Posted Tuesday, February 6, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Long-time traffic reporter Jim Basile is hanging up his mic. He will finish in early March.
"I'm turning 65," he said. "I'm getting Medicare! My wife is cool with it. She really wants me to retire. I've had a nice career, a nice run. I've worked with some great people. It's been a lot of fun. It's been seamless the whole time. Now it's time to turn the page."
As an employee of Total Traffic, he spent several years as the morning traffic guy on V-103 until last year, when the station switched traffic companies. Ryan Cameron, who just left the V-103, nicknamed Basile "Big Sexy" about 20 years ago when they were both working for what was then Hot 97.5.
Basile, who conducts a jazz band and writes music as a hobby, is the longest-running traffic reporter in town, having worked in Atlanta radio since May of 1985. He also spent 12 years at 11Alive News from 1999 to 2011 .
He said he has worked with almost every radio station in town, from Fox 97.1 (Randy & Spiff) to Y106 (Rhubarb Jones) to 96rock (Christopher Rude) to Hot 97.5 to V-103 (Ryan and Wanda).
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
C.J. Lusk, the former Kicks host, has found a new job in Nashville with the Christian syndicated radio network WAY-FM (which is not available on Atlanta radio but can be heard online.)
He will be the new afternoon host with Joy Summers.
Lusk worked for a couple of years at Kicks, first as an afternoon host, then for a very brief time during mornings with Cadillac Jack last year. Clearly, that combo didn't work because Lusk voluntarily left a few months later.
As an aside, if you were a 99X fan, Gary "Wally" Wallace used to produce Fred Toucher's morning show with Jimmy Baron and Leslie Fram. He has now become a morning host with WAY-FM, starting this past Monday.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Remember Moby? The former Kicks 101.5 morning host ended his syndicated network a little more than a year ago. He had lost a couple of key affiliates in Rome and Athens and it wasn't financially feasible anymore.
But at age 63, he isn't off the radio. He's now voice-tracking on four stations in the Southeast, the closest a small rock station in Barrow County called WJBB, On the station, he is the morning host.
He also does mornings on a classic country station in Greenville, Miss called Delta 105.7. And he hosts afternoons on a country station in Elberton, GA
"It's good to be working," he said. And best yet: he can do it in his pajamas out of his Roswell home.
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Our promotional staff does polls. The latest: what is your favorite sports talk show? This is 100% non scientific but includes the three key shows on the Game and four on 680/93.7 The Fan. Early results have Chuck & Chernoff, the late afternoon show on the Fan, in the lead.
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