Jim Leach is leaving his longtime role at WMAY to take a
position as public information officer with the Illinois Department of Public
Health. His last day at WMAY is June 28 and he starts at IDPH on July 5.
Leach started at WMAY as a part-time disc jockey in 1983,
while he was in college. Back then, the station format was country music, and
Leach played vinyl records. Sometimes they got recordings of live music shows
and played them for 15 minutes at a time, then a station break.
Later, while studying at Illinois State University, Leach
followed an instructor’s recommendation and tried his hand at newswriting and
on-air reporting for Channel 20 WICS. After finishing a master’s degree in
public affairs reporting at Sangamon State University, Leach went to work at
the Attorney General’s office.
But the lure of being on the air was more than Leach could
resist. His then-fiancee saw a newspaper ad seeking an announcer at his old
radio station. He got the job, and his second stint at WMAY began in 1990 and lasted
until now.
In 1990, WMAY was evolving from a country music station to
what Leach describes as a “news-Intensive oldies format,” and by 1995 it had
changed to almost exclusively news and talk. These were the days when the talk
radio space was dominated by Rush Limbaugh and other conservative voices. In
fact, Leach’s show eventually filled a time slot formally occupied by Oliver
North. Leach is not a conservative ideologue, and listeners quickly noticed. He
defended Bill Clinton and supported gay marriage on his show. Leach said that
management sometimes got angry feedback from listeners, but the station stood
by him.
“My show was stylistically similar to right-wing talk radio,
if a bit less strident,” said Leach. He said that it really hit him how
connected the station was with its listeners when O.J. Simpson was acquitted.
“People called all day long; they needed to be heard,” he said. “What we do
here is engage in dialogue with the community about issues that matter to
them.”
According to Leach, ideology is secondary to being engaged.
“One of the things we prided ourselves on was a wide range of views,” said
Leach. “Consultants thought we needed to have one political viewpoint or the
other, but a lot of important local issues like what the city government is
doing or how the school district is performing aren’t necessarily ideological.”
Leach laments the coarseness of some of the talk heard on
radio programs, both from hosts and listeners. “In the past eight years or so,
more people have become emboldened to lash out in ways that aren’t
constructive. They’ve seen politicians embrace that style, but I don’t think
it’s effective in the long run,” he said.
Other events that stand out during his long career is the collective
grief expressed by his listeners after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the tornadoes
that struck Springfield in 2006. “I was on the air 14 hours straight,” he said.
Without power, transistor radios were
one of the few reliable sources of information in those tense hours after the
disaster.
Leach also said that a career in radio can be strange and
wonderful, sometimes both at the same time. “I have had the privilege of
interviewing both Barack Obama and Weird Al Yankovic, my two favorite
interviews ever.” He’s also allowed himself to be tased live on air and broadcast
while undergoing a colonoscopy in order to raise awareness about cancer
screening.
Leach has won awards from the Associated Press, the Illinois
Press Association, and is consistently recognized by Illinois Times’ annual
Best of Springfield. “Awards from
my peers mean a lot to me, but not as much as the outpouring of sympathy and
affection I received from listeners when my wife passed away unexpectedly in
2015,” he said. “Those messages and cards and expressions of condolence
literally saved my life.”
Leach said that the gratitude that he feels to the company
that gave him a platform to do something he loves and treasures at one place is
impossible to measure. “Most people who work in radio have to bounce around a lot,”
he said. “I’ve been so lucky to be able to practice my craft in the community I
grew up in and love.
When asked what advice he would give to someone wanting to
start a career behind the mike, Leach didn’t hesitate. “Learn your community,
learn what interests people. Be local, immediate and relevant. It doesn’t
matter whether you are talking about something immediate and urgent or long-term.
Take your role as a member of the community seriously.”
While Leach won’t be on the radio much longer, you can catch
him at The Muni this summer performing the role of Maurice in Beauty and the
Beast.
Don Howard is an intern at Illinois Times while
completing his master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting at University of
Illinois Springfield. He has gotten to know Jim Leach while also working
part-time at WMAY.
