Calvin Douglas Banks Jr. (June 9, 1958 – April 11, 2016) was an American

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

and host of The Doug Banks Radio Show.

Career highlights

The

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

-born,

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

-raised Banks began his radio career

broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

on his high school's radio station. Local station

WDRQ WUFL (93.1 MHz) is an FM radio station licensed to Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Family Life Broadcasting, it broadcasts a contemporary Christian radio format, with some Christian talk and teaching programs. Its studios are located in the Fish ...

took notice of his talent and offered him a spot as a temporary late-night weekend

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

for a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

station. After high school, he successfully turned his temporary trial into a permanent multi-year gig at

KDAY KDAY (93.5 FM, "93.5 KDAY") is a radio station that is licensed to Redondo Beach, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media and airs a classic hip hop format. The station's studios are locate ...

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Soon after, in April 1979 he started at KMJM-Majic 108, as "The Unknown DJ" Banks then moved on to the LA station KFI, which helped to pave the way to a morning show slot in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

at KLAV. Doug's next two stops were

KDIA KDIA (1640 kHz) is a commercial radio, commercial AM broadcasting, AM radio station city of license, licensed to Vallejo, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk ...

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, and WBMX (now

WVAZ WVAZ (102.7 FM, "V103") is an urban adult contemporary radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan area and Northwest Indiana. Licensed to Oak Park, Illinois, WVAZ is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc., alongside sister stations WCHI-FM, WGCI-F ...

) in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. From 1986 to 1995, Banks did nights, mornings, and afternoons for

WGCI-FM WGCI-FM (107.5 Hertz, MHz) is an urban contemporary radio station that is city of license, licensed to Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, serving the Chicago metropolitan area and Northwest Indiana. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia (formerly k ...

in Chicago. It was at WGCI where Doug became good friends with Tom Joyner and they became known as "Turntable Brothers". After Tom Joyner started his nationally syndicated show with ABC Radio Networks, Tom chose Doug Banks to be his "fill in" when Tom would take vacations. The affiliates were quickly calling ABC Radio Network to report that listeners were flooding the stations with calls about how much they loved Doug. Next, in 1995 the

ABC Radio Network Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...

offered Banks the opportunity to do a nationally syndicated show of his own. Originally, Banks started with an afternoon show from the same studio as the "

Tom Joyner Morning Show The ''Tom Joyner Morning Show'' was an American nationally syndicated radio program, hosted by veteran broadcaster Tom Joyner. The program, which aired on Urban contemporary- and Urban adult contemporary-formatted stations across the United Stat ...

." This original show had AJ Parker as his sidekick, and Jeff Tyler came from The Tom Joyner Show to become Doug's studio engineer (Jeff stayed with Doug until his death in 2016). In 1997, Banks wanted to move to a morning show instead and the studio across the hall from Joyner's was made ready. The new show, hosted by Banks along with new sidekick DeDe McGuire, rose to become one of the top-rated syndicated urban programs in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. WBLS New York was the flagship station. This era was the high point of Doug's career, and included producers Gary Saunders and Eurro Rice. Other on air talent in this era included Coco Budda, Rickey Smiley, JJ Jackson, and Rudy Rush. His phone producer Marcelina Olan, and Kevin Woodson (the voice of Miss Leonard, Revered Jackson, Minister Farrakhan and many others) were regulars on air as well. The greatest success came with the combination of Doug Banks, Dede McGuire, and Rudy Rush. In January 2008, the show was cancelled, but Banks relaunched the show, this time in the afternoon drive under the new name, ''The Ride with Doug and DeDe''. Unlike his previous show where

Mainstream Urban Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso * ' ...

/Hip Hop/R&B music was played, Banks's new program was aimed at the

Urban Adult Contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

audience, similar to what is played on Joyner's and Steve Harvey's shows. In July 2010, Banks moved his show to

American Urban Radio Networks American Urban Radio Networks (AURN) is the only African-American-owned-and-operated Nielsen RADAR-rated radio network in the United States. The American Urban Radio Networks has been privately held since its founding, and it has not changed ow ...

and renamed it ''The Doug Banks Show''. After many years of hosting both the morning show for K104 Dallas and cohosting the syndicated afternoon show with Doug, Dede McGuire resigned to focus exclusively on her own morning show. DeeDee Renee replaced Dede McGuire as cohost. Doug's final broadcast was on Friday April 8, 2016 when he did his show live from an event in Chicago. Banks also hosted some editions of ''

NASCAR Now ''NASCAR Now'' was a NASCAR news and analysis show that aired year round Tuesday through Saturday as a thirty-minute show at 2:00am ET on ESPN2. ''NASCAR Now'', that debuted on February 5, 2007, was broadcast in HD from Bristol, Connecticut and ...

'' on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. He also made a guest appearance on the sitcom '' My Wife and Kids'' as Tom Miller, a friend of Michael Kyle who is tragically killed after being hit by a taxi (offscreen), shortly after he and Michael were together. The death of Tom makes Michael

paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...

and overly sensitive about his own life.

Death

Banks died from complications of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

on Monday April 11, 2016. Banks is survived by a wife, three daughters and a son.

References

External links

** {{DEFAULTSORT:Banks, Doug 1958 births 2016 deaths American radio DJs Radio personalities from Chicago Radio personalities from Detroit Radio personalities from the Las Vegas Valley Radio personalities from Los Angeles Radio personalities from Philadelphia Radio personalities from San Francisco Deaths from diabetes in Florida African-American radio personalities