Jim Richards (born January 11, 1966, James Richard McGorty) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...
personality.
Richards studied radio broadcasting at
Loyalist College
Loyalist College (formally Loyalist College of Applied Arts and Technology) is an English-language college in Belleville, Ontario, Canada.
History
Prior to the 1960s, only trade schools co-existed with universities in the province of Ontario ...
in
Belleville Belleville (French, literally "beautiful town") may refer to:
Places Canada
* Belleville, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community in Wakefield Parish
* Belleville, Nova Scotia
* Belleville, Ontario
France
* Belleville, Deux-Sèvres, in the ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
. In 1988 he launched his radio career at
CJTN in
Trenton, Ontario
Trenton (2001 population 16,770) is a large unincorporated community in Central Ontario in the municipality of Quinte West, Ontario, Canada. Located on the Bay of Quinte, it is the starting point for the Trent-Severn Waterway, which continues n ...
, close to Belleville; he also worked at
CIHI
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is a government-controlled not-for-profit Crown corporation that provides essential information on Canada's health systems and the health of Canadians. CIHI provides comparable and actionable ...
in
Fredericton
Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...
,
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic Canad ...
,
CJCH in
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...
. He hosted a popular morning show at
CFJB Rock 95 in
Barrie
Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, north of Toronto, and was nominated for medium-market morning show of the year in 1990.
From the early 1990s to 1996, he worked periodic shifts including a Saturday morning show on
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
sports talk station
The Fan. Sometime during his early days with The Fan, he was asked to change his name to something "less ethnic" and went with a derivation of his middle name, switching to Jim Richards as his on air name.
At the Fan, he gave
George Stroumboulopoulos
George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos (; Greek: Γεώργιος Μάρκος Παύλος Στρουμπουλόπουλος; born August 16, 1972) is a Canadian media personality. He is one of Canada's most popular broadcasters and best known as fo ...
his first exposure as an on-air personality; the young board operator contributed regularly to Richards' shows. In 1994, a difficult year for sports media with both a
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
strike and
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
lockout, the station gave Richards a midday shift with sports broadcaster Barb DiGiulio.
In the summer of 1996, he left the Fan to work at Toronto rock station
Q107 and the Rock Radio Network, hosting overnight rock music programming
syndicated
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
across
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
for the latter.
He joined news-talk station
CFRB
CFRB (1010 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Bell Media and carries a News/Talk radio format. Its studios and offices are in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West.
CFRB is a c ...
in 1997. At CFRB, he hosted late evening
talk show
A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk S ...
''The Nightside''. In 2004,
Mark Elliot took over ''The Nightside'' and Richards moved to an earlier shift, weekday evenings from 8 to 11. Known officially as ''The Jim Richards Show'', Richards also billed it as the "Showgram", "The Nighttime Friendly", "The Feel-Good Edition" and "The Three Hours of Love." In late 2005, with the departure of
Michael Coren
Michael Coren (born 15 January 1959) is a British-Canadian writer and clergyman. A long-time television personality, Coren hosted '' The Michael Coren Show'' on the Crossroads Television System from 1999 to 2011 before moving to the Sun News ...
, Richards's shift briefly moved from 7 to 10 for several weeks until Kelly Cutrara was appointed Coren's replacement and Richards returned to the 8 to 11 slot. Richards was on the 10am-noon and 1pm-3pm time slot, to replace
Leslie Roberts
Leslie Roberts (born June 28, 1964) is a Canadian television and radio personality, currently the host of '' CTV Morning Live'' in Ottawa. He was previously the host of ''The Leslie Roberts Show'' on CJAD in Montreal, until announcing on Decembe ...
and Paul and Carol Mott respectively. He eventually hosted the 12pm to 2pm time slot on weekdays. On February 1, 2021, Richards's afternoon show ended and he was reported to have been included in the layoff of 210 employees at
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
properties across Canada. However, he returned to the air on March 1, 2021 as host of ''The Late Showgram with Jim Richards'' a new 5-hour long national overnight show produced at CFRB and carried by
Bell Media Radio
Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media. The company has its origins in CHUM Limited, which was acquired by ...
IHeartRadio
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...
talk radio network. At its launch, the program was being carried by
CFRB
CFRB (1010 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Bell Media and carries a News/Talk radio format. Its studios and offices are in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West.
CFRB is a c ...
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
,
CJAD
CJAD (800 AM) is a commercial radio station operating in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The station has an English language news/talk radio format and identifies itself on-air as ''CJAD 800''. Owned and operated by Bell Media, it has a daytime power ...
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
,
CKTB
CKTB is a radio station in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Broadcasting at 610 AM, the station airs a news/talk format. CKTB is housed in the former mansion of William Hamilton Merritt, the main promoter of the first Welland Canal, located on ...
St. Catharines
St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...
,
CFAX
CFAX (1070 AM) is a news/ talk radio station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was independently run until September 30, 2004, when it was taken over by Canadian media company CHUM Limited. Its sister station is CHBE-FM, which began b ...
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
CFRA
CFRA is a news/ talk formatted radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. The station broadcasts on the assigned frequency of 580 kHz. CFRA's studios are located in the Bell Media Building on George Street in Downtown Ot ...
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
,
CKFR
CKFR is a radio station in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Broadcasting at 1150 AM, the station airs news/talk and sports formats, and identifies on air as ''AM 1150 News, Talk, Sports''. It is owned by Bell Media.
Current on-air talent inc ...
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ' ...
,
CKLW
CKLW (800 AM) is a commercial radio station in Windsor, Ontario, serving Southwestern Ontario and Metro Detroit. CKLW has a news/talk format. It features local hosts in morning and afternoon drive times, with syndicated Canadian hosts in midd ...
Windsor, and
CJBK
CJBK is a Canadian Radio broadcasting, radio station, broadcasting in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, on the assigned frequency of 1290 Hertz, kHz. The station, owned by Bell Media, has an Antenna (radio), antenna system input power of ...
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
References
External links
Jim Richards NewsTalk 1010 bio*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jim
1966 births
Anglophone Quebec people
Living people
People from Markham, Ontario
People from Montreal
People from Toronto
Canadian sports talk radio hosts
Canadian talk radio hosts