Speaker 1: I told Mr.
Speaker 2: Washington I wanted to become a disc jockey. Someone asked
Speaker 2: me to tell this story. And he said, Les Brown,
Speaker 2: he said, if you want to do anything worthwhile in life, you've.
Speaker 1: Got to be hungry.
Speaker 2: And so I started working to develop myself. He said,
Speaker 2: I want you to practice every day being a disc jockey.
Speaker 2: I said, but I don't have any job now. He said,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. He said that it's better to be
Speaker 2: prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to
Speaker 2: have an opportunity and not be prepared. So every day
Speaker 2: I was working to develop myself. And that's what you
Speaker 2: must do. And as I was working to develop myself,
Speaker 2: I applied for a job as a disc jockey, WNBM
Speaker 2: on Miami Beach. I went to a guy named Milton Butterball.
Speaker 2: I said, how you doing, Mr.
Speaker 1: Butterball? I'd like to get a job as a disc jockey.
Speaker 1: He looked at me. He said, do you have any
Speaker 1: broadcast background? I said, no, sir, I don't.
Speaker 2: Do you have any journalism background?
Speaker 1: I said, no, sir, I don't. He said, we don't
Speaker 1: have any jobs available. I said, yes, sir.
Speaker 2: I went back to Mr. Washington, and I told him.
Speaker 2: He said, don't take it personally. He said, most people
Speaker 2: are so negative, they will have to say no seven
Speaker 2: times before they say yes. He said, go back again.
Speaker 2: So I went back again. I said, how are you doing, Mr.
Speaker 1: Butterball? My name is Les Brown. He said, I know
Speaker 1: what your name is. What do you want?
Speaker 2: I said, I'd like to know whether or not you
Speaker 2: have any jobs at this jockey, sir. He said, didn't
Speaker 2: I just tell you yesterday we didn't have any jobs?
Speaker 1: I said, yes, sir. But I know whether or not
Speaker 1: somebody got laid off or somebody was fired, sir. He said,
Speaker 1: no one was laid off or fired. Now get on
Speaker 1: out of here. I came back the next day. Hello, Mr.
Speaker 3: Butterball.
Speaker 1: How are you? He said, fine.
Speaker 2: What do you want now? I said, I'd like to
Speaker 2: know whether or not you got any jobs, sir. Did
Speaker 2: that tell you the last two days we didn't have
Speaker 2: any jobs?
Speaker 1: I said, yes, sir.
Speaker 2: But I don't know whether or not somebody got sick
Speaker 2: or somebody died, sir. He said, no one got sick
Speaker 2: or died. Now, don't come back here and throw me
Speaker 2: out again. I came back the next day like I
Speaker 2: was seeing him for the first time.
Speaker 1: I said, hello, Mr. Butterball.
Speaker 3: How are you?
Speaker 1: He looked at me with rage. He said, go get
Speaker 1: me some coffee. I said, yes, sir. And I went
Speaker 1: to get him some coffee.
Speaker 2: After a while, I would give their lunch and dinner
Speaker 2: and I would go in the control rooms and take
Speaker 2: the disc jockeys their food and I would not leave
Speaker 2: until they would ask me to leave.
Speaker 1: Then they started trusting.
Speaker 2: Me to pick up entertainers that came to town. Entertainers
Speaker 2: like the Four Tops and the Temptations and Diana Ross
Speaker 2: and the Supremes. I would drive them all over Miami
Speaker 2: Beach in the disc jockeys, big long Cadillacs. I didn't
Speaker 2: have any driver's license, but I was driving like I
Speaker 2: had some. And one day, one Saturday afternoon, while I
Speaker 2: was at the radio station, a guy named Rock was
Speaker 2: drinking while he was on the air.
Speaker 1: I was the only one there looking at him.
Speaker 2: Through the control room windows, walking back and forth, young, ready,
Speaker 2: and hungry.
Speaker 1: I was saying, drink, rock, drink. Drink, rock.
Speaker 2: I'd have gone to get him some more if he'd
Speaker 2: asked me to. Pretty soon the phone rang and it
Speaker 2: was the general manager.
Speaker 1: And I answered the phone. I said, hello? He said, Les,
Speaker 1: this is Mr. Klein.
Speaker 2: I said, I know. He said, Rock can't finish his program.
Speaker 2: I said, I know. He said, would you call one
Speaker 2: of the other DJs in? I said, yes, sir. I
Speaker 2: hung the phone up.
Speaker 1: I said, now he must be thinking I'm crazy.
Speaker 2: I called my mom and my girlfriend, Cassandra. I said,
Speaker 2: y'all turn up the radio and come out on the
Speaker 2: front porch. I'm about to come.
Speaker 1: On the air. I waited for about 20 minutes. And
Speaker 1: I called him back. I said, Mr.
Speaker 2: Klein, I can't find nobody. He said, young boy, do
Speaker 2: you know how to work the controls?
Speaker 1: I said, yes, sir. He said, go in there and
Speaker 1: don't say nothing here. I said, yes, sir. I couldn't
Speaker 1: wait to get behind those controls. I put on an
Speaker 1: old Stevie Wonder record called Fingertips.
Speaker 2: I sat down behind that turntable. I said, look out,
Speaker 2: this is me, LV Triple P. Les Brown, your platter
Speaker 2: playing popper. There were none before me and there will
Speaker 2: be none after me.
Speaker 1: Therefore, that makes me the one and only. Young and
Speaker 1: single and love to mingle.
Speaker 2: Certified, bona fide, indubitably qualified to bring you satisfaction.
Speaker 1: A whole lot of action. Look out, baby, I'm your
Speaker 1: love man. I was hungry.
Speaker 3: I was hungry.
Speaker 1: I was hungry.
Speaker 3: You got to be hungry. You got to be hungry. So,
Speaker 3: ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 2: If you want to make your dream become reality, the
Speaker 2: people that are running at their dreams know that it's
Speaker 2: possible that you can live your dream. That it's necessary
Speaker 2: that you're relentless, that you have a plan of action,
Speaker 2: that you are creative. The people that are living their
Speaker 2: dream are fighting winners to attach themselves to. The people
Speaker 2: that are living their dreams are the people that know
Speaker 2: that if it's going.
Speaker 1: To happen, it's up to them.
Speaker 2: And they're resolving within themselves, it's not over until I win.
Speaker 2: The people that are running after their dream know they're
Speaker 2: going to have hard times. They keep on running because
Speaker 2: they're saying within themselves, I'm the one.
Speaker 1: I'm the one. No matter how bad it is or
Speaker 1: how bad it gets, I'm going to make it.
Speaker 2: The people that are running after their dreams are the
Speaker 2: people that are hungry. Shake somebody's hand on your right
Speaker 2: and left and say, you.
Speaker 1: Got to be hungry. And as you run towards your dream.
Speaker 2: I want to dedicate this to you that I love
Speaker 2: very much. I want to thank Dexter and all of you.
Speaker 2: It's something that I'm known by. It's on our tapes
Speaker 2: called Choosing Your Future, and it says simply this, that
Speaker 2: if you want a thing bad enough to go out
Speaker 2: and fight for it, to work day and night for it,
Speaker 2: to give up your time, your peace, and your sleep
Speaker 2: for it, If all that you dream and scheme is
Speaker 2: about it, and life seems useless and worthless without it,
Speaker 2: and if you gladly sweat for it and fret.
Speaker 1: For it and plan.
Speaker 2: For it and lose all your terror of the opposition
Speaker 2: for it, and if you simply go after that thing
Speaker 2: that you want with all of your capacity, strength in sagacity, faith, hope,
Speaker 2: and confidence, and stern pertinacity. If neither cold poverty, famish
Speaker 2: or galt, sickness or pain or body and brain can
Speaker 2: keep you away from the thing that you want, if
Speaker 2: dogged and grim you besiege and beset it, with the
Speaker 2: help of God you'll get it.
Speaker 1: This is Mrs.
Speaker 2: Mamie Brown's baby boy, Leslie Calvin Brown, saying it's been
Speaker 2: a plum-pleasing pleasure as well as a privilege.
Speaker 1: Thank you.