A memorial service will be held for radio legend Doug Banks on Saturday, April 16th at 10 am at Sparkman Hillcrest Funeral Home & Memorial Park, 7405 West Northwest Highway, Dallas, Texas. 75225. Additional information can be obtained by calling 214-363-5401.
Broadcasting icon Doug Bank died on Monday, April 11 from complications of diabetes in Miami. Best known for his three decades as one Chicago’s legendary radio personalities, Banks, 57, is being remembered by the industry and the city’s leadership as one of the nation’s most beloved figures.
Tom Joyner, both a partner and competitor with Banks throughout their long careers, said Banks “wasn’t just my Turntable Brother, he was my other brother! We did this back when urban radio made itself the best thing on the air — and we made each other better. Chicago, radio and afternoons will never be the same. I miss him and what we shared together.”
The Philadelphia-born, Detroit-raised Banks began his radio career broadcasting on his high school’s radio station. Local station WDRQ took notice of his talent and offered him a spot as a temporary late-night weekend disc jockey for a country station. After high school, he successfully turned his temporary trial into a permanent multi-year gig at KDAY in Los Angeles, California.
Banks then moved on to the LA station KFI, which helped to pave the way to a morning show slot in Las Vegas at KLAV-AM. Doug’s next two stops were KDIA in Oakland, California, and WBMX (now WVAZ) in Chicago, Illinois. From 1986 to 1995, Banks did nights, mornings, and afternoons for WGCI-FM.
Next, the ABC Radio Network offered Banks the opportunity to do a nationally syndicated show. Originally, Banks started with an afternoon show from the same studio as the “Tom Joyner Morning Show.” 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.
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/Hip Hop/R&B music was played, Banks’s current program is aimed at the Urban Adult Contemporary 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 and renamed it The Doug Banks Show.
Banks couldn’t beat the disease that would eventually kill him: diabetes. He had lost a toe to the disease, as well as an eye, and was on dialysis. But he continued to work as rigorously as ever, making his last appearance in Chicago the day before his death at the Black Women’s Expo.
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