Legendary Clinton Sparks Says Goodbye To Radio After 15 Years

Farewell to Radio:

Today I am bidding farewell to a major part of my career. A role that gained me entry into the music business and has garnered so many relationships that have turned into friendships. Today, I am hanging up my radio hat and walking away from my syndicated radio show. During my 15 years as a radio DJ, I have been the proud recipient of many awards, from syndicated radio DJ of the year to East Coast DJ of the year, to the big one which was the overall, “Radio DJ of the Year”.

I’ve interviewed everyone from Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I., Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Pitt, and Janet Jackson. I was the reason Shade 45 on Sirius/XM had to install curtains to their on air studio so no one was offended by my antics and guests during my years on the station. To my early beginnings, fooling the industry into thinking that I had a successful online radio show which got everyone from Eminem, Common, Wu-Tang, and Cam’ron to my moms basement back in Boston. If it wasn’t for being on radio, I would have never met The Clipse and we would have never created the “We Got It For Cheap” mixtape series which was named by Rolling Stone magazine as a top 50 album of the year. I would have never met my buddies Tommy Lee, Tyrese, Kardinal Offishall & Talib Kweli. I would have never been able to make the lifelong friendships with fellow DJ’s around the world who I still maintain friendships with now. I wouldn’t have become an official Ciroc boy for the past 6 years, toured as Diddy’s DJ, and my voice certainly wouldn’t have been heard every week by millions from Sydney to Belgium, Brazil to my hometown of Boston, Mass from my days on Hot 97.7 to Jamn 94.5. Where I up until this letter, was on air every weekend.

There are so many people to thank and acknowledge who have helped me or played a major role in my radio career that I would need to write a book but two people who really have been paramount in believing in me from the beginning was Reggie Beasley, who was the first person to really recognize my talent and bring me on full time and give me my own weekly radio show. To Victor Starr, who also believed and supported me by not just giving me a weekly show in Connecticut, but also giving me another weekly show in Baltimore, even when I didn’t stick to playlists and constantly broke the rules. I actually think that’s what Victor liked most about me. Haha. I also could not have done the show without my great friend and producer, DJ BK.

A lot of people don’t know this but it was a lot of work and sacrifice to build what I did. I was the only DJ to be on four stations in four different cities LIVE every week. I was live Monday and Tuesday in Boston. Wednesday I would drive 4 hours to New York to do Shade 45 on Sirius/XM live from 8-midnight, then drive 4 hours home. Thursday I would do Boston radio live. Friday, I would drive 2 hours to Hartford, CT to do radio from 5-9pm and then again midnight-3am & then drive home 2 hours to Boston so that I could catch my Saturday morning flight to Baltimore to do my show on 92Q Saturday nights 7-10pm. I did this every week for years & I did it all with my own dime because I knew, or at least hoped, that doing this would help me build my relationships to move on to produce records for everyone from Pitbull, Beyoncé, Rick Ross, Ludacris to Lady Gaga ANNNNNNND it worked.

As sad as I am to leave this part of my life behind me, I am equally if not more excited about the next chapter. THANK YOU to all the stations that carried my show to all the DJ’s that supported me and welcomed me to their station. All the radio reps from record labels that believed in me & supported me. Most importantly, ALL the LISTENERS AND SUPPORTERS, I am so incredibly grateful and honored to have been apart of your life. I can only hope I introduced you to some great music or made you laugh and I am truly appreciative that you decided to GET FAMILIAR!

You can follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to keep up with my endeavors.

For the last time,
Sparks, Out!

But not for long.

FROM: CLINTON SPARKS

TO: THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

DATE: 3/17/16

SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER