She “went off” on so many listeners. Some hung up on her. And she hung up on many more. But on Friday, November 15, after 30 years of keeping it real and making as many enemies as she did friends, WVON 1690 radio host Perri Small signed off at Chicago’s iconic radio station.
It will be a bittersweet moment when Small drops the mic and ends her popular Midday Madness radio show, where she has people talking, and mayors, governors and other Black political leaders listening.
Her last name is Small, but to many fans, she is big. All week, listeners across Black Chicago said goodbye, counting down the days to Small’s highly publicized retirement.
A Chicago icon, Small was set to sign off on Friday, November 15 after spending 30 years at WVON 1690 a.m. On that day, Small will also celebrate her 65th birthday.
To Small, her retirement is the best birthday gift she can give herself.
A Crusader journalist spent most of Small’s final week with her at WVON’s studio in the River City apartments in the South Loop. Listeners, including community leaders, were among well-wishers who stopped by WVON to shower her with gifts, money and plenty of food that filled the employee break room.
“It’s time, I’m ready. I’m going to spend my days naked drinking Tito [Vodka],” Small joked to show listeners one day.
For many, it’s been a long goodbye since Small announced her retirement last year on her Midday Madness show. Some listeners begged her to stay while others thought she was joking. Some die-hard fans believe Small will return to the airwaves after getting bored with retirement. With her signature sassiness, Small says that won’t happen anytime soon.
“I’ve been ready for this some time now. No more getting up in the morning, no more drives on the Dan Ryan. I can’t wait.”
For decades, Small lit up the airwaves with her explosive personality and charm as WVON’s radio host. Many listeners were drawn to Small, who often shared her struggles with drugs and alcohol with listeners.
When she felt something about a particular subject, she expressed it; sometimes her words would come out unfiltered. Last year, during a debate on-air about singers Diana Ross and Stephanie Mills, both of whom sang the song “Home” in Broadway music and the movie “The Wiz,” Small said Mills sang it best. She gave a thumbs down to Ross’ version and called her ‘old.’
One listener took issue with that comment and asked Small, “Well, how would you feel if someone called you old and an addict?” Small said, “Great! It’s 11:02 on The Talk of Chicago. We’ll be right back.”
Many religious callers to Small’s show would get a tongue lashing or simply a dial tone.
There were Small’s regular callers, like Ron, who frequently expressed his anger and frustration with the Democratic Party. Janice Jeffries, a listener and friend, was also a regular caller.
Born in Chicago in 1959, Small grew up in the Lake Meadows apartment high rise complex on King Drive. In 1968, Small’s parents moved the family to the Chesterfield neighborhood near Chicago State University. Small said the family lived across the street from Balm L. Leavell, the founder of the Chicago Crusader and first husband of the newspaper’s current publisher, Dorothy Leavell.
“My mother would bring milkshakes to Balm as he was sunbathing on his front lawn,” Small said.
Small studied classical ballet for 15 years beginning at the age of six. But she said she knew she wanted to be a journalist when she was eight years old. She graduated from Elizabeth Seaton High School and studied journalism at Western Illinois University. Small said she was only Black student reporter who wrote for the Western Courier, the campus newspaper.
“They used to call me Lois Lane,” Small told the Crusader.
Small began her career in journalism as an intern at the Chicago Defender. She then worked as the political editor for Chicago Citizen Newspaper Group, where she covered the infamous ‘Council Wars’ during Mayor Harold Washington’s first term as the city’s first Black mayor.
In 1989, Small came to WVON and worked as a producer. It would be a rocky beginning at the radio station for Small, who was fired three times for personal problems and addictions.
Small would eventually overcome her demons and blossom into a beloved personality who acquired a knack for finding angles to stories that other radio hosts did not have. “That’s one thing about Perri Small I admired. She always had an angle nobody else had. Everyone at VON looked to her to see what she was doing,” WVON radio’s Atiba Buchanan said during Small’s retirement party October 26 at the Haven Entertainment Center in Bronzeville.
From insightful interviews to acrimonious conversations, Small leaves WVON at a time when Black talk radio needs her, and more personalities like her. She’s retiring less than two weeks after Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race against Donald Trump. Black Chicago and Black America are still reeling from the loss. The reality of another toxic Trump presidency is stirring anxieties and concerns among Blacks, a presidency which would have surely generated Small’s trademark feisty discussions were she on the air.
Small’s replacement won’t be announced until January. In the meantime, temporary radio hosts will take turns hosting the show’s 9 a.m. to noon time slot.