When you’ve been doing something for a long, long time, and are good at it, that’s when labels like “legendary” get applied to you and your work.
Thus, we haul out the word this morning, as today is the last day for veteran Canton radio sports director Jim Johnson, who’s retiring from NextMedia news/talk WHBC/1480.
Johnson was born in Coshocton, and started his radio career back in 1964 in Miamisburg, Ohio. After stints in Indiana, and at Uhrichsville’s WBTC/1540 and Akron’s WCUE/1150, he spent 10 years as news and sports director of Alliance’s WFAH/1310 (today’s WDPN).
He started at WHBC in August, 1978, and has been doing sports there ever since, lending his voice not only to sports reports on the station’s “Fred and Pam” morning show, but to literally THOUSANDS of high school and college football and basketball games.
And long-time local radio and sports watchers remember his stint doing radio for the Cleveland Cavailers in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
We’ll leave it to folks like regular OMW reader Nathan Obral to remind us of the situation that brought Jim to doing the games…we seem to recall it was as a backup to another living sports broadcasting legend – Joe Tait – when Tait was doing the team’s TV play-by-play, but we Could Be Wrong(tm).
Anyway, our hats off to Mr. Johnson, and we hope he enjoys his retirement…
Speak Your Mind