Driving the Station Van During The Steve Harvey Morning Show: A Masterclass in Humility

In 2006, I became the highest-paid van driver in America.

It was the two-year anniversary of me moving from Charlotte to Dallas in 2004 to do mornings at KRNB. That night, we were celebrating with a big concert — Frankie Beverly & Maze and Jill Scott. Everything felt right.

But that morning after my show, they called me into the office.

“It’s over,” they said.
“We’re bringing Steve Harvey in for mornings.”

Let me rewind for context.

My job in Dallas was to go head-to-head with Tom Joyner — in his hometown. Both KRNB and the station Tom was on had inferior signals in the market. It took me a year, but we beat him in the 25–54 demo.

In 2005, Gary Bernstein and Eric Faison offered us a syndication deal with Superadio. We were excited. We launched. We started picking up affiliates. We were rolling.

Then February 2006 hit.

On the exact two-year anniversary of my arrival in Dallas, they shut it all down.

The first thing that came out of my mouth wasn’t about me.

“What about my team?”

They said, “Oh, they’ll be alright. We’ve got something for them.”

Then I asked about my contract. I had a year left. I asked are you guys gonna just pay me out of my contract?

“No,” they said.
“No payout.”

And that’s when the lesson in humility really began.

They handed me the keys to the KRNB station van.

My new job?

Driving around Dallas during The Steve Harvey Morning Show, doing call-ins, giving away gas cards, Walmart cards, and prizes during cut-ins.

I don’t even know how to explain the humiliation.

I would go home asking myself, Why is this happening to me?

Every morning, I had to walk past my former team — now on the air at K104 on the Skip Murphy Show. The keys to the van sat right by their studio window. I had to walk past that window to pick them up.

I couldn’t tell if the laughter I heard was from a gut-busting joke… or me grabbing the keys.

And here’s the part you can’t make up.

The same day they told me my show was over…
my furniture arrived for the new home I had just bought for my family.

You can’t script that kind of embarrassment. It was my fault, I did not use a lawyer for that deal.

(Lesson 1)

Months went by.

Then I got a call from Elroy Smith at V103/WVAZ in Chicago. He and Armando Rivera wanted me to come to Chicago — but for overnights, 12 a.m. to 5 a.m.

I was a morning man.

Overnights?!

But Chicago had always been my dream city. Since college, I wanted to live and work there. After a few calls, I said yes.

September 2006, I landed in the Windy City.

I lived on North Michigan Avenue. Every time I walked past the Ebony and Jet building, it felt like home. People used to tell me I sounded like a long-lost cousin who had finally come back.

Elroy wanted me to do a “morning show overnight.” I was number one in my time slot.

Then months later, V103 took Tom Joyner off the air… and replaced him with Steve Harvey.

Steve came to Chicago to do the show live in person one day— so right after I signed off at 5 a.m. I said I was gonna stick around to greet Steve.

They had a spread in the break room that looked like a buffet. Pastries, fruit, everything. A sign on the table read:

STEVE HARVEY BREAKFAST

That table could’ve fed the entire staff and still had food left over.

Steve came in, stirring his coffee, adding cream and sugar.

I said, “What’s up, Steve?”

He kept stirring.

Silence.

Then he looked up and said, “What’s up.”

I felt like a peasant.
I laughed it off — I said , this %$#@! LOL..Years later I tell this story, but I love Steve Harvey! Steve Harvey is Free. He was showing us radio people what control looked like.

That was my journey from 2004 to 2007 — Market #5 Dallas–Fort Worth to Market #3 Chicago.

In my next article, I’ll tell you how and why I left Chicago in 2007 and returned to Goldsboro, North Carolina after my first 20-year run in radio. That story is going to open some eyes.

Later in 2007, I would audition in Market #1 — New York City — at WBLS 107.5 with Vinny Brown. Jasmine Sanders got the job. She went on to the DL Hughley Show and has had an incredible run.

So what did I learn?

Especially for the young cats coming behind me.

1. Expect to be humbled severely in your career.
   This firing took me years to recover from. It devastated everything I had built since 1987.

2. Don’t take too long to recover from a devastating blow.
   Find someone to talk to. Figure out your next move.

3. Never sign a contract without a lawyer.
   When people flash money and rush you, slow down. Your employer will respect you more. I don’t know why I didn’t use a lawyer— but it cost my family.

4. Stop trusting people who say they’re riding with you.
   Actions always tell the truth. Looking back, the people I looked out for were looking out for themselves. Nobody tried to reach back and help me.

5. I would do it all over again.
   Because the man I am today helped birth the real BJ Murphy.

6. Dallas and Chicago taught me real personality radio.
   I learned how to let go and be myself. A lot of people helped me grow. That alone was worth the severe trial I went through. I could have stayed in Charlotte, but I needed what I was looking for.

7. I had to leave Charlotte to grow.
   My ambition wouldn’t allow me to stay.

I’m not sharing this story for any other reason but a teaching lesson for those who really want to be a star in black radio.

I’m sharing it because somebody listening right now is in their own version of that station van.

You did everything right.
You worked your ass off.
You won.
And somehow you still lost. It's a lesson just for you that you can teach others.

That moment didn’t break me — it stripped me.
It took away titles, money, status, and ego… and left me with the one thing nobody could fire.

Me.

If you’re in radio, media, or any dream that requires your whole soul, understand this:
humiliation is sometimes the tuition.
humility is the classroom.
and identity of the real you is the degree.

I drove that van so I could one day drive my own destiny.

And if you’re listening… still hurting… still confused… still trying to make sense of it all —
stay alive in it.
Don’t quit in it.

Because sometimes the longest detour
is the exact road that makes you who you’re supposed to become.

If this resonated, I write for people who take broadcasting—and independence—seriously. You’re welcome to stay connected