Radio personality Doug Banks is dead at 57

Doug Banks has died at age 57. | Sun-Times file photo
Doug Banks has died at age 57


Legendary Chicago DJ Doug Banks has died, his longtime I-Heart radio station V103 announced Monday afternoon. “Doug, a true radio legend, has passed away today,” the station posted on its website early Monday afternoon.


“With a heavy heart, our V103 family would like to send our thoughts and prayers to Doug Banks’ family and friends,” the station said. “Doug was an inspiration to many, the ‘Dan Ryan Head’ and a radio icon in Chicago radio for many years. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.” A source at the station told the Sun-Times that the staff at V103 and its sister I-Heart station were reeling from the unexpected passing. “I got the phone call this morning, and I’m like ‘No! No!’” the source said. The DJ that many Chicagoans listened to daily on his afternoon drive show, The Doug Banks Show, began his broadcasting career on his high school’s radio station in Detroit, according to V103. 

“He then moved on to the big time in Motor City radio,” the station said. After leaving Detroit, Banks became a hit on stations in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the ABC Radio Network offered Banks a nationally syndicated show. That’s when the man with the persona of a lovable teddy bear became a radio icon. Banks last appeared on ABC7’s “190 North” in the summer of 2014. TV One news host and former Chicago Defender editor Roland Martin tweeted: “I am stunned to hear of the death of Doug Banks. I heard he was not doing well and had failing kidneys. This is just so hard.”

 Maudlyne Ihejirika @maudlynei

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