Wendy Williams (radio host)
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| Born: | July 18, 1964 (age 42) USA |
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| Occupation: | television personality, radio host |
Wendy Williams (born July 18, 1964) is an American radio and television personality. She was raised in the unincorporated Wayside area of Ocean Township, New Jersey, and as of 2006 lives in northern New Jersey with her husband, Kevin Hunter, and their son, also named Kevin, who was born in 2000.
Since 2003, she has hosted a weekday syndicated radio program, The Wendy Williams Experience from FM radio station 107.5 WBLS in New York City. She also hosts a series of TV specials on the cable network VH1, Wendy Williams is On Fire. On her shows, Williams has had frequent public rows with celebrities including Tupac Shakur, Damon Dash, Whitney Houston, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Tyson Beckford and Method Man.
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[edit] Biography
Williams attended Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, where she majored in communications and was a DJ for the college station WRBB 104.9 FM. During college, she interned at WXKS ("Kiss 108") in Boston. She later became a DJ for radio station WVIS in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and after eight months there accepted a job at oldies station WOL-AM in Washington D.C.. Williams soon afterward entered the New York market, where she worked for the FM stations WPLJ and "Hot 97" (both when it was "Hot 97" and earlier, when it was "Hot 103.5").
In 1989, Williams began working at "98.7 Kiss FM" in New York City as a fill-in DJ. As rival station WBLS began hiring away staff from that station, Kiss FM hired her full-time for its morning show and gave her a non-compete clause contract. That was when she started her gossip on celebrities. A year later she landed her own 6-10 p.m. shift. She won the Billboard Award for Best On-Air Radio Personality in 1993, and the following year, Emmis Broadcasting bought out Kiss FM and switched Williams to the company's Hot 97.
She was fired from Hot 97 in 1998 allegedly for getting in a fight with, and outing co-worker Angie Martinez's romantic relationship with rapper Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. Williams addressed it in her autobiography Wendy's Got the Heat, acknowledging that there was a mostly verbal confrontation with a colleague but no fight. Williams stated that the station used the incident as an excuse to terminate her contract, and suggested that it was pressure from hip-hop mogul Sean Combs that led to her dismissal. "He single-handedly tried to ruin me," she wrote in her second book, The Wendy Williams Experience.
Wendy was then hired by a Philadelphia station WUSL ("Power 99FM"), claiming her New York fans "left her for dead" after the Hot97 incident.
In 2001, WBLS hired her full-time for her own 2-6 p.m. (7 p.m. in the New York metropolitan area) shift. As of 2006, she is syndicated in Philadelphia; Shreveport, Louisiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; Tampa, Florida; Hartford, Connecticut; Columbia, South Carolina, Jacksonville, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; and Alexandria, Louisiana, among other markets. She is frequently rated by Arbitron having the largest audience in her time slots,[citation needed] which vary from market to market.
Williams' interview style is brash, and refers to herself, a la Howard Stern, as the "Queen Of All Media". In both her television show and her radio show she dishes celebrity gossip, conducts interviews. and speaks her mind about current events. Williams has admitted to cocaine addiction, miscarriages, and having had liposuction and breast implant surgery. She has hosted several installments of Wendy Williams is on Fire for VH1, which on October 20, 2006, is scheduled to premiere The Wendy Williams Experience late-night television series.
Williams has published several books including the paperback novel Drama is Her Middle Name: The Ritz Harper Chronicles Vol. 1 (2006), co-authored by Karen Hunter.
In 2003, Williams interviewed R&B singer Blu Cantrell, asking her about her sexual activities and practices, criticizing other R&B artists, talking about drug abuse. The interview was sold on a bonus DVD with Cantrell's Bittersweet album.
In 2006 Williams introduced co-host "Charlamagne tha God", from Columbia, South Carolina, to her radio show. She also became a spokesmodel for the George Veselle champagne.
[edit] Common show sayings and soundbites
Played by Trev Hollywood (Production Director) or Goose (Producer) throughout the show in relation to the topic being discussed.
- "Hey!" (Joanie Laurer)
- "How you doin'."
- "Put that where? Back there!" (Vivica A. Fox)
- "Momma!" (Williams's son, Kevin, yelling)
- "I'm gay, I'm a homo. I like guys." (From the movie, "In & Out")
[edit] Controversy
In the infamous incident on her Hot 97 show in 1995, she aired rumors that rapper Tupac Shakur was raped in prison. Shakur was furious over repeating the rumor, which New Jersey underground rapper Chino XL then used to diss Shakur. Shakur later addressed Williams on the song "Why U Wanna Turn On Me?", which remained unreleased until his death in 1996. In the song, Shakur insults her mainly in the last verse and the outro, stating that he prays she "chokes on the next dick down [her] throat" and refers to her as a "fat troll," and threatening a $20,000 hit on her. The late Shakur's boss, Suge Knight, however, has since become a frequent guest on Williams' WBLS show.
In 2003, Williams caused controversy when interviewing Grammy Award winning pop superstar Whitney Houston and asking blunt questions about Houston's drug habits and other issues, including her marriage to singer Bobby Brown. At several points in the interview, Houston berated Williams for "going too deep" with certain questions and then telling Williams she'd "meet you outside" if she weren't "a lady with class".
She also revealed the news about rapper Method Man's wife being sick, something the rapper's wife didn't want the public to know. Method Man lashed out at her verbally in an interview calling her an "ignorant bitch" and an "idiot" and told her to mind her own business. He also claimed to know about Wendy's adventures in his own neighborhood where she had sex with many young men. He then stated at the end that he wouldn't be going on her show, but did say "you'll see me" then winked. YouTube clip: "Method Man Dissin the $hit Out of Wendy Williams"
[edit] Awards
Williams has won "Radio Personality Of The Year" awards from both Billboard and Radio & Records industry magazines.
