Simpson airs out Prince's latest
By Dan Caterinicchia
The Washington Times - Business Section
March 29, 2006

Donnie Simpson has been in the radio business for 37 years, but he did something last week on his popular WPGC-FM (95.5) morning show he'd only done four times before: He played an entire recording, on-air, uninterrupted.
Mr. Simpson said he played Prince's new album, "3121," during the 8 a.m. hour last Thursday because he was "blown away" after listening to it the previous night. "It just moved me spiritually," he said in an interview.
A longtime Prince fan, Mr. Simpson said much of the artist's recent offerings were not as strong, but when he decided to play "3121" he told his son and producer, Donnie Simpson Jr., to listen to it: "I said, 'D.J., I'm playing the whole thing tomorrow.'?"
To accommodate the hour of nonstop music, "The Donnie Simpson Show" ran more ads than normal between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and after 9 a.m. to squeeze in all the commercials. He did not have to clear the changes with the CBS Radio station's managers.
"I control that four hours," Mr. Simpson said. "It's not run by management or anything like that. I wish that more DJs had the freedom to express themselves musically."
Mr. Simpson, 52, said he had played one other recording uninterrupted on-air as a DJ, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," which he calls the "best album ever." It was so good, Mr. Simpson played it twice -- once when it debuted in 1971 and again on its 30th anniversary.
The other two times he played entire albums, one each from Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind & Fire, occurred when he was programming for WKYS-FM (93.9), he said.
"It's very, very rare," for a DJ to have the creative freedom that Mr. Simpson enjoys, said Michael Harrison, editor and publisher of Talkers magazine. "We used to [play entire records] all the time in the old days ... and I hope we see more things like that," as long as they're done honestly and not as publicity stunts.
While at WKYS, Mr. Simpson said he stopped seeing music label representatives after being offered gifts to play certain records. He said he prefers to get new music with no labels and no politics attached, and was not worried that playing the Prince album would give the appearance of pay-for-play, which is illegal and the subject of ongoing government investigations.
"It was absolutely, positively never a thought in my head," Mr. Simpson said. "My audience knows my integrity. What is that you could give me?"
Fans have stopped Mr. Simpson on the street to tell him how much they liked the Prince album and to express shock that he played it on the air uninterrupted, he said.
Surprised by that reaction since people play albums all the way through at home, but Mr. Simpson said "they couldn't believe that I did it" on the radio.

http://washingtontimes.co...-9144r.htm

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[Edited 3/29/06 2:24am]

"I control that four hours," Mr. Simpson said. "It's not run by management or anything like that. I wish that more DJs had the freedom to express themselves musically."





Thanks for posting that Brenden.

Cool!

thats a great attitude.

I love Donnie Simpson!! That was great thanks for sharing!!

One of our local R&B radio stations from back in the day (KSOL) used to do this all the time.Every night at Midnight,they would play an entire album all the way through.I recall they played Prince's '1999' album on Christmas Eve 1982.Damn,I miss those days!

It was awesome, he played the CD in it's entirety. That's what fans do, forget the politics!!!

Very cool. At the same time, it's a shame that something as simple as this can be considered groundbreaking or trailblazing, ya know? It's 2006. A dude should be able to play an entire album on the air if he digs it.

Now THAT is COOL.

I thought he said something stupid about Prince just a couple months ago?
Nice to see that the 3121 has won him back.

I'm so silly! I read this thread title and thought that "The Simpsons" were finally going to air that "alleged" Prince episode.


Ok, as you were.

Love Donnie. Cool brother.

Also, Beautiful Loved and Blessed has been the #6 most played song on WHUR, which is one of the Urban AC stations in DC. Last week, I heard one of the dj's there praise Prince and say that it was a great song.