Sports Communication Assignments

As a child he was raised by his grandmother Betsy Thomas in the small town of Lloyd, FL. Growing up he loved school, especially language arts and always participated in his school’s spelling bee and was on the debate team. Although his grandmother only had a third-grade education, he credits her for teaching him the most important things in life: keep God first, ownership is the key to wealth, and that the greatest act we can do in life is helping one another. Despite living hundreds of miles from both his father and mother, who had separated before he was born, he says he knew he was loved by both. “I knew they both were just doing what they felt was best for me by sending me to live with my grandmother, so I never resented them.” In high school after his grandmother passed away, he moved to Passaic, NJ briefly living with his father James Sr. and his wife. After graduation he went into the Army and shortly after he returned to South Florida where his mother Carrie lived and read a newspaper that had a horoscope section and said if you were born between April 20^thand May 20^th, you would be good as a radio broadcaster. He describes the moment as a lightbulb going off. “I knew I loved words, public speaking, and connecting with others. He visited his local radio station and got a job on the spot as a weekend sports broadcaster. After a few weeks he got the opportunity to fill in during primetime for a co-worker who called out of work. That primetime spot was then given to him. He then launched his own FM station in Miami, FL alongside his best friend Jerry Rushin which he named Starforce 99, now known as the #1 Hip-Hop station in Miami: 99 JAMZ. He’s interviewed and met President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Aretha Franklin, Will Smith, Mary J Blige, and many more. Fast forward to now and he has been on the air for 50 years in the same market, a nearly impossible feat for most radio personalities and he doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon. “Why retire? I love what I do.” I asked him what does he want people to remember when they look back on his life and he answered, “I want them to remember the saying I’ve said for many years on the radio before I signed off, ‘I love you more.’”