1. Radio Legend Jim Scott Retires
By: Jason Finnell
Updated: 4/3/15
Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
The piercing sound of an alarm clock penetrates the usual stillness of the pre-3 a.m. hour. Awakened is
Jim Scott for another day on the radio, nearly his 50th
in Cincinnati, and as he recently announced, his
final.
Scott has been the fabric of Cincinnati radio for generations: Adults listened to him while their children
hoped he announced their school closing on the radio during a snowstorm. Those children, now full-
grown, have the sounds of Scott on their radio as they wake their kids for school.
The first voice many hear in the morning is a friendly, reassuring one, as if he was talking to us over a
morning cup of coffee. A perfect match for a city indicative of its geographical borders, he possessed a
Southerners’ friendliness with a slice of Midwestern humility. And whether you’re an elementary-school
student or in your 60s, he brought a smile to your face to an otherwise gloomy segment of the year. As a
kid, I’ll always remember going to bed excited at the possibility of being off school the next morning,
waking up and turning on 700. The list was usually a few minutes long and when he read my school’s
name, I pumped my fist and rolled over to a few more hours of dreamland, anticipating the exciting
possibility of sledding later on that day.
When Scott signs off for the final time on April 3, it will be the end of an era for family-friendly radio.
Scott’s program is proof you can provide what listeners’ want without crossing lines. He had an
uncommon knack of deflecting focus off him to whomever he was interviewing -- increasingly rare in
today’s flamboyancy found on most airwaves. We like our hometown favorites to be good people and
Scott fits that description better than almost anyone ever could.
He was a one-of-a-kind radio personality and will be missed greatly. Like many at the top of their
profession, whether in sports, news, on the radio or on television, we hear their voice and hearken back
to a frozen memory in time – good or bad. Scott has been on the air through Vietnam, September 11,
and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he’s also been the voice to wish us a happy birthday or a
friendly hello because he met us the day prior.
“It’s time to start saying goodbye,” Scott said the morning he announced his retirement.
As he walked out of the studio and into the sunset this morning for the final time, his last show was
befitting of his years on local airwaves: sharing each hour with whom he crossed paths with and worked
alongside, never spotlighting himself, which nobody could have faulted him for doing this morning had

2. he chose to do so. But he didn’t and brought a smile to listeners’ faces on this rainy Friday with a touch
of sadness as his golden voice will no longer be part of our daily commute.
Happy retirement, Mr. Scott! You will be missed.
And maybe, I’ll crack open a bag of Grippo’s today.
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