Cincinnati radio icon Jim Scott announced his retirement Tuesday morning from the WLW 700 AM morning show slot after more than 54 years on the radio.
Mike McConnell, who served WLW for 25 years before a three-year radio stint in Chicago from 2010 to 2013, is set to replace Scott, according to cincinnati.com.
"How many times have I said good morning and thank you for listening?" Scott said on his morning show. "It's time to start saying goodbye."
According to WCPO-TV9, Scott's last day on the air will be April 3. McConnell's first day will be Cincinnati Reds Opening Day.
The veteran morning show host has been a fixture in Cincinnati radio since 1968, when he left WKBW 1520 AM in Buffalo to staff the morning show at WSAI-AM. He has dominated Cincinnati's morning show ratings in every decade since the 1970s, working at WLW for most of that time.
WLW talk show host Bill Cunningham said Scott is a rare radio personality who built his career on personal connections. Early in his career, he'd go to shopping malls and Fountain Square to hand out business cards, asking people to listen. Forty-seven years in, he still does "air checks," reviewing tapes with the station's program director to look for ways to improve his show.
"He's the best there ever was at what he did," Cunningham said. "I think he's the prototypical morning man. He's not confrontational. He's informational. He's not nasty. He's kind. Most people when they get up in the morning don't want to be yelled at. They don't like crude stuff. They simply want to be told information and get to work or school. Jim Scott fit the bill for like 47 years and nobody did it better."
His station bio describes Scott as “an avid golfer, marathon runner, the guy who will close your kids' school in the winter. And he does this all on 5 hours of sleep a day. Jim is the winner of the 2002 Marconi Award for Large Market Radio Personality of the Year.”
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