BLACK WALL STREET AWARDS | WOODLAWN | JUNE 4, 2026
For 40+ years, Randy Dennis showed up — no ego, no drama, just music, community, and joy. On June 4, Baltimore gets to say thank you.
(BALTIMORE – May 25, 2026) — There is a particular kind of Baltimore person that this city produces every now and then. Not the loudest in the room. Not the one angling for the spotlight or chasing the headline. Just somebody who moves through the community with a quiet, unshakeable consistency — somebody who was there before you knew to look for them, and who is still there long after others have moved on. Randy Dennis is that person.
For more than 40 years, Randy Dennis has used the power of music to inspire, entertain, and bring people together. From his early days in radio to his rise as a respected DJ, voice talent, and community entertainer, he has always believed that music should make people feel good and keep them connected. He has been a fixture on some of Baltimore’s most beloved stations — WWIN, WEBB, and V-103 — and his name alone is enough to conjure a feeling in anyone who grew up in this city listening to Black radio.
On June 4, 2026, the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards will honor Randy Dennis at the WOODLAWN ceremony, held at Andre Boyd’s, 6665 Security Blvd. It is a recognition long overdue — and one that speaks not just to a career but to a life lived in service of the community.
You Already Know the Name
Ask anyone in Baltimore who grew up on Black radio, and the name Randy Dennis comes up immediately. He was the soundtrack to school mornings. He was the voice on the way to work. He was synonymous with R&B, with grown folks music, with the kind of radio that felt like it was made specifically for the 35-and-older crowd who knew what real music sounded like.
Mike Nyce, Program Manager at WEAA 88.9 FM, put it plainly: Randy Dennis is a radio legend. Full stop. The line dance king. A Baltimore institution that ushered in an entire vibe — and kept it alive decade after decade.
I felt this personally. When I first received the abbreviated biography that Mr. Dennis forwarded for this story, something felt off. Something was missing. I sat with it and realized what it was: decades of joy had been left out. The stories. The parties. The memories. He is a part of so many of our lives and our family’s story — and a short bio could never capture that.
“In reading the abbreviated biography forwarded by Mr. Dennis, I felt something was missing. I felt decades of entertainment joy have been omitted. The stories. The parties. The memories. He’s a part of so many of our lives and our family’s story. He has always been an inspiration to me: a Black man in radio.”
— Doni Glover, Founder & Publisher, BMORENews.com
Growing up in Baltimore, Randy Dennis was always a role model for what a media personality ought to be. I remember the one-pagers at the record store with his picture on them. WWIN. He was synonymous with Black radio. Period. Hands down. R&B all day. The impact he has made quietly for decades is simply astounding — all while remaining completely down to earth. That is phenomenal.
Same Dude. Every Single Time.
I have met many people in radio over the years. People with very different personalities. Some chasing fame. Some consumed by ego. Some who were one person at the station and a completely different person in the streets. Randy Dennis was never that.
Wherever I saw him — at the station, at an event, in the streets — same dude. Approachable. Character. Class. He never changed. That kind of consistency is rare in any industry, but in radio — where ego and personality are practically currency — it is almost unheard of.
Patti W. Smith, former news announcer at WWIN, remembers it the same way. She worked alongside Dennis during his WWIN years and watched him move through the radio world the way few ever do — with grace and without pretense.
“Randy is the calm in that storm of radio. It was never about ego with Randy. It was about him reaching out to people in the community — just like he does now with the line dancing. If Randy was at a listening party or out in the street promoting, everybody knew who he was, and he was just chill.”
— Patti W. Smith, Former News Announcer, WWIN
Smith paused before adding: “He wasn’t a big ego, chest-out radio personality. He was just always chill.”
That ease — that willingness to be present without demanding to be the center of attention — is what made Randy Dennis a fixture not just at the station, but in the community itself. He showed up to the events. He worked the listening parties. He was out in the streets promoting. And he did it all without making it about himself.
He Inspired the Next Generation
The true measure of a legend is not just what they accomplished — it is who they inspired. And in Randy Dennis’s case, the answer is clear: he inspired the people who came after him.
Jay Claxton, who went on to build his own radio career at Radio One and Q, grew up with Randy Dennis as the voice on the radio every single morning. The ride to school. The ride across town. The soundtrack to a childhood in Baltimore.
“Listening to Randy every day, every morning — my mom taking me across town, my father — it was special for me. Years later, I’m at Radio One, I’m at Q, and Randy still had Magic. And for him to know who Jay Claxton was — that had the utmost, ultimate respect for me. You’re part of the reason why I got into radio.”
— Jay Claxton, Radio Personality, Radio One / Q
Claxton described what it felt like when Dennis would acknowledge him in the building, when one of the greats recognized what the next generation was doing. “I just appreciate being around you and you knowing me,” Claxton said, “because you’re part of the reason why I got into this.”
Claxton also reflected on what made Dennis different — the energy, the swag, the confidence of a man who had earned his place and wore it naturally. “He had a vibe, like, I’m ready to dance. What you think this really is? That kind of attitude. And he earned that energy. He earned the right to carry himself that way.”
But Claxton did not stop there. Because for him, the Randy Dennis story is not just about honoring the past — it is about issuing a challenge to the future. Claxton is himself now a veteran, a man who has put in decades of work in Baltimore radio. And he finds himself wondering whether the generation coming up behind him will show him the same reverence that he showed Randy Dennis.
“I respected the hierarchy and the pecking order. I worked my ass off, waited my turn, and when the door opened up — I knocked it down. I just hope the younger generation has that same attitude. Because a lot of times, they don’t necessarily be ready, but they beat their chest like they’re ready.”
— Jay Claxton, Radio Personality, Radio One / Q
That reflection hits different when you understand the full arc. Randy Dennis is around 70 years old. Jay Claxton is in his mid-fifties. The generation Claxton is speaking to is in their twenties and thirties. Three generations. One chain of respect. And Claxton is asking, out loud, whether that chain will hold.
It is a question worth sitting with. Because what Randy Dennis modeled — the work ethic, the humility, the patience, the commitment to earning your place rather than demanding it — is exactly what Claxton absorbed as a young man riding to school with the radio on. And it is exactly what Claxton is now hoping the next wave will absorb from him and from the elders who paved the way.
That is what a legend looks like. Not just someone who was great in their moment — but someone whose example keeps echoing forward, generation after generation, shaping the ones who come next.
The Line Dance King
If radio was Randy Dennis’s first calling, the dance floor became his second — and in many ways, his most enduring one.
More than 27 years ago, Dennis discovered line dancing and found in it exactly what he had always found in music: a way to uplift people, bring them together, and keep them moving. For the past 15 years, he has served as an instructor, helping hundreds of people — especially seniors — stay active, healthy, and socially connected through the joy of dance.
What started as a passion has grown into a movement. His classes have become a fixture throughout the Baltimore area — a gathering place of fun, friendship, fitness, and positive energy for people who need all of the above. In a world that too often leaves older adults behind, Randy Dennis has made it his mission to make sure they have somewhere to go, something to look forward to, and somebody cheering them on.
Whether behind the microphone or on the dance floor, the mission has always been the same: make people feel good. Keep them connected. Keep them moving.
A Quiet Legacy, A Loud Impact
Forty years. Dozens of stations, events, broadcasts, and dance classes. Thousands of people touched. And through all of it — the same dude. Approachable. Character. Class.
That is the Randy Dennis story. Not a story of flash or fame, but a story of sustained, quiet, powerful impact on a city that does not always stop to acknowledge the people who hold it together. The Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards exists precisely for moments like this — to stop and say, out loud, in front of the community: we see you. We honor you. What you have done matters.
On June 4, Baltimore’s Woodlawn community will gather at Andre Boyd’s to do exactly that.
Randy Dennis deserves every moment of it. Many thanks to Dave Green for the nomination.
EVENT DETAILS
Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards — WOODLAWN
Thursday, June 4, 2026
Andre Boyd’s | 6665 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD
RSVP to blackwallstreetwoodlawn.eventbrite.com
Doni Glover is the founder and publisher of BMORENews.com, now in its 24th year of covering Black Baltimore, and the founder of the Joe Manns Black Wall Street Awards, now in its 15th year. He is also the host of the Emmy-nominated Doni Glover podcast and The Doni Glover Show on WMAR-TV 2.
