Let’s hear it for James Howard: a Chattanooga hero

Whenever James Howard and I are in the same room, he tells this story:  in 1990, he was a student at Tyner High School.  It was Career Day, and I was at Tyner representing my TV station.  As James tells it, “I was 16, and went up to David to ask him how to get into radio.  He told me to do whatever it takes to get my foot in the door, even it meant working for free.” He said he took my advice, and that I’m the reason he got into radio.

Now 40, James has proven to be a radio “lifer,” and a very good one. If I played any part in getting him into radio, I am extremely proud of that.

James is best known for his longtime spot next to Luther Masingill on Sunny 92.3 (WDEF) each morning.  He started out doing traffic reports twenty years ago. “Dean Tobler was doing traffic from an airplane when I was a kid. I wrote him a letter once, and he wrote me back! I thought he had the coolest job in the world.”

James was just as fascinated with flight as he was radio.  After graduating from Tyner, he attended Chattanooga State and UTC, but says he spent most of his time studying radio and airplanes.  He went to flight school, and earned his commercial pilot’s license.  Meanwhile, he got married, started a family, and quickly moved up the ladder at WDEF.  While in his early 20’s, he got the post-Luther midday show, and then became Luther’s co-host in 2001.

Their radio partnership became secondary to their off-air friendship.  As Luther got older and more fragile, James was like a protective grandson.  In the last week of Luther’s life, James helped him make it up the steps to his studio, noticing his shortness of breath.  He encouraged him to go home, and get some rest.  James was with Luther as he took his last breath a few days later, and was visibly shaken when he informed his listeners about Luther’s passing.  It was the end of an era, and James wanted to make his mentor proud.  “I’ve had the best seat in the house for twenty years,” he said.  “He was the most amazing person I’ve ever met, or ever will meet.”  James spoke eloquently at Luther’s memorial service, remembering Luther’s concern for James’ wife Christy, and daughters Gracie (14) and Lucy (6).  “He taught me a lot about radio,” James told the audience.  “But more importantly, he taught me how to be a good husband and father.”

James is also widely known for an annual trip for which we should all be thankful.  Since 2003, he has used his vacation time (and a lot of his own money) to visit our troops in Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq.  Why?  He had done a radio report as the “Mike Battery” Marines were leaving the training center on Amnicola Highway, destined for battle.  He saw the hugs, the tears, the parents, the spouses, and the children.  “I thought to myself, the only time we see these heroes are when they leave town, and when they come back.  I thought the public should see what they’re doing, and where they are.  This is a patriotic town that supports its troops.  We play the interviews on local TV and radio, so their families can see them.”

James interviewing the troops in Kuwait, 2011

Let this sink in.  The first time he made the trip, the destination was the city of Fallujah in Iraq.  The action was hot and heavy.  Remember the last time you flew anywhere?  The security checks, long lines and weather delays?  That’s nothing.  Listen to what James dealt with.  “You fly 6,600 miles, and then it gets difficult.  The scary part is getting to the troops in a war zone.  You get stuck in the airport.  Everything that can go wrong, usually does.  Security issues, combat, waiting on the convoys.  You get past all that, and you wait three days for a helicopter flight.  And get this, I had asked my listeners to write letters to the troops, and I’d carry them over there.  So I’m loaded down like Santa Claus with this bag of five-hundred letters the whole time.  I never did that again!”

But he did go back, eight more times, so far.  Some of the recent trips haven’t been as scary “since the coalition troops took out a lot of the bad guys,” he said, but it’s never easy.  “This is what I’m supposed to do,” he said.  “Christy supports it, although some people say I should just talk to the troops via Skype.  But seeing their reaction, when I unfurl a banner signed by people from back home, it’s all worth it.  They’re our neighbors.  They work at Cigna, Blue Cross, Erlanger, you name it.  It’s a real morale booster, for them and their families.”

This is why he’s going back this year, to Kuwait during Thanksgiving week.  “I’ll be visiting the 252nd Military Police Company, out of Chattanooga,  Cleveland and Polk County.  These men and women are National Guard, and I can’t wait to see their faces.”

One face he’ll miss this year is Luther.  “He was always first at the airport to see me off,”  James said.  “Every year, he’d wait until some people gathered around, and he’d ask me where I was going.  I’d tell him Iraq, and he’d say “They’re fighting over there, right?’ and I’d say, ‘Yes they are.’  Then he’d pause and say, ‘That money you owe me….can you go ahead and pay me now?”

“He always said that at just the right time, breaking the tension.  He had such great timing.  I sure do miss him.”

James worked alongside a Hall of Fame legend; a man who was rightfully honored many times.  Someday soon, I believe, we’ll see James Howard take a bow too.  I hope I’m there to lead the standing ovation.  He’s one of Chattanooga’s hometown heroes.

(James and Kim Carson can be heard each morning from 6-9 a.m. on Sunny 92.3.)