Scene Maker Q+A: KMOJ DJ Walter ‘Q Bear’ Banks talks about his pal Prince and George Floyd aftermath

Walter “Q Bear” Banks Jr. has been broadcasting on KMOJ (89.9 FM) for 43 years. He’s also served as everything from janitor to general manager for the north Minneapolis community radio station.

He doesn’t have a spouse or kids. “I been married to the radio station for over 40 years,” he said. “The community is my family.”

That’s why Banks is out in the North Side listening to what people have to say. That’s why his official title is community engagement director and assistant program manager as well as afternoon drive DJ.

Always talkative, Banks, a 2024 inductee into the Minnesota Broadcasters Hall of Fame, has lots of stories to tell whether about dealing with the George Floyd aftermath or playing basketball with Prince, his neighborhood buddy who stood a foot shorter than the 6-foot-3 DJ. Here are excerpts.

Q: Are you the longest tenured staffer at KMOJ?

A: Yeah, besides me there’s Bongo Jerie [who does a weekly tropical music show] who’s been there for a good while and also Kimuel Hailey [who does a Sunday morning gospel show].

Q: Do you get to choose the music you play or is that dictated by a music director or program director?

A: It’s both. There’s a program lined up by marketing that makes people want to listen to your station. I beg to differ in between. There may be a second or third song on albums that’s never released as a single that is better than all of them on the whole album. It’s 80/20 with 20% my choice. [Programmer] Vic Clemons is in Florida but he’s been in Wisconsin and a lot of different states.

Q: How much prep time do you do each day for your afternoon drive program?

A: I prep sun up to sundown. For me, I’m always in radio. No matter where you go, I try to find out what’s happening that day, so you stay relevant. I’m more in the community and see a lot of what goes on with the police force, betterment of the neighborhood. I do both sides.

Q: Did you have training for the job or was it on-the-job training?

A: It was on-the-job training. They wanted me to do training at Brown Institute [of Broadcasting]. I worked with the Wax Museum, 419 West Lake Street, back in the day and I learned all the genres of music. Led Zeppelin, Krokus, Iron Maiden. I was probably one of the youngest Black males that knew all the different styles.

I was in Gospel Truth but my real job with them was setting up the sound system. From that, my first job at KMOJ was doing gospel music. Back in the day, the DJ on KMOJ was actually programming. I did everything from janitor to going into the production room editing tape with a razor. Going from cassette to 8-track to reel-to-reel to CD to where were are now where everything is on a laptop. Everything has been a learning experience. I’m still growing. I’ll never say I know it all and done it all.

Q: How did you get the nickname ‘Q Bear’?

A: The Q is for cueing up records. So you know what song is coming up next. There is no Q in my name. Back in the day, I had a brother named Lonnie Banks, he’s passed on. We used to play basketball. He played for North High School. He was a freshman playing varsity. He and I would go all over and play two-on-two basketball. His [nick]name was Boo Boo and my name was Koala Bear ‘cause I used to make this sound — “koala” — when I shot a three and hit the bottom. The way you spell it is with a K not a Q.

Q: Did you ever play basketball with Prince?

A: Prince was probably one of the best basketball players, next to Ronnie Henderson. Prince could dribble with both hands and he’d take you to the hole and he’d talk smack while he was playing. We played a lot out at Paisley Park. If you ever got a chance to sit and talk to Prince, [you’d see] this is one of the most intellectual and intelligent guys. A lot of people had a myth about who he was. I’d see him as a friend of mine. We grew up together. He’s a year older than I am. One of my younger brothers dated his sister Tyka.

There was a respect factor for each other’s space. He’d talk about mysterious things to keep people from getting close to him. He was an amazing dude. We bowled together, we played basketball, we’d play football on Saturday mornings. He’d go in the music room at Lincoln Junior High and lock himself in for two hours. He comes out and walks right out the door. Whatever he was doing, it was that creativeness.

Q: Did you ever interview him on the air on KMOJ?

A: Not physically in the studio. He would come to the radio but not to go on the air. We sat in my office and just had conversations on different groups or different people he knew on the North Side of Minneapolis that he’d ask about. He wasn’t just a musical artist, he was a humanitarian who cared about life. If it wasn’t for Prince and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis [and their donations] back in the day, KMOJ would not be existing today. They did certain things that nobody know about it. Keeping it on the quiet side was understood by me.

Q: What was KMOJ’s role after the George Floyd incident?

A: I took it personal. The first thing you have to do is let everybody know there’s a wrong that has been done. But you also at the same time have to explain how to make some of the things right. That’s where the radio station took its part. It was trying to explain to the people to stay calm. Social media became the news, not Channels 4, 5, 9 and 11. We did whatever we could to keep people calm. It was about safety, not just the community, it was safety for the police officers. They have a family they want to go home to, too.

Q: What new local artists should we look out for?

A: Tracey Blake. He just did a song down in Memphis. It’s a country-western song. There’s another person named Wenso Ashby, he’s a jazz person. He plays keyboards. He can’t sing a lick. He’s a beast at what he does.

Q: Have you ever applied to work for a commercial radio station?

A: I had conversations back in the day with WGCI in Chicago. It wasn’t applying. I went to a conference, and they offered me a job. My thing has always been KMOJ and being a part of this community. If you matched it dollar for dollar and pound for pound, I’d be millions on top when it comes to the financial aspect. But when you look at the turnover in management and different concepts and different ideals, I’ve been the middle person to help them grow the station at large. Will I get any credit for that? I doubt it. Does it matter to me? No.