Jim began his radio career at 15 in Lawrence, Kansas. "It was a small operation out in the middle of a cow pasture. I had to water the cows before signing on the station each morning".

He first came to the Washington area in 1969 while stationed at Walter Reed Army Hospital. While an announcer with the Armed Forces Network, he also did weekends & swing as 'Mark West' at WPGC, a name he shed by the time he joined the station full time briefly doing late nights then afternoons in late 1972. Early in 1975 he became Program Director, a position he held until the 'Great Strike That Struck Out' in May of 1977.

Following the strike, Jim became Vice President of Pop Promotion for Polydor Records in New York.  He returned to radio in the early '80's as Asst. PD of 66 WNBC, which was then the most listened to station in the nation.  There he also produced the weekly 'Music Magazine' feature and was the regular fill in host for the 'Imus in the Morning' program.

This brief aircheck was recorded off the program channel of the control board, not off the air. Hence WPGC's legendary audio chain is not heard on this tape. Billing itself as 'WPGC, #1' the station featured contesting at the time in the form of a huge cash giveaway, 'Phono Phunnies' in which over $20,000 had already been given away. This was hardly accidental; its sole purpose was to damage format competitor WRC as much as possible. To that end, WPGC was successful; WRC would drop music and go all news in the not too distant future.

 

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