|
|
| Birth Name(s) : Jim Rome |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
|
Partner:
|
| Profession:
Actor |
| << Add Jim Rome To Your Favorites |
|
Full Jim Rome Biography
James "Jim" Rome (born October 14, 1964) is an American sports radio talk show host syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications.
Broadcasting from a studio near Los Angeles, California, 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), The FX Sports Show (FX), and The Last Word (Fox Sports Net). The Jim Rome show is #10 most listened to talk radio show in the United States and #19 most influential talk radio personality according to Talkers Magazine.
Rome graduated from Calabasas (Calif.) High School in 1982 and the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in Communications in 1987. He has been married to his wife Janet since July 19, 1997. The couple live in Newport Beach with their two sons, Jake and Logan.
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 more than 200 stations across the country and Canada and has an audience of 2.5 million.
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 rival 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'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. He regularly encourages listeners to contact their local affiliate program directors (referred to on the show as "monkeys") in order to secure the show live and in its entirety. Rome has jokingly 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."
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 gained notoriety for an incident in his ESPN2 show Talk2 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. Eventually a camera man had to break up the scuffle.
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 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." Wynalda called in to the show the day after the incident, apologized, and explained to Rome that the comments were a result of frustration and were also taken out of context. Rome accepted the apology and is "cool" with Wynalda.
On May 3, 2004, Rome hosted the memorial service for Pat Tillman. On January 28, 2006, Rome was elected to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. |
|
|
| Add Jim Rome Biography (SuperUSERS) + |
| Add Jim Rome Review/Comment
|
HQ Jim Rome Pictures (1) | Random Jim Rome Picture
|
| << Back to the Jim Rome Homepage |
|
