WHUR Adds Local Favorite George Willborn and Doug Banks to 'Next Big Voice' Contest

Former Baisden Sidekick Joins Doug Banks and DeDe McGuire

The syndicated Doug Banks Show has added Michael Baisden's former co-host George Willborn to the afternoon show. He will join Banks and DeDe McGuire. Willborn replaces comedian Rudy Rush.

Coming on the heels of the announcement, Washington, D.C. Urban AC station 96.3 WHUR is giving the show the opportunity to join the station's lineup as they continue to search in Week 5 for Washington's Next Big Voice.


WHUR has decided, along with some other urban stations across the country to not go with the Skip Murphy Show from Cumulus Media. Murphy had been brought in at the beginning of the month to replace Michael Baisden when contract negotiations between Cumulus and himself went sour.

Going syndication in Week 5 of the contest instead of local is somewhat of a surprise for the station that promotes itself as "Sounds Like Washington." So far Marc Clarke and Troy Johnson, Nikki Strong, Marc and Troy with Molette Green, and Frank Ski formerly of V-103 Atlanta have been part of the contest from the local studios of WHUR. We will see how the listeners will respond as many are requesting weekend host, long-time WPGC midday personality and Sirius XM radio host Michel Wright to get a shot during the contest.

Willborn is no stranger to WHUR as he co-hosted the popular "The Real DC Morning Show" on the station with Tony Richards and TC before the current Steve Harvey Morning Show was brought aboard.  By the way The Doug Banks Show also currently airs on WHUR's HD2 channel "WHUR World." The show itself has quite frankly struggled to attract major markets as affiliates outside of V103 (WVAZ) in Chicago where Banks was a hugely popular local Chicago radio personality for many years. Bringing in Willborn may increase the show's ability to garner some of Micheal Baisden's former stations as their affiliates.

WHUR promotes this week's contestants:
"Doug Banks, DeDe McGuire, and George Willborn formerly of the Michael Baisden Show hit the airwaves with a variety of topics relevant to the 25-54 demographic. Doug is the radio veteran that initiates the topic of the day and solicits responses from the audience, DeDe’s is the voice of the independent woman and is not shy about expressing her opinion and the bad-boy style of George Willborn pushes the envelope on everything from romance to finance. With proven experience and ratings, The Doug Banks Team brings more music, more fun, and more entertainment than any team in the industry."