Biography
LaMar Simms was one of Connecticut's most colorful - and controversial - disc jockeys. A veteran of WTMA and WONO in Charleston, and WLOF Orlando, Simms came to Hartford fresh from a legal skirmish in San Antonio. He and WPOP's Woody Roberts worked at KONO and both resigned to go to cross-town rival KTSA in April, 1966. KONO went to court and got an injunction to keep them off the air within 50 miles for 18 months. Woody settled into morning drive at WPOP and he installed Lee to replace Ken Griffin from 7:00PM-midnight.
After reading a pimple cream commercial during his first show, Lee unleashed a tirade of angry calls when he described how terrible it is to get close to your girl only to have a zit pop. A Hartford Courant article a month after Simms hit town described him as "the crazy new WPOP disc jockey who doesn't like anything (including Hartford)." A Hartford Times article on January 13, 1967 quoted Lee's feelings about Hartford:
"He dislikes it 'intensely.' He thinks the kids 'dress like slobs.' He says the people are 'impolite.' On the air he contends, 'I'm rude and crude and impolite because you are….'".
Lee was the first to call downtown Hartford's new Constitution Plaza Constipation Plaza. He was arrested for telling his listeners to go there and have a snowball fight. Simms was famous for breaking the music format, going off on lengthy tirades.
When he left WPOP in 1967 he went right back to KTSA in San Antonio, later returning to KONO. His career path took on a Rand McNally quality with stops (some brief) at WKYC and WGCL Cleveland; KCBQ San Diego; WJBK Detroit; back to KCBQ; KRLA Pasadena; KROQ Los Angeles; WMYQ and WLVE Miami; KMET Los Angeles; back to KRLA as Matthew Frail; KPRQ Santa Rosa; KFOG San Francisco; KDUK and KORL Honolulu; KYA FM San Francisco; KOOL Phoenix; KISQ San Francisco and a simultaneous run on WUBT Chicago via syndication.
Lee briefly returned to WPOP in January, 1968 to host 6:00-9:00PM. Point of Hartford radio trivia…Lee's last on-air appearance in Hartford was during the kickoff of WRCQ AM's oldies format on September 21, 1974.
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