After more than three years off the Atlanta airwaves, former 99X morning man Jimmy Baron has found a new job as morning show host on Dave FM. He starts Monday at 5:30 a.m.
Baron was part of the successful Morning X show from 1993 to 2003 on 99X. He stayed on for three more years with Fred Toucher but refused to stay on when the new owners offered him a major pay cut.
Dave FM adding Jimmy Baron as morning host: hot or not?
- Hot! It's about time Jimmy Baron found a new home on the Atlanta airwaves again!
- Not! He wasn't good on 99X. No good reason to bring him back on Dave.
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Scott Jameson, the new program director at Dave FM, finally picked him up. "I made a list of attributes that I felt were important for a morning man in the year 2009 and Jimmy fit all of them," he said. "He's smart. He's well read. He's local. He's humble and well liked. He's connected. He's easy to listen to. He's quotable. You add it all up and it was a no brainer."
Dave FM, since it cut Tyler last fall, has been doing a “more music” morning but Jameson said, “I don’t want to just be a jukebox. I want people to feel connected to the radio station.”
“I’m nervous and excited,” Baron said. “But more importantly, I’m fully insured.”
Baron, who is using Norm Schrutt as his agent, signed his contract last week. Schrutt represents Mara Davis, Dave's mid-day host, as well as local radio stars such as 680/The Fan's Christopher Rude and John Kincade.
Baron, who just returned from his 30th high school reunion, spent three years seeking new climes to no avail. His desire to stay in Atlanta limited his radio options.
He developed and sold some TV show concepts to Hollywood production companies, but nothing made it to air. In 2007, he tried out to host WXIA-TV’s “Atlanta & Company” but got beaten out by Tom Sullivan (who lost his job last month.) He dabbled in marketing and PR. He started a production service in which he inteviewed families and did video biographies. He’s also been raising a son Micah with his wife Lisa playing Mr. Mom and earlier this year hosting trivia nights at local taverns.
Baron’s also been courting Dave FM for years, feeling that was where he needed to be given his age, experience and knowledge base.
"We've been in talks with him for a long time," said Rick Caffey, Dave's general manager. "I think he'll be a good fit for us." Indeed, in July 2008, Jimmy subbed in for Tyler for a week. Many perceived that to be a tryout.
Baron said budgetary considerations delayed his hiring for about a year.
Indeed, Dave couldn't afford to keep Tim Orff, former interim host at Dave FM. Orff was covering for Zakk Tyler, let go last year after a brief and not terribly productive (or entertaining) stint as morning man at Dave.
Baron is the second former 99Xer to be a morning host at Dave FM after Steve Barnes. 92.9, as Z93 and Dave, has had trouble finding a long-time morning person for many many years.
Barnes was at Dave FM from 2004 to 2006 but it never quite gelled for either side. He has since produced movies and a Comcast On Demand drama called “High Rise,” plus a few acting gigs.
“Cool that Jimmy got that job at Dave,” Barnes wrote to me via Facebook. “I’m really happy for him and hope he kicks a** there. I think he will do a great job if they let him ‘do his thing’ and be ‘Jimmy.’ ”
"I love Jimmy. He'll do great. Atlanta will be glad to have him back on the air," said Holly Firfer, a friend of his and former Dave FM host.
"This was long overdue," said Chris Calandro, who worked with him at 99X.
"Finally!" said Steve Craig, his former colleague now mid-day host at WRXP-FM in New York. "He is one of the most phenomenal talents all the way around. It's about time someone snapped him up."
It sounds like Baron will go solo for now but he will have somebody to play off of at some point. In better economic times, the station probably would have teamed him with somebody like Firfer.
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