Thursday, December 13, 2018

Jim Humphries

Jim Humphries passed away on Monday. Jim was a long time DJ in Knoxville and is a member of the 101 Wall of Fame. 

Jim grew up in the Burlington community and attended East High. After his radio days, Jim went on to work for Southern Railway for over 30 years, plus he created Disco Dance, Jimmy's concessions, and Jimmy's Southern Pub. 

Back in 1974 Jim set the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous radio broadcast. (101 was in the crowd cheering him on from the remote location at Suburban Center in West Knoxville.)

Let's look back at WETE 620 in 1974...

The year kicked off with the following on air line up ~ Jim Clark 5-9, Jim Humphries 9-2, Curtis Parham 2-6, Adrien Newton 6-1, and Ernie the Bartender 1-5. The news crew included Tom Badgett, Don Patrick, and Glen Prosser. Mike Beach and Roger C. Hoover were on the team too.

End of March...Jim goes for the Guinness World Record, the mark to beat was 209 hours! Jim did it and was forevermore dubbed "The Iron Man".

In May Curtis Parham took over AM drive from Jim Clark with Mike Beach becoming afternoon DJ. Open Line was added as a 6-8p talk show and was hosted by Tom Badgett.

At the end of June Mike Beach joined WKGN 1340 and basically swapped dial positions with Walker Johnson who left the WKGN news department for the 2-6p time slot at WETE.

Later that summer Joe Crotty became the night time DJ. 5-9 Curtis Parham, 9-2 Jim Humphries, 2-6 Walker Johnson, 6-10 Joe Crotty, and Ernie Baker aka Ernie the Bartender overnight. That line up stayed in place the remainder of 1974.

RIP Jim...may his memory eternal!