Ace disc jock Don Topping to be conferred with Order of Distinction

In what many people consider the golden age of Jamaican radio, Don Topping was El Numero Uno — a fast-talking Disc Jockey with a gift for gab. He was a mainstay at Radio Jamaica Limited (RJR) during the 1970s, when he shared airtime with other popular broadcasters including Marie Garth and Alan Magnus. On August 6, the Jamaican government announced that it will award 81 year-old Topping the Order of Distinction (Commander class) for his contribution to broadcasting.

Based in Orlando, Florida, Topping said the recognition is “a wake-up call”. He added that, “It’s a wonderful feeling when people value your contribution.” Born in Montego Bay, the eldest of three children, he attended Cornwall College but migrated to the United States during the early 1960s. Topping began working at RJR in 1969, shortly after returning from the US where he attended the New York School of Announcing and Speech.

His initial show at the station was The Don Topping Thing, which aired from 2 pm to 5 pm. At the time, RJR had established broadcasters such as Tony Verity and Charlie Babcock, and a rising star named Marie Garth. In the early 1970s, they were joined by Ralston McKenzie and Alan Magnus.

Compared to the state-owned Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation, which had a reggae-friendly format, RJR was criticised for its steady rotation of American and British music. For Topping, that was a misconception. “We certainly played a lot of local music, and foreign music.

You have to remember, when RJR started, there wasn’t a lot of Jamaican music,” he noted. The self-proclaimed El Numero Uno was so popular in the early 1970s that he was given the role of a flashy DJ in The Harder They Come, a low budget movie directed and co-written by Perry Henzell. Topping had done voice work for Henzell, former advertising executive.

He admits that the film’s hint of payola at radio stations was real. “There were incidents like that, but as a practitioner you had to know how to operate. You couldn’t allow yourself to be corrupted because you would get into trouble,” said Topping, who left what was then the RJR Group in 2010.