Charlotte Radio: Sports Talker Jim Celania Retires From WFNZ

Screenshot from WFNZ Website

Jim Celania, one of Charlotte’s longest-running and best-known sports media personalities, retired Monday from WFNZ 6010 AM The Fan in hopes of not becoming one of “those guys.”

“I’ve seen it in TV and in radio,” the 67-year-old Celania told The Charlotte Observer.

“Those guys who hang around too long. I didn’t want to be one of them. That’s the truth. It was time to get off the bus.”

Jim Celania

Celania came to Charlotte in 1988 – the same year as the original Hornets – and took over as sports director at WCNC (Channel 36). When he retired from that job in 1995, he was replaced by Chuck Howard, with whom he was paired four years later at WFNZ on the “The Howard & Celania Show.”

In his 19 years at WFNZ, Celania held a variety of roles, but was best known for his work with two prominent co-hosts, Gary Williams and Chris McClain.

He and Williams, who were teamed up on the “Morning Sports Page,” developed a chemistry strong enough to propel the show with only a smattering of call-ins. Williams is now with the Golf Channel.

With the “Mac Attack” with Chris McClain, which is driven more by call-ins, Celania hit his stride as a story-teller of sports lore both in Charlotte and beyond. Celania and McClain were named last year to the Heavy Hundred list of top talk show hosts in the nation by the industry trade journal Talkers Magazine.

“I’ve had a lot of great men and women come through the doors of WFNZ over the past 20 years,” operations manager D.J. Stout said in a statement, “but Jim will always be my favorite. He understood the balance of talking sports and being entertaining.

He says he enjoyed radio far more than than TV, he said, because you got to interact with the audience.