FEATURED SUMMER SIZZLE '08 HOST 

K103.7FM's OWN DON SMOOTH "THE VOICE OF THE CITY"

Article from the Montreal Mirror, May 21, 2008 Volume 23, No. 27 by Patrick Lejtenyi

URBAN AIR

Kahnawake’s K103.7 FM is unique, no other word for it. Its board of directors are Mohawk, its programming director is Italian, its arguably most popular host—at least according to BOM voters—is a West Islander of West Indian descent, and management doesn’t insist on repetitive playlists. For 2008 Best Local Radio Host Don Smooth, the host of K103.7’s Street Sounds program (Monday to Thursday, 6 p.m.–midnight), which ranked fifth in the Best Local Radio Show category, that’s a recipe for a fun job, one that he’s held for the past four years.

The show, as the name suggests, focuses on urban music, from R&B to hip hop to reggae. “But I enjoy all styles of music,” says Smooth over the phone. “To me, music is only spelled one way.”

Smooth considers himself the voice for the “unheard and unsigned artists,” he says, and he takes that position seriously. It was on his show that many Montrealers got their first dose of many a local hip hop act. He drops names like Mikey Dangerous, FAMN (last year’s Best Local Hip Hop Act), D.P.C. Movements, Malicious and Leïla as Montreal standouts on the scene, among many others.

Besides his evening duties in Kahnawake, Smooth spends his time at Taboo Ultra Lounge on Mackay and Ste-Catherine, where he holds a Friday night residency, as well as playing a slew of parties—where, he says, he will always try to slip in at least one Michael Jackson song per set (Thriller remains a particular favourite. Growing up, “I had the Thriller glove, the Thriller jacket and the Jeri Curl hair,” he laughs).

Smooth has been a professional DJ for the past 15 years, he says, and still has an obvious passion for music, as well as this city. “Montreal has a lot of personality, it’s a very comfortable city,” he says. “I go to Toronto often, and, for me, it’s so spread out. We have a very strong identity here.”

If there’s one thing he’d change though, it would be a greater exposure for some of the urban music being produced here. “The artists need an outlet, so I try to do that for them, I do what I can. As long as it’s good, I’ll play it, and who knows where it goes from there.”