WOMC's Jim "JJ" Johnson Announces Retirement

[MichMash]

https://www.freep.com/story/entertainme ... 822420007/

The Detroit broadcasting legend will retire on December 1.

[IIN4MU]

Bye, Felicia!

[MrTaterSalad]

Good for JJ. A 30+ year career in radio anymore is unheard of. He's one of the last great Detroit radio personalities on the air and deserves to retire and go out the right way. 30 years from now we won't be celebrating radio DJs of the past like we are with DJ because there are hardly any live and local DJs of consequence left. Everything is voice tracked or DJs are reduced to nothing but 2 seconds of chatter every once and a while.

As for a replacement, I hope WOMC keeps a live and local morning show around. Former WYCD afternoon and morning host Chuck Edwards would be a good fit for the station, but I doubt Audacy is going to open up the purse strings for him given that they fired him in the first place. Chris Edmonds and Kevin O'Neill might be a little too old and close to retirement themselves, but they would fit at WOMC.

[Art Van Damme]

Tater, that’s more like 40+.
Johnson was at W4 in the late 70’s when he teamed up with the late George Baier for the first incarnation of The Morning Crew.

I think he did a stint at Rock 105 in Flint before making his way to the Motor City.

Hope he enjoys his retirement.

Ahh. Retirement. Something that our current, younger, hard-working, under-paid radio employees will most likely unable to experience.

[lidoshuffle]

Tater, that’s more like 40+.
Johnson was at W4 in the late 70’s when he teamed up with the late George Baier for the first incarnation of The Morning Crew.

I think he did a stint at Rock 105 in Flint before making his way to the Motor City.

Hope he enjoys his retirement.

Ahh. Retirement. Something that our current, younger, hard-working, under-paid radio employees will most likely unable to experience.

"The late George Baier"??
I must have missed this, when did he pass? I knew he retired from radio and moved to Northern Michigan.

[Mega Hertz]

I do believe George is still on this side of the ground.

[stopnswop2]

Wow, I knew this was coming.
At the Dream Cruise he was talking to Dick Purtan and was talking about retirement.

I'll miss hearing him. He is great.
And I agree, I really hope they keep it live and local there at WOMC

[Art Van Damme]

Apologies to Mr Baier and fellow Buzzboardians.

I was relying on memory for that statement. I thought I had read he had a severe medical condition (this would have been at least 10 years ago) and passed. I could not find the periodical or newspaper where I would have read it.

I stand corrected.

[Mega Hertz]

It's cool. He's pretty reclusive. It isn't a hard mistake to make.

[edj]

WWJ said he’s been in radio for 52 years.

[Dan in Northville]

A radio career of that length in this market deserves to be applauded. Enjoy your retirement.

[Ben Zonia]

Here's a WWCK Survey from 5-22-72, so that's about 51 1/2 years ago. I think Bill Pearson, who also did a short stint at "The High Wattage Cottage" in the early 1960s (History from Starship Radio 73 publication available on worldradiohistory.com), and the late Bill Gibson (Gildenstern) said they brought Jim Johnson from Mt. Pleasant to work weekends at WWCK at that time.



Starship Radio 73 link. Couldn't get it to load, and I forget if Jim Johnson is listed.

https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-R ... 3-Full.pdf

[Bobbert]

WWJ said he’s been in radio for 52 years.

But still not as long as Ron Cameron. 54 years and going strong!

[Dan in Northville]

WWJ said he’s been in radio for 52 years.

But still not as long as Ron Cameron. 54 years and going strong!

Well, still going, anyway.

[SD45]

Oh look someone made it about Ron Cameron again. I don't get the obsession with him.

And back to the topic. Now does this news move Joanne Purtan back toward television.