More than radio...

Jim Browne, Morning Edition Host

Phone: 309-438-7869
Email: jpbrown@ilstu.edu

Jim went on a field trip to a radio station in high school that changed his life. He looked around at the equipment, and decided to build his own AM station in his parents' basement. Broadcasting for all of two-blocks, Jim played DJ for his friends at night and on weekends while attending school in the day, and working as a short order cook in the evenings.

After enlisting in the army in 1970, Jim came back to the States determined to break into radio. He attended school in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and was recruited for his first job in Mendota Illinois a couple of weeks before graduation. After a couple years at WGLC, Jim tried the fast paced life of a disco jockey in LaSalle Peru. He got back into radio at WRBA Normal in 1977. A brief weekend gig at WBNQ led to Jim's long-running job overnights on WJBC, where he was the lead-in to Don Munson during the station's halcyon years.

Since 2001 Jim has served as a GLT reporter and host of Morning Edition, waking up central Illinois with the in-depth, comprehensive news coverage that is the program's hallmark.