Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Jim Rome
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Date of birth | October 10, 1964 (age 42) |
| Birthplace | Tarzana, California |
| High School | Calabasas High School, 1982 |
| College | UC Santa Barbara, 1987 |
| Current Employer | Premiere Radio Networks, ESPN |
James "Jim" Rome (born October 14, 1964) is a Jewish American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications.
Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, he hosts The Jim Rome Show and hosts the TV show Jim Rome Is Burning (formerly Rome Is Burning) which airs on ESPN. His past hosting jobs included sports discussion shows Talk2 (ESPN2) and The Last Word (Fox Sports Net).
Rome graduated from Calabasas (Calif.) High School in 1982 and the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1987. He has been married to wife Janet (also Jewish) since July 19, 1997, and they have two sons, Jake (born 2001) and Logan (born 2005).
Contents |
Rome started his radio career at college radio station KCSB while at UCSB, where he was Sports Director for one quarter, and at news station KTMS, also located in Santa Barbara. He eventually moved to XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego, where he started what is now known as The Jim Rome Show, or "The Jungle," with a loop of the instrumental intro of Iggy Pop's song "Lust for Life" and the instrumental intro of Guns N' Roses' song "Welcome to the Jungle" as the show's signature music. The show became syndicated in 1996. It can now be heard on over 200 radio stations across the United States and Canada. In 1998, Rome released an album entitled Welcome to the Jungle, which featured memorable sound bites and music from the show.
In early 2003, Rome was interviewing friend Mark Shapiro, executive producer of programming and production at ESPN, on his radio program. Unexpectedly, the two began to discuss a possible return for Jim to ESPN, and within a few months, Jim was officially rehired to host Rome Is Burning. Jim openly attributes that interview as the impetus to his return to television.
In July of 2006, Rome announced that his nationally syndicated radio show would remain on terrestrial radio instead of going to satellite radio. The radio show is heard on 200 stations across the country, including outlets in nine of the top 10 radio markets[citation needed].
Rome's radio show takes calls and emails (formerly faxes) from listeners, and features interviews of notable people from the sports world. It is broadcast live from 9 a.m. to noon pacific time (noon to 3 p.m. eastern). This time slot is often dark for Sports Radio stations, and Rome, like the pioneering ESPN program The Fabulous Sports Babe, allows local stations to give listeners a 'national perspective.' Rome's television program primarily features interviews with athletes and other people associated with sports, but his main influence both started and remains with sports talk radio.
Rome rarely announces for certain what guests he will have each day, preferring not to "jinx" them and giving the impression he prefers to 'hunt down' interviews rather than pre-schedule guests like with most talk-radio shows. 'The Jungle' tries to highlight the most recent players and issues, as well as Rome's 'take' on the latest sporting news. Rome often is reduced to repeating himself on air, and dredging up obscure off-beat news and pop culture stories to fill air time. This generates listener feedback often but can reduce the show to pointless mockery of obscure incidents and individuals. His manner of mocking and demeaning people on air has been criticized by some but applauded by fans as his unique "talking smack" air style. Frequently, he will "run calls" (hang up on callers, using his infamous "manual buzzer") if they stammer, fail to make a point quickly or touch upon a subject that Rome has black-listed. "Talking smack," a kind of quick-witted insult and taunting playground banter in which callers take to task other callers or people in the sports world, is favored by Rome. This results in most callers quickly summarizing their "take" and "not sucking" on air, and leaves many other callers unfamiliar with the slang unwelcome.
He frequently references many writers for his "body of work" and openly admits that they are the creative juices of the show's content. Many fans know that Terrence in Sierra Madre, J-Bone in the Desert, Tim in Omaha, Mike-T in C-town and John in C-Town not only frequent the shows airwaves via phone calls, but their eMails are used as a backbone to the foundation of his 3-hour routine. The most famous eMailers (Bill in C-Bus, Radicky in Crapchester, and T-Rex) have their eMails read repeatedly even by guest host substitutes such as Conan O'Brien, Jim Lampley, Jay Mohr and Bob Costas and as Costas has said "The hottest topic in The Jungle is The Jungle. The writers are hilarious and some could write for my show!"
Rome's brashness in advocating for the show in markets that do not broadcast the full three hours, or that tape-delay the show, is characteristic of the host's well-known self-confidence. Rome has asserted that he never has done a bad interview, only had to put up with bad interviewees. Rome attends many significant sports events, often hosting the show from Super Bowl and Final Four cities. His range of sports topics includes the major four professional sports leagues - NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, as well as golf and auto racing. He, however, constantly ridicules soccer and the WNBA, and used to ridicule NASCAR.
Rome refers to his loyal fan base as "the Clones." The nickname stems from the idea that their devotion to Rome, tendency to support Rome's "takes," and their imitative use of "smack" and jargon from Rome's shows makes them different from regular sports-radio listeners but all the same as each other. The uniqueness of this fan base can be heard most distinctly when a "Clone" calls another sports-talk show and gives a "take."
A frequent Rome device is to read offensive and/or inappropriate emails from the "Clones" on the air (usually purportedly written by some famous individual), and then express faux-dismay to the Clones for sending the emails. Some of the most recurring email subjects of questionable taste include emails purportedly from O.J. Simpson, Nicole Simpson, and/or Ron Goldman, which allude to the double homicide that O.J. Simpson has been accused of committing; Mark Chmura, who is known as "American Chewy" on Rome's show, referencing allegations that Chmura acted inappropriately with an underage girl at a party; and Rae Carruth. By reading the emails on the air, and then superficially expressing his displeasure with those topics, Rome is able to present juvenile or tasteless humor while appearing to stay above the fray.
Rome is also known for referring to various cities by sometimes derogatory nicknames, such as "Bugaha" (Omaha), "Crapchester" (Rochester), "Crackmore" (Baltimore), "H-Town" (Houston), and "Suckramento" (Sacramento), though he has eased off the last since the Kings became regular NBA contenders.
One of the staple features of The Jim Rome Show is the Smack-Off, an annual invitation-only contest in which the best callers (those who have given the best takes and/or smack, in Rome's opinion) compete against each other to see who can deliver the best smack. Fox Sports Radio host J.T. the Brick was the winner of the first Smack-Off in 1995; the notoriety he gained from this achievement was instrumental in his getting his own show.
Rome achieved notoriety for an incident on his ESPN2 show in 1994 when he repeatedly called NFL quarterback Jim Everett "Chris" (after Chris Evert, the female tennis player), from the argument that Everett shied away from getting hit. Appearing as a guest on the show, Everett warned Rome about repeating the insult and then challenged Rome to do so. When Rome did, Everett physically attacked Rome while still on the air, overturning a table and knocking Rome to the floor.
Rome also caused controversy when, in 1997, he challenged 69-year-old ex-hockey star Gordie Howe's plans to play a shift with the IHL's Detroit Vipers, which would have given "Mr. Hockey" the claim of having played professional hockey in six decades. Rome offered a bounty of $3,000 to any player on the team playing against the Vipers to take Howe out of the game permanently. Howe and his wife threatened Rome with a lawsuit, and the bounty went away.
In the 1999 film Any Given Sunday, directed by Oliver Stone, the character of "Jack Rose" played by John C. McGinley, would appear to be a direct parody of Jim Rome. In the film, the character is portrayed unsympathetically as a sycophant and two-faced. In interviewing the Jamie Foxx character during the film, his character states, "Your smack is so fresh; I mean it’s so on time and truthful. Give me a pound dog." This reference to smack and the fact that the character's name resembles Jim Rome and the character portrayal includes notable facial hair all contribute to the speculation that this is a take on Jim Rome himself. The film's character perhaps mocks the style of interview that Jim Rome presents, as well as comments on the role of the media in both building up and tearing down athletes as heroes, benefiting from both the ascent and descent.
In 2007, ESPN commentator and former soccer star Eric Wynalda lashed out at Rome's distaste for soccer during an interview with a soccer fan website. Wynalda stated: "Jim Rome can suck my dick! And he should be very afraid, because I’m the kind of guy, if I get too many drinks in me, I will club his ass."[1] Wynalda called in to the show the day after the incident and explained to Rome that the comments were a result of frustration and were also taken out of context. Rome half-heartedly accepted the apology and is "cool" with Wynalda.
Rome made cameo appearances in the movies Space Jam, Two for the Money, and the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. He appeared in blink-182's music video What's My Age Again? and appeared on the HBO sitcom Arliss.
On May 3, 2004, Jim hosted the memorial service for Pat Tillman. On January 28, 2006, Rome was elected to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
- Jim Rome Rome's official website
- The Jungle Comes to Madison: Anatomy of a Jim Rome Tour Stop unofficial site with pictures from the Madison tour stop and multi-chapter monograph about the Madison tour stop and Jim Rome in general.
- Jim Rome's Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Page
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | American radio personalities | American sports announcers | American television talk show hosts | Jewish American journalists | Living people | People from Irvine, California | University of California, Santa Barbara alumni | 1964 births