Aircheck: Radio Stories

S4 E23: Jimmy Fink Pt 2 (NEW YORK RADIO LEGEND FROM 95.5 WABC-FM/WPLJ - 92.3 KROCK - 107.1 THE PEAK)

Rich DeSisto & Paul Kelly Season 4 Episode 23

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Jimmy Fink has been working in broadcasting for more than four decades….hosting shows on several major market radio stations, television networks, and production & advertising companies in the New York and Washington, DC metropolitan areas.  

Over the years Jimmy has worked for ABC, CBS, and NBC, Rolling Stone Magazine, HBO, Cinemax, and syndicators like United Stations Radio Network, DIR Broadcasting and The Global Satellite Network. In the 80s & 90s, he spent 10 years at New York’s K-Rock (WXRK-FM), and wrote and produced several internationally syndicated radio programs including Rolling Stone Magazine’s “Continuous History of Rock & Roll,” “RockWatch,” and “New Waves” for NPR.  

Jimmy’s a lifelong resident of Westchester County, New York, and dedicates a lot of energy to two specific charities: The Pediatric Cancer Foundation and Open Door Family Medical Centers, where he’s a past member of their Foundation Board. 

Jimmy is currently doing afternoon drive on 107.1 The Peak/New York (WXPK-FM).  He joined the station near its inception in June of 2004. After seeing a bus poster for a new radio station and listening for a half hour, he knew he had to work there. He calls 107.1 The Peak the most creative station with the broadest format any radio lover could want to work for.  

Part two of four includes Jimmy taking us back to those formative years of his radio career and how his contemporaries welcomed him. The story of 95.5 WABC-FM changing to WPLJ and how those call-letters came about.  He shares some moments with those legendary WPLJ DJ’s he was fortunate to work with, and that historical moment when WPLJ changed format in the early 80’s. We also hear about his conversation with Graham Nash plus his elevator encounter with John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

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