Did you know that

[Lazie]

one of the names put forward for a new FM station was Irie Fm? The powers that be didn't like it so they agreed on going with the Fraternity of Amazing Music Expressions .. FAME FM.

[Lazie]

Don Topping: El Numero Uno is king of the airwaves

The Desmond AllenDesmond Allen
Sunday, June 26, 2005


Don Topping had always known one thing about himself: that he could achieve almost anything he set his mind to. And he had wanted to be a disc jockey so badly he could taste it.
But when RJR - after he was only a week on air, and with no previous professional experience - put him head to head with the station's hottest competitor, he could not help wondering if he was wide awake in a dream.

But this wasn't any dream. Programme director Hugh Wong had taken a massive gamble, sending the neophyte to do battle with the redoubtable Winston Williams, 'the whip with the solid kick', on JBC radio, in the flagship afternoon slot.
Topping did not have time to indulge in self-doubt. In any event, he could not afford to let Wong down. He grabbed the opportunity, with both hands, as they would say. This was 1969.
After what he describes as "one helluva teaser campaign" by MacMillan Advertising, he went on air as 'El Numero Uno', the sobriquet which would define Donald George Gordon Topping for the rest of his long and illustrious career.
Day one was ordinary. Wong described the show as "draggy" and "too slow". He brought in a new operator for day two and they played faster music. Topping turned up the heat. and the phones began to ring. and ring.
General manager Lloyd DePass was going through some paperwork in his office and half listening to the radio. He found himself tapping his feet to the music, unconsciously.
As the minutes went by, he started losing his concentration, he put down his pen, sat up and was taken in by the new disc jock. This Don Topping is hot, he thought to himself. Then he did something unusual.
He got up from his desk and walked over to the studio, to watch Topping across the studio glass. When the disc jock saw that, he knew he had made a hit. 'El Numero Uno' had arrived!
On day three, advertiser Vin Kelly asked him to voice his first radio commercial and paid him eight guineas, a little more than £8. In the years to come, he would get a constant stream of similar requests.
Desmond Dekker and the Aces
Topping recalls that his first radio interview was with Desmond Dekker of the singing group Desmond Dekker and the Aces, who had just come in from England. "It was not a very impressive interview, because Dekker kept nodding his head to my questions and spoke little," he remembers.
But the show, called the 'Don Topping Thing', was sizzling and catching attention everywhere. Record Specialist, based at the Torrington bridge below Cross Roads, used to send Topping records to play on his show.
At the height of his popularity, the record company invited him to syndicate a half-hour version of the show to Guyana, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago under its label. He went on promotional tours to those sister Caribbean countries to hype up the show, recalling that he got star billing when he went to Guyana, where it aired twice a week.
Requests for him to emcee stage shows also began to come in thick and fast and he would frequently have up to three shows in a weekend.
His first emcee job was on the show featuring Eddie Floyd, who was on the famous Stax label out of Memphis, USA. The label, which had other big stars like Isaac Hayes and the Staple Singers, used to supply him samples for his show.
The Harder They Come
"There was one Eddie Floyd 45 that I particularly liked. The hit was titled California Girl, but I preferred the flip side song Consider Me and used to play it a lot. It became quite popular with Jamaican listeners.
It turned out that Floyd had never memorised the words to Consider Me so when he arrived and learnt that it was so popular in Jamaica, he was forced into rehearsal. But he got it and went on to perform it," says Topping.
Other memorable stage shows included the one featuring Marvin Gaye in 1972. Bob Marley, who had just started to break into the British market, opened that show.
The year before that, Perry Henzel had offered him a brief role in the first major Jamaican film, The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff. The scenes in which the disc jock appeared were shot in the RJR studio and under the lignum vitae trees in the car park. In the movie, he interacted with Cliff.
That led to a role in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die, part of which was shot on location in Jamaica. In it, he was a nightclub emcee at the Ruins in Ocho Rios. Munair Zacca also appeared in the film.
For that reason, when the James Bond Festival was held in Jamaica in the 1990s, Topping was invited to host it as a talk show host interviewing the various Bond characters.
Lorna Goodison
Meanwhile, back in the '70s, across town, the 'whip with the solid kick' was also turning up the tempo. Topping concedes that Williams was a "worthy opponent" but notes that, at the time, "RJR was like a permanent number one in an essentially two-station market and the (JBC) ratings never came". The two eventually became friends.
The year 1972 was also significant for his marriage to Lorna Goodison, the celebrated author - I am becoming my mother - and younger sister of columnist, playwright and talk show host, Barbara Gloudon.
Goodison was a copywriter for LNCK, the advertising firm. They ran into each other at Oxford Pharmacy and began to discuss music. and everything else. The marriage lasted for two years, ending in divorce.
Michael Jackson
Meanwhile, 'El Numero Uno' was as popular on air as he was off air, as an emcee. In 1975 when promoter Chester McCulloch brought the Jackson Five to Jamaica, he was the natural choice to be compere.
He recalls that the singing group, accompanied by their mother and father, came in a week before the concert and some of the brothers and their entourage played basketball with some Jamaican kids. Janet and Michael Jackson were very young and, under US law, had to receive private tutoring.
Topping also remembers how then Opposition leader Edward Seaga arranged for the Jackson Five to meet some children from his constituency and invited media coverage at his Temple Meade home.
"Only Mrs Jackson showed, and the children were very disappointed," he recounts.
On the night of the concert held at the National Stadium, the promoters were given a scare. The schedule was that Bob Marley and the Wailers would open the show, followed by the Third World band and the Jackson Five closing.
But the show started late. Under the terms of the Jackson Five contract, the group could not perform beyond a certain hour. That hour was now fast approaching.
Fearing how the crowd might react to an announcement that the Jackson Five could not perform, McCulloch did some quick thinking. He shifted around the order, putting Third World to open, followed by the Jackson Five and with Bob Marley closing.
Alan Magnus, Winston Ridgard
"The Jackson Five put on a fantastic performance that night. So too did Bob Marley and the Wailers. It was a good experience for me. I remember the adrenaline rush from that size crowd," Topping recounts. "I also interviewed Michael and one of his brothers before the show. Even from then, Michael Jackson was the stellar attraction."
By that time, Alan Magnus had joined RJR, as did Neville Willoughby who had moved over from the JBC. Hugh Wong had migrated to Canada and was replaced by Winston Ridgard.
Towards the end of 1975, Topping relates, Ridgard decided to experiment with the programming and the 'Don Topping Thing' went off air for a while. The host was shifted to an 8:00 pm to midnight show called the Night Hawk.
It featured a phone-in segment called "The Open Mind", hosted by Phillip Jackson, later Ken Maxwell and then Sonia Jones.
In 1976, Topping also discovered lawn tennis and used to go to the home of Richard Russell, the then Jamaican champion, for lessons.
Top disc jock in the world
Up to that point, RJR was owned by the British-based Rediffusion Group, which had major radio stations across the world.
The group organised a disc jockey competition that was to catapult Topping back to the top. This was 1976. Each disk jock - about 40 of them - had to prepare a 30-minute tape with music of their choice.
That tape had to be copied to all the stations in the group. Topping was RJR's representative. Local judges were Byron Lee and two others whose names escape him now.
Topping drew on the services of a genius of a control board operator named Linford Anderson, now working with United Nations Radio. "I tried not to get too excited. After all, there were about 40 radio stations in the competition.
Lo and behold, it came back as the winner," the disc jock recalls. "They hid the news from me and then surprised me one day."
Malaysia came in second and the next best Caribbean station was The Bahamas, which placed fourth or fifth, Topping says. His prize was a trip to London, first class on British Airways, staying at the posh Waldorf Hotel and a week as guest DJ on Capital Radio, the flagship station in the Rediffusion group. Topping was not only 'El Numero Uno' in Jamaica but in the world!
While he was in London, Wimbledon was on and Rediffusion got him centre-court tickets to tennis' premier event. On his way back to Jamaica, he overnighted in Bermuda and appeared on the Rediffusion station there.
Topping's biggest regret is that his winning tape is nowhere to be found, but he hopes that it will be found one day at one of the 40 stations which received copies.
He arrived back at RJR to a hero's welcome and a new afternoon show renamed the 'Don Topping Odyssey', from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. Topping was back as king supreme of afternoon radio.
Cashing in on his popularity, the state-run Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) in 1976 invited him to join their promotional blitz across the Midwest USA. It was in the form of an exchange, in which he and a radio disc jockey from Detroit exchanged places.
Topping talked up Jamaica and was allowed to play reggae music on the station, something which was not done at the time. He brought Jamaican heat to the airwaves in Detroit, and Mayor Coleman Young presented him with the keys to the city.
A love for tennis
Increasingly, Topping was sharing his love for radio with tennis. By 1977 it had become a passion with him. One day he was on court at an amateur tennis tournament at the Sheraton Hotel when two players began to dispute a line call.
Professional player, Philbert Palmer who was tournament director, asked Topping to umpire the session. He protested that he had never done that before but Palmer persuaded him to do it. "I noticed that the people were more carried away with my voice than my umpiring, so I decided to take umpiring seriously and studied the rule books," he says.
The long and short of it was that Topping became a top-notch tennis umpire who updated himself with each new rule book that came out.
Towards the end of 1978, he was asked to umpire his biggest tournament to date, the US-promoted World Championship Tennis held in Montego Bay under the auspices of the Jamaica Lawn Tennis Association (JLTA).
It featured big name stars of the day, like John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Rosco Tanner, Illie Nastase, Raul Ramirez and Dick Stockton, among others. C Lloyd Allen was then JLTA president.
Jamaica provided the local linesmen. Topping was the service linesman who had to judge the faster balls.
Six years later, Topping and Raphael Harper jointly created history by becoming Jamaica's first tennis umpires to be certified by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
It meant going to a course in Cuba, passing a written test and observing in practical match situations. Topping participated in every big tournament held here until 2002 when he resigned, citing failing eyesight and the fact that not enough matches were played in Jamaica to qualify him to retain his ITF certificate, and travelling would jeopardise his RJR job.
Marie Garth, Dorraine Samuels
That RJR job had continued to be exciting and at the dawn of the 1980s he was promoted to supervise announcers and taken off air.
He used to toast the Miss Jamaica World contestants for Spartan, working sometimes with Marie Garth or Neville Willoughby. As part of the show, the girls had to do a brief bio on themselves which was taped at RJR.
In 1981, Mickey Haughton-James sent 'Miss Ponds' to tape her bio, and she electrified the RJR studio with her voice. Miss Ponds was Dorraine Samuels, fresh out of school and working as a clerk at an insurance company.
Hardly wanting to believe his ears, Topping spoke to Winston Ridgard and they agreed to audition Samuels. She blew their minds again. Topping decided he had to have her. At the end of 1981, Dorraine Samuels was on the staff of RJR.
Topping supervised her training and says now: "I have hired many great talents over the years and Dorraine is one of the best talents I have been involved with. She has never looked back."
Hol Plummer, Patrick Lafayette
Hol Plummer's Discomania was the place to be on a Saturday night. When a blind wonder came to do his attachment from his US university, he was put on Plummer's show and stunned RJR with his sound and the things he could do.
When he returned to do his internship, Patrick Lafayette was put by a cautious RJR on the graveyard shift, under the supervision of Narda Manderson. "After one night, Narda said she did not need to come back. Patrick could handle the control board by himself!"
By 1983, Lester Spaulding was managing director of RJR. He didn't like it that the station's Capital Stereo FM outlet was doing so poorly. Revenue was low and the station was not showing up on the survey radar. He asked Topping to come up with a proposal to turn things around.
He drew up a plan, including re-naming the FM station IRIE-FM, though not with the format of the station now bearing the name. Board members did not like it and he eventually came up with FAME - Fraternity of Amazing Musical Expressions.
Everybody loved it instantly and FAME was launched after a teaser campaign designed by Ronnie Nasralla and with a jingle by Peter Ashbourne. The station featured hot and contemporary music.
Francois St Juste, Rosamond Brown
Lafayette, in the meantime, was cranking up the nights and getting rave reviews. "Recognising that he was the one new thing that we could throw at the competition, we moved him from night to the afternoon drive. It worked like a charm," Topping recounts. "In no time he was a star."
Later that year, Topping auditioned another future star. Francois St Juste had graduated as an engineer but had no interest in pursuing that as a career. "He was impressive," Topping remembers.
There being no permanent spot at the time, he was eased into replacement slots, until one day when Lorna Samuda decided to migrate, creating an opening.
Shortly after, Topping grabbed the delightful Rosamond Brown from the Jamaica Information Service (JIS) to replace Joan Johnson who was moving over to the JBC.
FAME was off and running and doing well. Topping remained as programme manager for the FM station until 1984 when he was named programme director for RJR, with responsibility for both AM and FM stations and replaced by Norma Brown-Bell.
Among the people he was now supervising were Hol Plummer, Henry Stennett, Alan Magnus, Dorraine Samuels and Richard 'Richie B' Burgess, some of the station's biggest names.
Barry G, the Boogieman
In the afternoon slot, RJR was kept on its toes by the phenomenal Barry G, 'the Boogieman' on JBC. He excited the listenership and 'corked' everywhere he went on the road. Then Topping got the opening he was looking for.
Barry G and his employers at JBC fell out over his refusal to link with parliament during his show. This was 1988. Topping phoned the disc jock and inked a deal with him to bring his show to RJR. Stennett, who was then in the afternoon slot, was promoted to supervisor, succeeding Tony Parry and Barry G took the slot.
And how! "The ratings went through the roof. In one survey, he had as many listeners as Alan Magnus in the morning, something which had never happened before, or since."
Topping was a disappointed man when Barry G sent in his resignation while on vacation, and went to join the newly established POWER-106FM.
The Boogieman never said why nor did he ask for more money, Topping says. He was replaced by Richie B who, years later, left to join HOT-102 FM.
Topping moved on to his next big coup in Dr Leahcim Semaj who approached him with an exciting night show called The Night Doctor. That attained what no other night show had - 100,000 listeners at peak.
But after he had outgrown the night slot, Semaj moved on when no day slot could be found for him. He went on to host the afternoon slot on POWER-106 FM. He was replaced at RJR by Michael Sharpe hosting Sharpe Talk. This was 1994.
Brenda Belding
That year, Topping married his second wife, Brenda Belding, an Englishwoman whose warm, outgoing personality attracted him, he says.
She had come to Jamaica to work with the Pegasus Hotel, then part of the Trust Houses Forte group and stayed after the end of her contract. Brenda is currently a consultant.
In the exciting '90s, Chairman Spaulding decided to make some major changes at RJR and brought in Hugh Crosskill Jr, one of Jamaica's brightest radio talents who was then at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London.
The station was looking to acquire the JBC radio and television complex. Topping was named media services manager, to oversee quality control and Hol Plummer took over his job as programme director.
But things soon became chaotic under Crosskill, who was later found to be a drug addict. Topping was sorry when Crosskill had to leave, noting: "He was my kind of guy and I liked his creative sense".
When the JBC deal came through in 1997, Spaulding asked Topping to take over Radio Two. By then, Yvonne Wilks had come in as group marketing director and wanted sports to run across all the stations. "I suggested instead that we specialise, and I came up with the theme - the music and sports lifestyle station - for Radio Two".
He also hosted a morning oldies show called Prime Time Memories and up to four weeks ago a weekly jazz show named Blue Monday.
'Jenny Jenny', Simon Crosskill
Wilks was not satisfied with the format of Radio Two and suggested that a show suitable for a younger segment of the market should be tried.
Topping reached for Jennifer 'Jenny Jenny' Small whom he had heard and liked on KLAS-FM. Wilks' hunch and his choice of a host paid off as the show is doing quite well, Topping says.
The new head of Radio Two is Simon Crosskill who Topping first met in the early 1990s when he accompanied his brother Hugh on a series of cricket commentaries for RJR. Simon afterwards called to say he was interested in doing commentary himself and Topping had him audition.
"He auditioned on Thursday and he was on air on Friday," says Topping. Simon did ad hoc assignments for RJR until he covered the Soccer World Cup Finals in France in 1998 and was taken on full-time and appointed head of sports.
The phenomenal success achieved by Topping could not have been done, he says, without the support and camaraderie of the team at RJR.
He pays special tribute to the people he worked alongside in the early days, announcers like Charlie Babcock, who was "sheer genius at outside broadcasts"; Marie Garth, "who people just loved for her soft, easy-going approach to radio and who was legendary for her mini-skirts"; Tony Verity, "the consummate professional - if you wanted to learn it right, you learnt from Tony"; and Desmond Chambers, "the most versatile announcer you could find".
Topping is no longer on air but one gets the sense that 'El Numero Uno' has only been shelved for a time, waiting quietly somewhere for the time when he will rise again, to seize the crown as king of the airwaves.
And to borrow his closing line, dear readers, may I say "shalom kings and queens".
Next week: Howard Hamilton, QC - The public defender is a man with a heart of gold.

[Islandman]

Wow, a lot of Jamaican radio history through the years in that one article.