Jim Graci is the Director of Branding & Programming at WOKV-FM, WOKV-AM in Jacksonville. He left KDKA in Pittsburgh a year ago in August, programming there for 10 years.
“I love Jacksonville, but there are times I miss Pittsburgh,” he said. “I miss the people, we had a great staff in both the News/Talk area and sports.”
Graci said he always strove to be present for the needs of talents as much as they required. “I’ve enjoyed the challenge. The opportunity to coach on news and talk.”
When coaching his talent in News/Talk, Graci says he encourages and trains his staff to hit their marks from the beginning of their show, through the middle, until the end.
“It’s all about being a good storyteller,” Graci said. “Being able to entertain and inform at the same time. I know how difficult it is to do that on a consistent basis.
“I challenge anyone to come over and do it for just one day.”
When Graci brings in talent that has primarily a print background, he likes to pair them with a seasoned radio person.
“Radio guys obviously come up through the ranks as a DJ or what have you,” Graci said. “They’ve had some kind of formal training and understand the structure of the clock. It can be a real science.”
In his experience, Graci said print columnists tend to be more analytical. More inclined to be involved in the finite.
“That’s not necessarily the approach to keep people listening,” Graci said. “That also doesn’t mean newspaper guys can’t become good radio guys. They may need to learn how to deliver in a different manner.”
Communicating on the radio requires talent to transmit content on various platforms, whether it’s building a podcast, or posting on Twitter.
“We have to learn to adapt to connect, reach a vast amount of listeners,” Graci explained. “Everybody is different. When it comes to coaching, no one size fits all. I have to understand a person’s strengths. What approach with them will help the ‘lightbulb go off.’”
Graci doesn’t like the term ‘raw’ when it comes to bringing on new talent. To use a baseball analogy, Graci says you have to give someone enough at-bats to make an informed decision.
Graci said a couple of guys he’s proud of nurturing are Chris Mack and Colin Dunlap.
“I arrived at ESPN Pittsburgh in 2004. After a few years there we needed a producer for Stan and Guy,” Graci explained. “Chris had been a Top-40 DJ and wanted to be on the air right away. I told him he needed to produce a while first. Eventually, I figured he’d get his own show. He was so good with Stan and Guy”
As far as on-air disposition, Graci said he thinks we’re done with the angry young man in sports radio. It’s just too much of the same thing.
“I love tiramisu,” Graci said. “But I’m not going to eat it every day. It’s not special anymore.”
The first thing Graci looks for in a potential news talker is the ability to tell a story.
“I want the guy who could sit in the corner of a bar and entertain the rest of the guys with a story. Making people laugh, enjoying the moment,” Graci said. “Experience isn’t everything. I look at people who really have the ability to analyze a situation, not just jump into the obvious.”
To use a cliche, Graci says he likes people that can peel away layers of the onion and discover finer details, then bring those into the discussion. Come back into the circle to the main premise for telling the story. They also have to be good listeners.”
“If you can find someone that can do that, it’s gold. Most people don’t have that ability, though many people try. I like a controlled cacophony rather than spontaneity. A planned cacophony. Know your topics well enough that day you can rattle it off the top of your head, but a lot of work went into that rattling. There’s the theatrics of communicating.”
Graci wants his on-air talent to be themselves. Do not try to be another Rush Limbaugh.
“I have to help them find their voice.”
He said he loves Jacksonville, which he finds to be more conservative than Pittsburgh.
“I live ten minutes from the beach,” Graci said. “I love walking the halls which house our eight radio stations here at the CMG cluster. I’m taking a walk through sports, news, urban music, and classic hits. Having all that energy in a building to me, post-Covid is very refreshing. I missed the day-to-day interactions. I missed hearing laughter in another room and trying to find out what was so funny.”.
It’s a pretty good life. Graci lives in a warm state with his wife. His kids are both grown and live in Pittsburgh. He said the greatest things in his life are his marriage and children.
“You marry your best friend,” he said. “I’ve got the sunshine, the Atlantic Ocean, and my best friend. Those are the secrets to happiness.”
Graci said he’s been blessed to have been able to work in an industry he’s loved since he was 15 years old.
“It has certainly evolved over the years, but so have I. First a board operator, then disc jockey, a sports and news reporter, to a production director, to owning my own production company and for the last 20 years, programming talk radio. I’ve loved every step of the way and still love coming to work every day. And here in Jacksonville, I’m once again fortunate to work with some incredible radio professionals and extremely gifted talent.”
There’s more. Graci worked as a PA announcer for a couple of NBA franchises.
“I started in the mid-80s becoming the public address announcer for the Atlanta Hawks, calling games at the old Omni,” Graci said. “I got to watch Dominique Wilkins, Doc Rivers, Spud Webb and those great Hawks teams in the mid to late 80s.”
In 1989, Graci moved with his wife to Seattle as she took a job as the northwest promotions rep for Virgin Records. Graci continued his radio career working for a satellite radio company, then Oldies KBSG and Sports Radio KJR.
“I continued my career as a public address announcer as I was hired by the Seattle SuperSonics,” Graci said. “That was an incredible experience, to watch Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Sam Perkins and those great Sonics teams of the 90s under George Karl. In fact, the team went to the NBA Finals in 1996, so I got to do PA in the NBA Finals.”
As if all that wasn’t enough, Graci said he was lucky to have appeared on an episode of Frasier, as the PA announcer for the Sonics.
“Like I said, I’ve had a blessed life both professionally and personally.”