R.I.P.: Radio Personality Lee Baby Simms

Lee Baby Simms

Top40 radio personality Lee “Baby” Simms has died.

He was 72 and had been fighting cancer.

Born Gilmore LaMar Simms in Charleston, South Carolina, Simms dropped out of high school at 16 and began jocking at WTMA as “Hot Toddio on the Radio.” He later worked at crosstown WONO. Simms, by his own recollection, worked at 35 stations in 22 markets and was fired 25 times because he “never accepted an insult from anyone.”

While Simms was at KONO in San Antonio, program director Woody Roberts gave him the nickname “Lee Baby.” Simms also worked at WMBR in Jacksonville, WLOF in Orlando, WJBK in Detroit, WSHO in New Orleans, KTSA in San Antonio, WIST in Charlotte (where he doubled as program director), WGCL and WKYC in Cleveland, WPOP in Hartford and WMYQ in Miami.

On February 9, 1971, after spending three years as afternoon host at KCBQ in San Diego, Simms joined KRLA as 9-to-midnight host. He began his first airshift just 15 hours after the 6.6 Sylmar earthquake which killed 65 people and caused $500 million in property damage.

After a few months at KRLA, Simms traded time slots with 6-to-9 host Dave Diamond. Simms briefly worked at KROQ and KTNQ before moving to Hawai’i, where he jocked at KKUA, KORL, KDUK and KPOI. In the 1980s he worked at KFOG in San Francisco, WLVE in Miami, KKIS in Concord and KPRQ in Rohnert Park.

Simms was outraged in 1986 upon the release of an Indie film, Down By Law. Tom Waits played one of three men who were arrested and imprisoned and then plotted an escape. Waits’ character, Zack, was a New Orleans disc jockey known as Lee “Baby” Simms. The real Simms threatened a lawsuit but Waits later explained that he used the name as a tribute and had no idea Simms was still in radio. In the 1990s, Simms jocked at KOOL in Phoenix and KYA and KISQ in San Francisco. While at KISQ, his show was also heard via syndication on WUBT in Chicago.

Simms retired from radio in 2002.

TV comedy Writer and former radio personality Ken Levine pays tribute to Simms in his blog.

Calling Simms "the best" Levine writes it's hard to describe his style other than “all his own.” "He was sort of a cross between the Beat generation and Woodstock generation. A hipster/hippie. Somewhat like the Fonz in that by including you in his circle he made you feel cool."

And Levine adds Lee Baby was also not the luckiest guy in the world. "When 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."