Cincy Radio: WLW's Jim Scott Signs-Off

Jim Scott

Friday morning, listeners heard the final broadcast for WLW 700 AM morning host Jim Scott who retired from radio after nearly 50 years on the air in the Queen City.

Cincinnati listeners first heard him in 1968 on WSAI spinning Top40.   He started in radio in 1960 while a high school senior in Binghamton, N.Y.  and in 2002 Scott won a Marconi Award for Large Market Radio Personality of the Year.

Mike McConnell, who served WLW for 25 years before a three-year radio stint in Chicago from 2010 to 2013, will replace Scott beginning Monday, April 6.

"I'm really happy for you personally," McConnell told Scott on Friday. "And, yes, I'm thrilled about getting started as well."



Scott's program director for many of his years at WLW was broadcast veteran and blogger Darryl Parks.

Parks recalls, "when Jim first arrived in Cincinnati from WKBW in Buffalo, he made it a point to introduce himself to everyone.  And I mean everyone.  He’d finish his morning show on WSAI and then head to Cincinnati’s Fountain Square where he’d hand flowers to women and ask them to listen to him.  Other days, Jim would literally knock on doors, going house to house, neighborhood to neighborhood, introducing himself and asking those that answered if they would listen.  That was decades ago and he never stopped."

Parks added,  "Scott understands his place in the market.  Never abuses his power or notoriety. Keenly knows the importance of ratings, the advertiser and revenue.  He’s a competitive personality and a radio icon that has survived and flourished ratings book after ratings book because of his ability to adapt and learn from an ever changing marketplace and audience."