Lee Simms

At the tender age of 16 in 1961, Gilmore LaMar Simms quit high school and started his 40-year radio career as Hot Toddio On The Radio at WTMA in his hometown of Charleston, S.C. He was known as Lee Simms or Lee Baby, a nickname given to him by Program Director Woody Roberts at KONO in San Antonio.

Simms was maybe the greatest disc jockey you never heard of or don’t remember. Even if he was in your market he never stayed around long enough to really attract a following. He was fearless, and obviously paid the price (along with a lot of apartment security deposits). No format could really hold him.

But when he was on his game there was no one more brilliant. First off, he used his voice like a fine Stradivarius violin.

Striking a classic pose in the studio.

His inflections, smooth delivery, and cadence were both soothing and thrilling at the same time. How do you do that? How does anyone do that? No one could imitate him because no one had the pipes and the feel for that unique delivery.

Like everything else about Lee Babi Simms, it’s hard to describe his style other than “all his own.” He was sort of a cross between the Beat and Woodstock generations.

He was a hipster-hippie. And it felt genuine, not an act. He shared his real feelings, his honest opinions, his candid observations – and that’s what got him fired more often than not.

Back in his heyday, the ‘60s and ‘70s, there were usually two competing Top 40 stations in any given town. One was usually the powerhouse and then there was “the other one.” For the most part, Lee Babi always worked for the “other one.”

By his count, the man born Gilmore LaMar Simms worked at 35 stations in 22 markets and was fired 25 times because “I never took an insult from anyone.”

He jocked as far north as WJBK Detroit, as far south as WMYQ Miami, as far east as WPOP Hartford and as far west as Honolulu at KKUA, KORL, KPOI and KDUK.

In between, he appeared on biggies like WKYC Cleveland, KRLA Los Angeles, KCBQ San Diego, KOOL Phoenix and KYA San Francisco. Simms, who got his nickname from KONO PD Woody Roberts, also displayed his songwriting talents when he penned "Time" for the Pozo-Seco Singers in 1966.

The date is March 30, 1971, and Lee is behind the mic at KRLA.

[ PLAY ] (34:37)

The powerhouse was generally heavily structured while the competitor was looser; trying anything they could to attract an audience. The competitor took more chances (he had nothing to lose) and tended to hire more “personalities.” And so, as many times as Lee got fired, there were always program directors willing to hire him because he was just so good.

Top 40 Programmer George Wilson became an early mentor when Lee joined WMBR/1460 in Jacksonville, Florida in 1963. He worked at WLOF/Orlando and WSHO/New Orleans (the only time he was a PD) and WIST/Charlotte before Wilson set him up at KRIZ/Phoenix in 1964. He was there for 18 months before he started moving back and forth between KONO/San Antonio and WPOP/Hartford in 1966 and 1967.

He joined WKYC/Cleveland in 1968. His annual salary was $18,000 and it was the first time he had worked with a board operator. Regarding that experience, Lee says, "It's impossible for an engineer to hear what's in your head." Six months into the Cleveland gig, everyone was fired, and Lee went home to Charleston.

Weeks later, Wilson called again, and Simms was off to San Diego and KCBQ, working with programmer Mike Scott. When Scott left for WJBK/Detroit, Lee moved again.

Deejay K.O. Bailey starts things off on WJBK, followed by Lee circa 1969. [ LISTEN ] (7:55)

Lee Baby wasn't the luckiest guy in the world. While he was at KCBQ in San Diego, there was an opening at CKLW in Detroit (a major powerhouse). So he taped his show one night and sent it. That tape has made the rounds. It’s phenomenal, Lee at his best. Lee didn’t get hired. But the newsman on the tape did.

The problem with always being on “the other station” is that your ratings tended to suck. So there was zero stability. Those stations were throwing anything against the wall, so they would frequently change formats, fire program directors, adopt new music policies. How many times was Lee Baby just a victim of all these upheavals?

With the exception of WMYQ-FM/Miami and WGCL-FM/Cleveland, Lee Baby worked most of the Seventies in Los Angeles, twice at KRLA. He was 27 in 1971 and making about $30K annually. He moved to KROQ until his paychecks started bouncing, then he moved to Miami. Lee returned to KRLA as Veterinarian "Doctor Matthew Frail" in 1975, and did a two-hour "audition" on KMET.

Following six-months of a morning show in Cleveland, circa 1976, he did two nights on KTNQ in Los Angeles, and then went to Honolulu as the guest of Wally Amos. He stayed five years, working at KKUA, KORL, KDUK and KPOI. Lee says, "I sometimes think that some guys hired me just so they could add their name to the long and ignoble list of others who had fired me."

In 1982, Lee returned to the San Francisco Bay area and KFOG-FM until 1985 when he got a "nice 3-month contract" at WLVE in Miami. He moved back to Northern California and stayed at KKIS/Concord, KRPQ/Rohnert Park and, by 1992, KYA/San Francisco. He was off to KOOL-FM in Phoenix for big bucks — and 90 days to #1 — in 1994. And then, in 1997, Steve Rivers connected him with KISQ-FM in San Francisco, where he played R&B Oldies for 4.5 years — the longest gig of his career. He was happily retired in the hills overlooking San Francisco.

Lee Baby Simms deserved more recognition. He deserved to be in whatever Halls of Fame the radio industry concocts. He was a true original and a shining example of how radio could be great. He elevated the medium to an art form. Pity he was never really appreciated in his time.

Lee Baby Simms, KRLA in Pasadena, California. April 30, 1971.

WHERE DID LEE WORK? Here is the list: WTMA [Charleston SC] 1961, WONO [Charleston SC] 1962, WLOF [Orlando FL] 1964, KONO [San Antonio TX] 1965, KTSA [San Antonio TX] 1966, WPOP [Hartford] 1966, KONO [San Antonio TX] 1967, WPOP [Hartford] 1968, WKYC [Cleveland OH] 1968, WGCL [Cleveland OH] 1968, KCBQ [San Diego] 1968, KTSA [San Antonio TX] 1969, WJBK/WJBK-FM [Detroit MI] 1969, KCBQ [San Diego] 1970, KRLA [LA] 1971, KROQ [LA] 1973, WMYQ [Miami FL] 1974, WLVE [Miami FL] 1974, KMET [LA] 1973, KRLA [LA] 1975 - Matthew 'Doc' Frail, KRPQ [Santa Rosa CA] 1981, KFOG [San Francisco] 1981, KDUK [Honolulu] 1982, KORL [Honolulu] 1982, KYA [San Francisco] 1992, KOOL-FM [Phoenix] 1994, and KISQ [San Francisco] 1997-2002.

Lee Baby Simms took his own life at his home in Walnut Creek, California on January 28, 2015. He had reportedly been diagnosed with cancer. Simms was 71.