Donnie Simpson
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Donnie Simpson (born January 30, 1954 in Detroit, Michigan) is a longtime radio personality that has been an on-air personality in variety of radio formats from Urban Contemporary to Rhythmic Contemporary Hits (Disco). He has hosted The Donnie Simpson Morning Show on Washington, D.C. radio station WPGC-FM, since March of 1993. Simpson is also the first Urban-format radio personality to have an annual salary over $1 million without being syndicated.
Simpson began his career at age 15 at Urban Contemporary radio station WJLB in Detroit. He would remain for 8 years at this station until the mid-1970's when then migrated from Detroit to Washington, D.C., where he began working at WWRC, "Disco 93.9" (now WKYS) as morning drive host and program director. He remained with 93.9 even through its format migration from Disco-based Rhythmic Contemporary Hits to Urban Contemporary in the 1980s. In 1981, he was hired as back-up anchor for the George Michael Sports Machine sports show on Washington, D.C.'s NBC affiliate, WRC-TV.
In 1983, Simpson was recruited by Bob Johnson, founder of BET, to host the network's primetime music video show, Video Soul, where he broke new ground as one of the nation's first VJs. Simpson would remain with the show and the network until the show's cancellation in 1997. Between the years of 1997 and 2000, Simpson more or less remained as a host of many network specials and tributes. In October 2004, he was honored by BET with the honor of being inducted into the BET Walk of Fame.
