For most of our alumni, today's guest needs no introduction. He's a WJPZ Hall of Famer, he's the VP of Urban Programming for SiriusXM, and he's got as charismatic an individual as you'll find in our group. From the Class of 1995, we welcome Neon Dion Summers.
Dion talks about finding WJPZ on a high school visit and watching BB Good in the studio. That made the decision to go to Syracuse easy. At SU's Summer Institute Program, he quickly befriended Damian "Governor D" Redman and others, all chomping at the bit to join WJPZ as soon as recruitment opened. Dion's talent and passion quickly got him past overnights, and eventually cleared to do the "Top 8 at 9" as a freshman. His desire to teach and pay it forward landed him on the executive staff, becoming Chief Announcer, and, by his junior year, VP of Programming. As a kid obsessed with radio, Dion mentions "finding his tribe" a number of times in this interview.
We deal with a tough topic in this episode, or as Dion calls it, "the black elephant in the room." He was a Black man, adding more hip hop and R&B to the playlist. This was at a time, 30 years ago, where black music was crossing over into the mainstream like never before. But when Dion added these titles, he got some pushback. Was it merely a philosophical disagreement over the musical direction of the station, or was it something more? For the first time at the station, he didn't just feel like a member of the staff. He felt like a black member of the staff. And while Dion is quick to point out the support he had from fellow black staffers and other allies, it hurt. But rather than throw his hands up and walk away, he pushed through, learning valuable lessons about tough conversations he still uses today. This is a perspective we haven't heard yet in the podcast. And in an effort to cover the entire 50 year history of the WJPZ, we appreciate him sharing this. Going forward, the alumni association is going to prioritize diversity. You'll hear more about it at this year's Banquet.
After the break, Dion talks about his career after graduation. He got a gig at his hometown radio station, Q92 in Baltimore - thanks to his demo tape from WJPZ, and a connection by classmate Melanie Kushnir.
Following Baltimore, he spent 3 1/2 years in Miami - who wouldn't want to move to a spot on South Beach at the age of 30? But by the mid-2000's, it was apparent that terrestrial radio was changing. Then-ClearChannel was removing the autonomy of its program directors. Dion wanted a change, and heard about XM radio, still in its early years. But it believed in empowering its programmers. It was music to this PD's ears, and he took a leap. He's been there for 17 years, now overseeing all of SiriusXM's urban programming.
Throughout today's episode, Dion talks about the power of radio- the power to influence culture, and touch the lives of both listeners and artists. And for him, it all traces back to WJPZ. He's quick to shout out his mentors - folks like Kendall B, Rocket Ross, and Dave Gorab (who he now works with at SiriusXM regularly). But we also spend a fair amount of time on those Dion has mentored - especially Mina Llona from the Class of 2008. She was effusive of her praise for Dion in her episode of this podcast, so we get to hear the other side. Dion heard then-student Mina doing a break one alumni weekend, and immediately knew he had to connect with her. Yes, they were both people of color, but they shared the same passion, programming philosophy, and more. They soon developed a great friendship and Dion was eventually able to hire her.
We wrap up with some funny stories - Dion's reaction to getting the CD single of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," for example. And did you know that Dion was on a short-lived UUTV sitcom with Steve Donovan and Jen Nycz? He explains.
Join Us in Syracuse for Banquet on March 4th: https://bit.ly/WJPZ50BanquetTickets
The WJPZ at 50 Podcast is produced by Jon Gay '02 and JAG in Detroit Podcasts
JAG: Welcome to WJZ at 50. I am Jon Jag Gay and I'm already smiling today cuz it's hard not to smile when you are talking to today's guest. One of the big gets for the show. I have to say. He is a Hall of Famer from the class of 1995. Neon Dion Summers from Sirius xm. Welcome to the show.
Dion: This is the high point of like my week, man. It's all downhill from here, bro. Thank you, .
JAG: That's high praise. No pressure, right?
Dion: None at all, man. Not at all. Mina's done this. Said it was amazing. Gorab this morning. Said it was really dope, man. So I'm just glad to be here, man. You know me. I'm happy to be here, man. Ready to go.
JAG: These are names. We're gonna come back to Mina's name in a minute because she was pretty effusive of her praise of you in this podcast. But take me back to the beginning. How's the kid from Baltimore end up going as the great white North and Syracuse?
Dion: I really thought that I was unique in the sense that I was this teenage radio geek who loved music at a young age. But even deeper than the love of music. I wanted to pull back the curtain, right? I wanted to know. why do these guys say this? Why do they play this song every two hours and 15 minutes? Who's making them do that? And so in my 12, 13 year old brain, I wanted to pull back the curtain, right? I wanted to find out like why, like who's making them do this stuff?
And how could I do that one day? And so when it came time to sort through colleges, I got a full scholarship to Iowa State. Which did not have a college radio station. So that was taken off the list real quick. That was done. And it came down to Syracuse and Howard University, which also as a very reputable college radio station.
And I remember going to campus and I visited their campus station WHBC. And was like, wow.
JAG: Those are some great call letters by the way.
Dion: Right? Like just really cool radio station and I really felt like I could really fit in here. I could really belong here. But the thing that did it for me, like the thing that really did it for me, for JPZ, I remember I also as a senior high school senior, visited the campus.
It was April of 91. I remember this. It was a Thursday. Picture it. Sicily. Like I remember it so well because it was a Thursday night and I had to ask for directions to where Watson Hall was. And then once I found Watson, I had to find where the hell the radio station was because it was in the back.
So I had to find like where to get there. And I finally got inside the radio station between 8:00 and 8:10. And I'll tell you exactly why I knew it was between 8:00 and 8:10 as I wandered in. BB Good. Our friend Sharon Goodman was recording guest ZJs for the top eight at nine and yo, I remember this so vividly.
She was trying to have someone introduce song number seven, which was LaTour." People are Still Having Sex." And I remember her, at the reel to reel, with the splicing tape and doing 10 things at once. She's hitting buttons. She's segueing, she's going back in audition to record the caller, she's pulling her hour.
Amazing. Just seeing her make this great radio happen, like the curtain was pulled back, Jag, I'm like, this is what I wanted. Like the curtain is pulled back and I finally see how the sausage is made, right? Yeah. Like I finally see this like with my own two eyes. She was a college student, not much older than I was.
And I'm like, yo, she's killing it. Yeah. I wanna do this. And that was it. That was the moment where Syracuse beat out Howard. I knew I was going to Syracuse and something told me at the time. Because BB, I would introduce myself to her and she was just the sweetest person ever.
And she was so open to me and she was so kind and I knew I found my tribe. Yeah. Like I knew, I found my tribe, like aside from a bunch of radio geeks, , I just felt yo, I really feel like I can belong to a place like this, which when you're 16, it's hard to belong. Thinking back, like when you're 16, it's hard.
But I felt like I had my tribe. I felt this could really be something that would be life changing for me. Like I knew that then. I think I was right.
JAG: What you say about the tribe. Dion. It's funny in talking to alumni from 50 different years of the radio station here, there is so many common threads in this podcast, and that's one of them is seven years later I got there and I got to the campus. Before the radio station and I'm like, I am not really feel comfortable here.
I'm homesick. I haven't found my group, I haven't found my, haven't fit in. And I got to the radio station and I did. Yeah. And if there were some folks, like for you, for Matt Friedman who the radio station almost came first before Syracuse University and then you end up there and I don't have enough to ask you how you go from Syracuse, the radio station, cuz the radio station came first.
Dion: It really did. It really did. And again, like I said at the beginning, like I felt like I was alone in this. We all did. We all did. Nobody else has these weird radio inclinations, nobody like we all did. And so that's how you know that your tribe was genuine because you thought wait a minute, you too? Wait, Damian, you too? Velardi, you too?
Yeah. All of us like, yeah, like we were all alone in thinking that way. So we all thought the same way. And I can remember being after classes were done for the day, or between classes, walking through those double doors and it was like cheers. You know what I mean? Everybody knows your name and it's you belong here and
JAG: Dion!!!
Dion: Right? You go right to work. It's okay, is it contest hours? Is it time for news and sports? Do I have to cut a spot? Everything was it was just a well-oiled machine and the job was to keep this radio safe, keep this thing, keep this living, breathing, going. We were all kids, man, what the hell did we do?
You know what I mean? We all took what we thought we knew from our hometown radio station and applied it into this thing, right? So we were all learning as we went along.
JAG: Take me through your evolution of what you did at Z 89.
Dion: Anything, it didn't even matter. It's funny now being, old now.
I think back, I think to myself, was there really a time where I was up and on the radio at 4:00 AM? Did that really happen? Yes. Like I remember. And even before freshman year, JAG, I'll tell you man, I remember there was something called Summer Institute. , which was a six week program for incoming freshman of color that myself, Damian, El Loco, G Nice. George Rizzo. A few of us have belonged to Summer Institute and we had the advantage of being on campus the summer before our freshman year. And I remember me and Damian would always stop by JPZ and just check things out. They weren't recruiting until the fall, but we wanted to be such a part of this radio station that, we were trying to get a jump on it and meeting some of the students and, becoming acclimated with the station and listening to the station so that by freshman year.
I think we thought we had a leg up on everybody. So our freshman year, we're ready. And it's okay, overnights. All right, what do I have to do? Back in the day when an FCC license was something you had to obtain. Yep. All right. We got the FCC license. Okay. What's next?
Gotta choose a name. I don't know I don't know. Neon rhymes. It sounds? I guess. He was Governor D Redman with a name that I still freaking love. I think it's one of the craziest radio names like ever. It just stuck. And I just remember when Gorab had awarded me my first shift. There wasn't a part of me that thought, oh my God, 4:00AM to 6:00 AM are you kidding me?
And I lived in Brewster Bowland, which you know, I think I'm closer to Brewster Boland here in New York City than I was at JPZ. Like it's far. It's far. Like you got some walking to do.
JAG: It's a long cold walk. Yes it is.
Dion: It's a hike. It's like two hills. Like it's a hike to get there, man. And but it didn't matter.
It didn't even matter. And the funny thing is I didn't even go to sleep those nights. Like I stayed up cause I was so excited. I stayed up through the night, did a four to six, and in my opinion killed it. Although I didn't. Some of those shifts really sucked and I remember getting back and okay, I'll sleep from 6:30 to 8:00.
I don't know why 18 year olds only needed like 90 minutes of sleep, but that's all we needed back in. That was it. I was fine. I was good with it. And I just remember like doing those shifts and telling all my friends in Brewster Boland I was on the radio. And that just began the, here's what I didn't count on happening.
I never got into it, and I'm pretty sure everyone else you spoke with never got into this for the recognition, for the props for the right, for the wow of you're on the radio. It was never about that to me, but I found something inherently gratifying and having your friends, support you in a way, where they would recite breaks back to you. They would tell you they heard you talk up their favorite song, they heard you, give 'em a shout out. I'd never experienced that before. And so that feeling inside of me, that just further inspired me. Okay, I'm gonna get cleared for like midday.
I'm gonna be on a real daypart one day. You're really gonna hear me. And that just really inspired me and pushed me, Jag, to the point where I went from overnights. God, I don't remember whatever the next level was.
JAG: Probably 11:00 to 2:00 or something like that.
Dion: Yeah. 11 to two was next. And I just remember just really sticking my head down and just working.
Yeah. And just, constantly air checking. Shout to Larry Rocket Ross. We took the boombox in the hallway. And I was air checking twice a week dude. And the guy's a genius. Guy's a pro and to this day, and I just remember, I just wanted to get better. Yeah, bro. I just wanted to get better at it.
Like this was it, like you're on the radio. Like it really meant something and it inspired me and empowered me so much. I think I was one of a handful of freshmen who was cleared for top eight that year. , I don't know what my GPA was freshman year, but I know I got cleared for top eight.
That all that mattered to me, bro.
JAG: So what else did you, besides then the on air shift from there, as you, went through four years, there were a lot of other things you did at the radio station to Dion.
Dion: So part of that, wanting to find out what's behind the curtain. I was really blessed to become chief announcer.
Which was really cool because a big part of what I did and what JPZ instilled in me to this day is that when you learn a thing, you teach that thing. You paved the way for people who pave the way for you. I can give a list, from the Dave Gorab James Perther. Where's he now? James Sillinger is end on that name with Jeremy Nachlis, like of course Rick Wright, who I remember going into his office as a freshman and seeing all these like radio stars, on his wall.
Yeah. And thinking to myself, one day I'm gonna be on this brother's wall. Thank God I made my way onto that brother's wall, . And so I know the names of people who came before me, who gave me a shot when they didn't have to. And becoming chief announcer and then, eventually becoming program director, like it was all about paving the way.
It was all about, yo, how can I help the next generation? You know what I mean? Like I always say, even say to this day radio is so subjective. If you ask 10 different program directors, you'll get 10 different opinions. All I can give you is mine and what has worked for me. , that's always been how I've performed my business professionally.
Like I'll just give you my perspective. And tell you what worked for me. You internalize that and you let me know how this works for you. As chief announcer, I tried to become the best of what Rocket instilled in me, taking the good points, playing down the negative points, the bad points, just the powers of articulation and getting a point across one thought per break and all these mainstays that we still repeat, in this building in Midtown, New York City. Like it's no exaggeration. When I tell you like the things that I've learned and the things I've been a part of at JPZ directly led to what I'm doing right now.
Like we had a difficult conversation. This is something, Jag, that I haven't really. Expressed a lot when I think back and, have conversations with friends like you about my time at JPZ.. It's something that I just haven't really, had the bandwidth to talk about, but you make it comfortable to have these conversations.
JAG: Thank you.
Dion: I want to talk about the, I guess the black elephant in the room, as it were, man. Because, as I am a black man, and I think my time at J P Z particularly, around the time that I was program director, my junior year was when the idea of race at JPZ had really got to me.
And it really reached a fever pitch. I had heard that prior to my coming to Syracuse in 1991, that there were various black student organizations that had spoken to JPZ about the lack of diversity at the radio station. I'd heard these stories. I'd read these stories before my freshman year.
I know there's a past, there's a history, but I didn't let it affect me. Like I told you earlier, I love radio man. And now a bunch of radio geeks, let's go. So that's how I felt up until I became program director. And I think that the idea of race reared its head by my junior year as program director.
Like I told you, I began seeing where the industry was going. Like in our bylaws, we had to be Top 40. But the program director had a discretion to decide which way we'd lean, pop rock or more hip hop. And at the time, black music was crossing over in a way that it hadn't before.
The charts were all hip hop and R&B and the Spin Doctors. The lean was heavy. A lot of stations began to adopt what they called Churban, contemporary hit radio slash urban, churban. Which sounds very lame to say in 2023.
JAG: You're making a face, as you say that word. Yes.
Dion: But yeah. And so being a kid of the industry watching the ebb and flow of the genres, I began to incorporate more hip hop and R&B titles onto JPZ . In my tenure as program director, I began to get pushback by some people on the musical decisions I was making on the channel, on the station.
And one of two things was the cause of it. One, it could be an objective pushback to say, hey, Dion, may want to consider this Spin Doctors record because it's doing well nationally. And a lot of other radio stations with a similar rhythmic lean that we're doing are playing similar titles and having success with it, you may wanna give it a shot, objective pushback.
Then it could have been subjective pushback. This black guy just wants to play black music. And I didn't know which way it was landing. But it hurt. It hurt a lot because for the past two years I'm thinking, Hey, these white guys are cool, , these white guys are cool and we're cool.
And they think they embraced a kid from Baltimore and we're all good. But it made me think that it wasn't all good. And it unleashed in me that year, for the first time, I thought of myself as, I'm not just one of JPZ's, kids. I'm a black guy in this.
JAG: Wow.
Dion: Like it really laid that hammer down in a way that I wasn't really prepared to receive it.
And I know it was unsettling because I would tell this story later to Steve Donovan. I told Donovan this story a couple of years ago and he's are you serious? Really? I never saw it. So I know it was a level of microaggression. If you get it. You know what I mean? Microaggressions, tend to hit maligned minorities in a way that they don't hit someone like yourself, Jag.
JAG: Sure. And Dion, I think that has to do with your own perspective too. Of course you're gonna pick out something like that more than Steve Donovan or myself.
Dion: And what that does to a person's psyche is just crazy, man. As you could imagine, and like I mentioned earlier, I thank God for my tribe within a tribe of Big Daddy, Marvin and Curtis and Kadeja. They were there to insulate me and give me what I needed, because again, that level of microaggression, at that point, I felt like I was alone in this. I felt like. I was being abandoned by people that had embraced me, yesterday. Right?
JAG: Dion, I'm gonna stop you for a second because you used the word insulate there. You said insulate and give you what you need. I'm wondering if you can expand on that a little bit. What do you mean by that exactly?
Dion: Support. Support. All I ever wanted to do was to like do good radio and to have that challenged, again, objectively or subjectively.
But I always took it as subjective. I had to run to people and there were some allies, some non-black allies as well.
JAG: Sure.
Dion: There was Kevin Tackman, who was my music director at the time, and Melanie Kushnir, like they were allies as well. But it just felt like I was by myself and being the minority and being one of a handful of black people at the radio station at that time.
Me and Marvin would go into the production room and close the door. And have real meetings about, what we're doing. He as my APD and my sounding board to say no, we're doing the right thing. We're on the right path here. We're serving a greater good. We're counter programming against 93Q.
And their pro rock playlist. This makes objective sense and I needed to fall into that because again, this was something that we just didn't talk about. We didn't talk about race at the station. We didn't have those honest conversations. And so what those conversations did is it enabled me, again, to have those difficult conversations that I have to this day. And it gave me the strength and the courage to have those difficult conversations in a way that I probably wouldn't have if I didn't get this crash course my junior year and. I really wanted to bring this up because again, it's not something that we talk about, and I think it's something that, given what I'm blessed to be and mean to this radio station, I think it's my job to mention that and to have that be something that we talk about.
And in my conversations with the alumni association, I'm very happy that Jeff Wade, Jeanne Schad, we've been having a lot of progressive conversations about involving the alumni association more in areas of diversity that really move the needle in a really substantive way for future students.
And if I can be a beacon, to future students to let them know that you aren't alone. That was another takeaway, Jag. Another takeaway was that I said to myself, I never want another black student or a student of color to feel the way that I did. So I've always been the mentor. I've always been the, hey, let me listen to your air check.
That took extra meaning when it was Todd Clayton, when it was Rashaud, when it was Mina Say What. You know what I mean? I made sure that, let me stick close to this brother. Let me stick close to this sister because I don't want them to feel the way that I felt. And hopefully that embrace will keep them engaged with the station longer.
Because Neon Dion shouldn't be an anomaly. You know what I'm saying? There should be way more of me, and they probably would be if we, I put myself in the collective, if we had extended to other students of color in a real and genuine way. So that's become my walk, dude. That's become like my part, a huge legacy that I hope I'm able to really, put forth to the next generation because I airchecked a lot of students, man, and I'm happy for all of them. But I definitely want the students that look like me to definitely know that you got a place here too, and that you belong here too.
JAG: Dion, I'm only gonna speak for myself here. I would never presume to speak for anybody else on this topic, but I do wanna say that I'm really glad. you told that story and brought this up because part of my goal in doing this podcast is to celebrate the 50 years of WJPZ. And in that 50 years, there have been ups and downs.
It hasn't always been pretty. There have been struggles and I wanna include as many viewpoints as I can on this podcast. I wanna cover as many topics as I can on this podcast, and I wanna just take a moment and just say, thank you for going there, which is probably not an easy place to go for a lot of people, and it's probably not easy to hear for some people. But I'm really glad you shared that piece of it because it's an important piece of the history of WJPZ.
Dion: I wanna thank you for just creating that safe space to have this conversation because I really, I grapple with it. Even when I told Steve, I had said to myself like, yeah, should I go there? Steve, like one minute we're cracking jokes and everything's on a whole different level.
And I don't wanna bring the vibe down and, but it wore on my soul. That brother, we've known each other, since first day freshman year. And I'm like, I've gotta tell Steve. And when you and I got into our conversation and, through the expert way that you get into all of your subjects, I'm like, you know what I I just feel like this moment feels right to have this conversation, and I thank you for that. I thank you for creating that safe space to have this talk and hopefully will inspire more students of color and more allies as well. More allies just to look at us for who we are. Period. And to have a relationship based on that.
But that was one of the hard lessons that JPZ taught me. A lot of sunny lessons, a lot of bright lessons. I hit many a post, but this was one of the hard lessons that I think JPZ had taught me and I thank them for, because like I said, I literally have, this level of difficult conversation to this day, and it taught me more than I would ever have without it.
JAG: So it sounds like you took what could be taken as a really negative experience at the radio station and turned it into a lesson that you've applied in your career since.
Dion: Absolutely, man. Absolutely. Adversity is nothing new for maligned folk, for malign minorities, for maligned people. But it's what you do with that pushback, with that negativity. It's what you do with it. And I think many students may have taken a level of what I may have gotten and said, you know what f this place, man, this isn't for me. You know what I mean? And cut out or dialed themselves down. I was too invested.
JAG: Yeah.
Dion: I was way too invested in this radio station, in this people, in what I saw for myself. I was too invested to just quit. And I'm not a quitter dude. Like it just isn't in my DNA. So it wasn't even an option for me. But others may have said, you know what, eh. So I want to push back against the "ehs" now and to encourage more conversation.
Like we don't all have to agree, but let's be respectful with it. You know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, all we share is our love of what we do. So let's just be that to each other, first and foremost.
JAG: Let me take you back a little bit. Dion, you've talked about where you are now. Take me through your career path since JPZ, cuz you have done a lot of stuff. For the alums who don't know you as well as most of us do, and your hall of fame career since graduation, take me through the different roles you've had.
Dion: It's a blessing, man.. Radio is all I wanted to do. Yeah, no, that's a lie. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was really young, but that was fleeting. Radio has been like my joy, and so after Syracuse, I had the all time dream realized where I was hired in my hometown radio station, the same station that wouldn't return my calls four years prior. I'll give you a quick lesson that I learned on the power of relationships that I still use to this day.
It's all about, and this is so cliche, but it's all about who you know. Once you're in that position, if you don't know anything, you know you're gonna get kinda weeded out pretty quickly. But it's all about that person who will give you the look, the nod, the "Dion's okay." I learned that early. I got my first job, thanks to my relationship with Melanie Kushnir at JPZ. Melanie introduced me to a guy named Russ Allen, who at the time was APD at WPGC in Washington. And me being a Baltimore guy, she arranged for us to hang out during Thanksgiving break.
Yeah, Russ is in DC. If you can make it to DC you know you can hang out in the studio. Perfect. Okay, cool. She hooked it up. I hung out with Russ in the studio. One two years later, Russ is awarded program director stripes at 92Q in Baltimore. Hey Russ. Remember me, Dion, Melanie's friend, and he hired me on the strength of JPZ air checks and that relationship, and I ended up at that radio station for nine years.
I went from the overnight guy in 95 to program director in 99, programmed the station for three years, which was one of the biggest joys of my career. Just to be in your hometown. And oh my God, like during my time there, we actually put the Heritage Urban V103, the station I grew up listening to. I put that station, with my team, out of format.
How crazy is that, man? Just an amazing ride. And so I was at 92Q for nine years. Like I said, I left 92Q. Went to what was then referred to as Clear Channel Radio, and worked for three and a half years in Miami. I was at Miami at the perfect time of my life. I was 30 years old, young and stupid
So it was perfect. For some reason I had a sexy apartment on South Beach. Even though the station was in Fort Lauderdale.
JAG: That's a commute. All right.
Dion: I didn't care, man. I didn't care. But it was a great radio station because unlike 92Q, Which had become a heritage, very consistent radio station.
The station that I went to in Miami was a startup. Was a renegade station going up against the 92Q of Miami, if you will. So I got experience on both sides of the coin. How to keep a strong heritage station afloat and how to build a station from scratch.
JAG: I've been both too. Some stations I've been the hammer. Some have been The nail .
Dion: Exactly. Exactly, bro. That was amazing to me. But then I had a shift around like the early 2000's, man. FM radio had begun to, in my opinion, lose its programmer autonomy.
JAG: I agree with that. Okay.
Dion: Stations like mine at the time, weren't free to add music that we had, made professional decisions that, made sense for the market.
We weren't in charge of bringing in talent. Syndication at that point was rampant. , it just stopped being fun to me. We didn't have the power to play what we want. Playlist began to look a little, homogenous. I couldn't tell the difference between a Miami playlist and
JAG: Seattle.
Dion: Exactly. And so at the same time, I started to be courted by satellite. Which in 2005 was very much in this infancy. I would tell my friends about it and they would say, oh, you mean AOL radio? Not AOL Radio. No, this is satellite radio. People thought I was crazy, man. People thought I was crazy for leaving.
How could you leave the mighty ClearChannel to go to this unproven form of media? But I saw something in it that really attracted me, like the freedom of, we let our programmers program. What a novel concept. Like we trust you to build the audience with your radio station that we need to have this business thrive.
Okay. I'm sold. So I left Miami in 05 and I came to, at the time, XM radio, several mergers prior and really never looked back, man. Ironically enough this month, I will celebrate my 17th year at Sirius XM Pandora, Stitcher Media.
JAG: You'll be happy to know this podcast is hosted on Simplecast, which is also owned by the same conglomerate. It's a sister station.
Dion: Hey, it's all in the family, man. Yes, it's all, it's a great ride, man. It's a great ride. And I call myself a player coach because even being VP of Urban, which means I manage a team of about 10 program directors who oversee radio stations that cater to R&B, hip hop, gospel, and reggae audiences.
I still voice track a show. I call myself a player and coach in the sense that I manage from the sidelines, but I can suit up and, hit the court anytime and in my opinion, kill it. Again, that JPZ Rocket Ross mentality, right? It's a great ride, man.
And I'm loving what I do. I love the fact that, we're still connected in this amazing thing called pop culture. I always say I just wanna put my thumb, my itty bitty thumbprint, on the mosaic of pop culture, right? Because a song that I add, a song that I say yes to will affect somebody's life, in some small, insignificant way.
JAG: Do you mean listeners, artists, or both?
Dion: You know what I was thinking for listeners, but you're absolutely right. Like it affects the artists too. Like I've been a part of artists who, no one knew his or her name to, they're a household name selling out arenas. To, they're that 30 point mark on Behind The Music, to they made the comeback of the millennium. This whole curve, man. It's like just to be a part of an artist's life like that is phenomenal. But to touch a listener like that, to add a stupid song like Tootsie Roll by the 69 Boyz.
JAG: Yes!
Dion: And to know resonates with somebody, that I was a part of, that I did that. I didn't do open heart surgeries. I'm not curing cancer over here. Something that we do in our daily walk is affecting, someone's life for the better. That's the biggest praise I could receive, man.
JAG: Dion, earlier you talked about all the mentors that you had starting at JPZ and all honestly throughout your career. I wanna mention Mina specifically on the flip side because I dunno if you've heard the podcast we had out with Mina. It was one of our first ones. She was just effusive in her praise of you and how you became a champion for her in her career, her life, her time at Sirius XM. She just talked about almost what a guardian angel you've been for her in her career. Talk to me about your relationship with Mina Llona went from the class of 08.
Dion: Okay. You wanna talk about a tribe? I remember returning to Syracuse for Banquet, and I heard her on the radio. and I thought to myself, who the F, is this?
Like she just sounded amazing. I heard her on the radio maybe going to the mall. Of course. Cuz that's what you do. . That's what you do alumni weekend. And I remember hearing her and she just sounded so good. For a second, I thought this must be like another alumni. This is a student? Like she sounds natural and so authentic and so real. Like I shouldn't have been surprised because this is what we do, right? We crank out these voices, we crank out these personalities who emote. So I remember I made it my point to meet her. I had to meet her. I had to meet her. And then when you meet Mina, she's just as genuine, like IRL as she is on the radio. What you see is what you get. You know what I mean? And then we talked about her programming history at the radio station. I told her my programming history at the radio station and there were a lot of common threads. There were a lot of common threads, in being an executive of color at Syracuse University and immediately despite our age difference, despite, where she was versus where I am, I saw a kindred spirit in her.
Like it just gives me goosebumps to this day and just even talking about it right now, cuz she and I were so similarly yoked, and it just renewed my fascination with the radio station, with JPZ, that like it did for me. You know what it did for her, like in 08, like the same level of taking someone who has, the love and drive and determination. We'll sharpen your edges, we'll round out where you're a little rough and we'll make it work.
And she came from that same school of thought that I did. And so I always, I can't even call her a little sister anymore. She's grown with a baby, the whole deal. But I've always stayed close to her because, she was an example. Again, I thought I was the only one. I thought I was alone.
I didn't have my tribe until I came to Syracuse. I didn't have people that said, you belong. You're one of us. We get you. I didn't have that before Syracuse, and when I saw her and heard her, I knew that like she's the same way, like we're cut from that same cloth. So I've always kept her close.
We would always air check well before she got the job here, which, obviously she earned. But we would air check and we would, go over her tapes and we would review her on air delivery. And she was a pro from day one. There wasn't much I could teach her. Like it's that "it" factor, Jag, and I think 99% of, JPZ students have got that it factor. Like it's just that it thing, man, you just got it or you don't. And she had it exceedingly to the point when there was an opening here, we had worked together for so long, it was a no-brainer.
You know what I mean? She had cut her teeth in other markets and for other companies, she was ready for that national look. And to this day. We spoke this morning like we're doing some stuff for New Year's and programming on The Heat. She just gets it and it's such a joy when someone who gets it is just so genuinely sweet and kind and that you could genuinely call a friend.
Like I couldn't ask for better from her and it all started from like that chance encounter where I was listening to her on the radio and thought, wow. Like she blew me away then. And she still does that for me to this day.
JAG: She's done that with generations of alumni and students. I remember I was class of 02 and Matt DelSignore Josh Wolff from 03 were like you've gotta meet Mina when you come to Syracuse.
Like she's a rockstar. And yeah. That's awesome. It was great to hear her perspective on your relationship, and now it's great to hear your perspective on the true friendship and as colleagues that you've built over all these years. Tell me if you could, I don't wanna make it seem like you're on the Oscars and you're gonna forget somebody, but tell me about a few other relationships or close names, either from classmates or alumni, older or younger than you that you've developed great relationships with over the years, Dion.
Dion: Sure. You know the tribe, and I'm gonna forget people because oh my God. I remember when Velardi came here to the building on alumni business about maybe like a couple years ago, I think before Covid, we just had the greatest conversation just about, about old times and about just what JPZ meant to us.
And, it's like going through like a fraternity and thinking back for, when you were hazed and when you crossed and got your letters. Chris, Adam Kafele, Damian and I were like, yo, we're gonna get in this radio station one way or the other.
Yo, we're gonna make this thing happen. Period. You know what I mean? Gorab, it's surreal to me the fact that he and I work in the same building. You know what I mean? It's surreal that I see him every day. Diamond, Dave. He was my first program director. The music mix is the difference!
I'm like, dude, like it's so great to work around him to this day. Like I love that. I mentioned Jeremy Nachlis. He was always in my corner. Marvin, Big Daddy,
Oh my God. Like I just say his name and start laughing, bro. Marvin has just been. A good friend. Marvin was the bad cop to my good cop. And he knew it and then I love that about it, man. I remember Kendall B. Oh my God. How I idolized Kendall B. I remember when I asked if I could sit in on Dance Jam one Saturday and he let me sit in on the show and this thing was a three ring circus.
You would never guess that all of this great audio came out of this freaking shoebox of a studio, because he was running full court on everything and I just sat back and thought, oh my God, if I can just do half of the stuff that this guy is doing, like he's creating magic like every single week.
And I would tell him that yeah, oh my God. Like just watching him and Shanti and Marvin was involved. Shout to Curtis, Danny Cagney. It was just magic to me. That was like homework to me. Just studying Kendall B like every single Saturday. Wow.
Jen Nycz. Me, Jen Nycz and Steve Donovan, Abe Froman. We starred in a UUTV sitcom freshman year, that was so incredibly irrevocably bad. It was called Roommates. Myself, Steve Donovan. And there was a third non JPZ guy. The three of us were college freshman roommates. Jen and another co female lead were like our best friends.
It's like it. It was like friends with a black guy. And it was just so bad. It was so bad. I think one of my subplots was that like I had separation anxiety as a freshman. So I had a bunny. I had a stuffed bunny rabbit that I kept, you'll find it somewhere like Donovan found it and shared it with me and it was like, oh my God, please burn this.
I might have to get it from him and link it in the show notes now.
I'm telling you. I'm telling you it's there. Since Covid, he's given this to me and it was even worse. seeing it over again so bad. But I knew Steve and I knew Jen from roommates, like we literally would do UUTV and then walk across the hall at JPZ.
So I've always had them be like, we were part of that original sort of crew, and I love, whenever I talked to Steve, like he interviewed me a while back and we had a great time catching up. Jen to me was always just such a great spirit. Joanna, Mark, I'm gonna forget people.
You know what I mean? Ed Brundage I think one of the best set of pipes, in the building. We were just a bunch of just, kids, we just threw anything against the wall, bro. Yeah, whatever. Sticks, whatever. Doesn't, who cares? Let's just try it again, man. That was the magic of it.
We were all kids just trying to make a cool radio station, man. It was great. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of people, so I may just randomly spit out a name. Bebop Alexander! May just spit out a name. Tina. It'll happen. So just bear with me man.
JAG: I always ask our guests for a funny story from their time at the station and you may have already checked that box, the idea of picturing you and Donovan and Nycz on a sitcom together, cuz that's, I need to get that YouTube video and add it to the show notes. Maybe splice a couple clips into the end of the episode here. Any other funny stories from back in the day they had come to mind immediately for you, Dion?
Dion: You know how much of a Whitney fan I am? , I remember when we first got the I Will Always Love you CD single. I literally. Screamed. Yeah. Like I literally ah, like I
JAG: Literally like Whitney.
Dion: Yeah, exactly. No, nothing like Whitney.
JAG: You can't hit that. You can't hit that note, I know.
Dion: Yeah. I didn't go where she went with it, but I remember that. I remember being in the Carrier Dome, not really a funny story, but something that I always stuck with me. Like I remember being in the Carrier Dome before sophomore year.
Being at the Z table. This is when we got the new splash paint swipe logo. . I just remember we had a huge group of people at our table wanting to join the radio station. It was me, I think Joanna, I just remember like it was a black guy, a female, a white guy. And I thought, this feels right.
You know what I'm saying? This feels right, at the end of the day, man, I just really wanted to. I'm this lanky goofy black guy. I don't know if I'm going to fit in here, but little did I know that I had joined the Isle of Misfits.
JAG: Yes, we were.
Dion: Where we were all cool, man. Like none of us were cool, so we were all cool.
JAG: None of us were uncool. There you go. Yeah.
Dion: And, just my lasting thought with Z has always been like, thank you for, for embracing me. You know what I mean? Thank you for embracing me. Thank you for taking my love of music and my desire to pull back that curtain seriously and manifesting that love and literally being the reason why I'm sitting in this space right now at 1221 Avenue of the Americas, like it's a direct result of everything that I've done at that radio station and every friendship that I've nurtured, every cart that I've played. What's a cart?
JAG: For our younger listeners, if you've ever seen an eight track, it's somewhat similar. We're only audio, but Dion is holding up a cart of,
Dion: yeah, it's audio so you won't be able to see this.
JAG: Is It Good to You by Heavy D and the boys and it's got the intros marked to 2, 5, 12, 14, and 18.
Dion: There are way too many posts, man. I was gonna say, yo, I stole this. This is an authentic Z89 cart that I took from that radio station man. And every time I look at it just reminds me of, from whence I came. I just appreciate being a part of it. You know what I mean? And being a Hall of Famer.
JAG: He's got the microphone on his desk, he's holding it up right now.
Dion: That was a crowning achievement man, because all I wanted to do was belong, man. I just wanted to belong to a cool group of folks, man. And I am, I'm part of a brotherhood and a sisterhood for life, and I've never taken that for granted.
JAG: Well, I think I think I speak on behalf of all the alumni that I thank you for all of your numerous contributions to the radio station, both as a student and as an alum.
So ironically, little behind the curtain here. We're recording this on December 6th. I actually have to leave from this to head out to a Christmas party. I'm gonna walk into this Christmas party and everybody's going, why you have this stupid grin on your face? And I'll say, because I just spent 40 minutes talking to Neon Dion.
And while the people at this Christmas party are not gonna get it, anybody from the Alumni Association who knows you, knows your happiness and your energy is so contagious. Dion, thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Dion: Bro this, like I said, it's all downhill from here, man. I think I'm gonna pack up and go home now, like this has been amazing. I hope I've answered your questions well, man, I love being a part of this. I can't wait to see you next year, bro. I just appreciate you asking me to do this. Like anytime, anything for JPZ in the world, you know that. So thank you, brother. I appreciate your time, man. Thank you.
JAG: All right Dion.