about them they don't like. It's just because African-Americans are more community-mi nded when it comes to radio. If they embrace you as a pe rsonality, then you become part of their daily lives. You are a part of their daily routines. I have people tell me all the time, 'I grew up listening to you', 'My wife and I had you on in the delivery room', 'my kids listen to you', 'I listen to you'. You have situations where people are with you literally, from the time the clockradio goes off in the morning, to when they are in the bathroom, to when they are at the kitchen table, to when they are in the car, to when they are at work. So, I'm with the m for a full four to eight hour period in a day. More than likely, they don't turn off the station after our show. They get the full effect of the station, the midday person, the night person. We are very blessed to have a very loyal audience.

Sensitivity aside, how do you avoid hot topics that involve high-profile figures? For instance, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson's extra marital affairs made the news.

We don't avoid any topics. We talk about any and everything. If it is something that we feel that our audience needs to know, but we think we can go ahead and play with it a little bit and people are going to get a kick out of it, then we will go ahead and do that. When the Jesse Jackson scandal hit, yes we were amazed by it, we were sadden ed by it, but the bottomline is that we also brought out two song parodies about it. I have somebody who works on my staff who does a great impression of Jesse Jackson. All of a sudden one day we had Jesse Jackson doing a song parody, people loved it. We don't go ahead and poke fun at everybody, not every day, but every now and then if it is something that we think will make you laugh, then that's what we are going to go ahead and do.

What's the most fun you ever had on the radio?

One time Jonathon Brandmeier, when he worked at the Loop in Chicago, called me, it was April Fools Day, he said, 'Man I have a great idea. It will turn Chicago on it's ear.' And I was like, 'What is it?' So we went out to lunch, and he said, 'Picture this, what happens if tomorrow morning I show up on 'GCI and you show up on the Loop and we don't say anything about it. We just do it.' I was like, 'What?' And we did it. It was great.

By the end of four hours, did some of your listeners catch up to you and find out where you were?

Finally. People who listen to me, where calling up and asking, 'Where's Doug Banks?' And the people who listened to Jonathon on the Loop were calling and asking, 'Where is Johnny?' We were actually telling them - well you can go listen down the dial. But we were doing our shows just like normal. All the callers that were calling in were asking what is going on?

You are someone who's had some of the biggest names in entertainment on your show. Is there any one guest that you have had on that you couldn't get out of your head for several days?

There have been many. I guess, anytime I talk to Janet Jackson I'm a happy man. One person who sticks out in my mind, is Hillary Clinton. She is very dynamic...

Having met her, does she get a bad rap?

I think sometimes she does. I think she is carrying some baggage. Only she can really change that perception. I honestly believe that she will be able to do that.

Who's the funniest person alive?

There have been many, but one of the funniest is Steve Harvey.

Who happens now to be a jock in LA. Did you give him advice before he went there?

Actually Steve Harvey use to come and sit in for me in Chicago, when he was just doing comedy. He's just so real. Chris Rock is always very funny when we have him on.

Who did you meet when they were just starting out and knew they would be huge?

Boys II Men were like that. I had them on when I was first in Chicago. Michael Bivens, who use to be with New Edition came in said, 'Believe me, these guys have something special.' Any number of great comedians, again Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence...

Satellite radio has been all over the news. How do you think it will affect personality radio?

I think it's going to make everybody work harder. When you are sitting there and you have a 100 different channels to choose from, oh man!

What would people who know you best, be most surprised to learn about Doug Banks?

I'm a crossdresser! No, seriously, that I really try to be sincere about everything that I do. I really do have a strong bond with the people I work with.

You can have 15 minutes with anyone in the world, who would it be? No holds barred, no microphones, no recordings...

You know, I'll tell you an interesting story. I would say Michael Jordan, but one time Michael Jordan and I played a game of 21. I lost 21 to 20 and he spotted me 20 points, but that is a whole other story. We'll have to go into that another time. I don't know if I would want to sit down with him again.

Would you say that he's competitive?

Would I say that he's competitive? Yes. With a capital H, on Hell Yes!

Do you think he'll ever come back to play?

Well, you know what, we were just talking about that today. There's a story in the paper that he's thinking about joining the Wizards next year. I think if he had any hair left on his head he would tear it out. If anybody can possibly do this, it would be Michael. He could come back. I know a lot of people would love to see him comeback. I don't know what his skills would be like, because I think at some point they would have to diminish.

Will you ever go one on one with again?

Never again, once was enough.