Jim Rome

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Jim Rome

Sports talk show host Jim Rome.

DOB October 14, 1964
Birthplace Tarzana, CA
High School Calabasas High School, 1982
College UC Santa Barbara, 1987
Current Employer Premiere Radio Networks, ESPN

James "Jim" Rome (born October 14, 1964 in Tarzana, California) is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, the subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications.

**Jim Rome**
Sports talk show host Jim Rome.
DOB	October 14, 1964
Birthplace	Tarzana, CA
High School	Calabasas High School, 1982
College	UC Santa Barbara, 1987
Current Employer	Premiere Radio Networks, ESPN

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 is married to his wife Janet since 1997, and they have two sons, Jake (born 2001) and Logan (born 2005).

Contents

1 Early broadcasting start
2 Broadcast style
3 Controversy and incidents
4 Celebrity appearances
5 See also
6 External links

Early broadcasting start

A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1987, Rome started his radio career at college radio station KCSB, 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" (after "Welcome to the Jungle", the Guns N' Roses hit that opens some segments of the program). The show became syndicated in 1996. It can now be heard on over 700 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.

On Tuesday, July 11, 2006, Jim Rome announced that his nationally syndicated radio show would remain on terrestrial radio instead of going to satellite radio. This puts an end to nearly a year of his audience's waiting for him to make this decision.

Broadcast style

Rome's radio show takes calls and emails from listeners, and it features interviews of notable people from the sports world. It is broadcast live from noon to 3 p.m. Eastern time (or from 9 a.m. to noon on the West coast). This time slot often is an open slot for Sports Radio stations, and Rome, like the pioneering ESPN show The Fabulous Sports Babe, allows local stations to give listeners a 'national perspective' on local teams. Rome's TV show 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, 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 'news' and 'sports' 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, to fill three hours of daily show time, has been criticized by some but applauded by fans as his unique "talking smack" air style. His long silent pauses on air, to establish a point, often gets mocked by fellow broadcasters, like Detroit's WKRK Live 97.1 Rob Parker and Mark Wilson, among many others. Rome frequently will hang up on callers - using his infamous "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 playground banter where callers insult 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. 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 self-confidence. Rome has stated he never has done a bad interview, only had bad interviewees. Rome tries to attend the most 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. However, he constantly pokes fun at soccer.

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 use of "smack" and jargon from Rome's shows makes them different from regular people 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 at 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 which 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 nicknames, such as "Bugaha"/Omaha, "Crapchester"/Rochester, "Crackmore"/Baltimore, and H-Town Houston.

Controversy and incidents

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. Years later, many believe the incident was actually staged^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}; however, Rome has remained largely silent on the issue. He does occasionally hang up on a listener when they call a male sports figure by a female name, commenting with tongue in cheek that "I don't stand for that sort of thing around here."

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.

Celebrity appearances

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. The character Jack Rose, played by John C. McGinley in the football movie Any Given Sunday, was based on Rome.

On May 3, 2004, Jim hosted the memorial service for the late Pat Tillman. On January 28, 2006, Rome was elected to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

External links