KJR hires new host

Marc James will go from Florida to Seattle and replace Gregg Bell at 10 a.m.

Marc James will reportedly debut on KJR Monday at 10 a.m.

Sports Radio KJR-FM has finally made a decision on a permanent host for its 10 a.m. show by hiring Marc James, sports radio host and field reporter for Sports Talk Radio WWBA-820, which is part of the CBS Sports Radio Network.

James will replace Tacoma News Tribune Seahawks beat guy Gregg Bell, who was running the show from 10 to noon since March when Jason Puckett quit to start his PuckSports.com podcast and I was unceremoniously fired (is anyone ever ceremoniously fired?)

Reports are circulating that James will return the show to its old 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. format. Bell and Christopher Kidd co-hosted a 10-noon show. Ian Furness picked up an extra hour in the interim and will now return to his 1-3 time slot.

Bell will host his last show Friday morning, and James is expected to debut on Monday.

Gregg was put in a tough spot, and I’m very familiar with it as a newspaper guy who had my own issues transitioning to sports radio. Running a show has always been difficult for me. I’m much more comfortable as a sidekick. Gregg handled the learning curve quicker and better than I ever did.

KJR-FM program director Rich Moore planned to make a permanent hire in August before football season began, allowing Bell to concentrate full-time on his duties covering the Seahawks.

At that time, I hoped that Moore would hire Ashley Ryan, who runs the board for the Chuck and Buck morning show, and Curtis Rogers, who runs the board for the Bump and Stacy show at Seattle Sports. And I also thought Anderson Hirst, who runs the board for Ian’s show, and Kidd, who runs the board for the 10 o’clock show, deserved a shot.

Ryan, Rogers, Hirst and Kidd are younger broadcasters (then again, they all are compared to me) who are up-and-comers who have the experience and the chops to handle their own show. Simply put, they’re all damn good and no doubt would have been options that would have fit into Moore’s minuscule budget. I’ve worked with them all and they’re terrific.

Gregg Bell did a nice job filling in as an interim host.

I don’t know much about James other than what I’ve read about him when I Googled his name. He certainly has experience, 20-plus years in TV and sports radio business. He also has a masters in broadcast journalism from the University of Miami whereas I never took one single broadcasting class at Washington State - stop it already, I can hear you - that sure as shit showed, Moore!

It’s poor form what I’m about to say, but I’ve grown even farther away from politically correct and appropriate in retirement. I mean, I can’t get fired from my own Substack, can I?

I hope for James’ sake he does a good job and is happy that he’s coming across the country to be a sports radio host in Seattle. But in my heart of hearts, where bitterness lingers, I really don’t want him to kick ass. Just being honest. If you’ve been fired, I think you feel the same way. You don’t want the person who replaced you to be gangbusgters, do you?

If that makes me a bad human being, so be it.

The person I want to kick ass more than James is Puck. Moore did not value him as much he should have. Listeners love the guy and I do too. (He says it’s mutual, always saying he loves me to death, but I wonder about that sometimes!)

I‘m so damn happy he’s off to a great start with his podcast and see nothing but more of the same for PuckSports.com in the future. Five bucks a month for what he’s providing with entertaining sports talk and guests and no commercial breaks? Come on!

Moore apparently thinks that James could be a drive-time candidate down the road, grooming him by giving him more experience in the mid-morning slot. If this is the case, I’d be looking over my shoulder if I’m Chuck Powell and Bucky Jacobsen, co-hosts of KJR-FM’s current drive-time morning show. James won’t ever replace Softy on the afternoon drive-time show, that’s for sure.

As much as I hate to say it since he’s such an insufferable Husky, Dave Mahler’s the franchise at KJR and justifiably so. Never boring, always entertaining, loud as hell, not to mention obnoxious. I hate the guy (not really) and love him at the same time. He was among the first to call when I got shit-canned, and those are the kinds of things you appreciate when you’re down and never forget.

I hope Kidd gets to keep his job. I’m fairly certain he will. He’s as sharp as they come, and Cougs support Cougs, especially one like Chris who dislikes the Dawgs as much as I do.

We’ll see what happens now at KJR-FM after James’ arrival. I’d say “Stay Tuned,” but I really don’t want you to, I’d rather you make the switch to PuckSports.com if you haven’t already.