The clock struck 3:00 on Monday afternoon in Knoxville, Tennessee and an expected but unusual sound occurred. As John Wilkerson opened the afternoon show on WNML 99.1 The Sports Animal his long-time radio partner of 25 years wasn’t there. For the first time since 1998, he was prepared to start a new radio chapter without Jimmy Hyams.
Meanwhile, Hyams was enjoying a walk on the beach with his wife, the sound of the Atlantic Ocean, and delicious seafood by the water. It was his first day of not being a full-time host at WNML and he was enjoying a break from his 25-year run on the air. As he made footprints in the sand at Isle of Palm in Charleston, South Carolina, he was less than 400 miles from the WNML studios., But his mind was a million miles away from the show.
On Friday, March 31st, Hyams did his final show with Wilkerson as a full-time show host at 99.1 The Sports Animal, thus ending the longest-running sports radio show in East Tennessee. After a career that’s spanned over seven decades in the sports media business as both a writer and radio host, he’s pulling back the reins on his daily duties. Don’t necessarily call this a retirement for Hymas. He’ll still be around but in a much smaller capacity.
“Somebody recently asked me ‘When did you know it was time?’” said Hyams. “I said because I love to play golf, I told him it was time when I realized on Sunday afternoon, which was the only free time I had all week during football, that I was too tired to play golf. That’s when I knew. I was working 65-70 hours a week. On Sunday afternoon, I would sit down to watch an NFL game and fall asleep.”
Hyams started his sports media career as a teenager in the ’60s. At that time, he was a writer with big aspirations. But soon after, he found himself at a job he didn’t enjoy at LSU in the sports information office. He didn’t fit in in his new role and realized a change needed to be made. However, Hyams also knew that if he wanted to chase his dream in sports media, he might have to leave the state of Louisiana.
He was willing to do that, so he interviewed at both The Birmingham News and Knoxville News Sentinel. That’s when one of the biggest and best breaks in both his professional and personal life happened,
“The Knoxville News Sentinel hired me and I’m forever grateful because it was a great professional and personal move for me to go to Knoxville,” said Hyams.
It was the place Hyams was always meant to be. He hit the ground running in Knoxville and never looked back. But as Hyams first settled in East Tennessee, he probably thought his future was going to predominantly be on the writing side. But the world of sports radio had other plans for him.
In 1998, Hyams was presented with an opportunity to host a radio show. Even though he had already built an extensive sports media background, Hyams had basically no experience whatsoever in the business. He knew it would add a lot to his plate, but decided to pursue the new venture for a couple of very important reasons.
“Number one, I won’t lie about this, it was more money,” said Hyams. “And there was an opportunity to make more money through doing remotes, specialty shows, and doing advertising spots. I also thought I would be more visible in that role. That would allow me to do more community service in Knoxville. That’s important to me. I’m serving on five chair boards in Knoxville. I’ve chaired a golf tournament since 2000 that benefits the Sertoma Center.”
Sports radio was around in 1998 across the country, but not at the level you see it today. Suffice it to say, the blueprint for success in sports radio wasn’t as readily available as it is for a broadcaster in 2023. Hyams had to make his own path in a new venture. He decided to be the same guy he was as a journalist.
“I am a reporter at heart,” said Hyams. “When I went into radio I went in with a reporter’s attitude. I wasn’t going to be someone that threw out a bunch of hot takes and tried to get clickbait and all that stuff. I just wanted to be a good reporter. I told the folks that interviewed me at the radio station, you’re getting a reporter not a supporter of Tennessee athletics.”
Hyams wanted to break stories on the air. Whether Tennessee was hiring a new football coach, basketball coach, or athletic director, he wanted to be both first and accurate on the story.
“That’s what I tried to bring to the table, that if we reported something it was going to be accurate,” said Hyams. “We went in with the idea of trying to break stories like we did at the newspaper. We wanted to be out front. We didn’t want to have someone else report it and then we reacted to it, I wanted to be out there breaking stories.
“I didn’t have much radio background, the technical part of it. And they said ‘That’s ok, you can learn along the way’. But I wanted to be a good reporter so we started every show with news and notes and we tried to encapsulate the sporting world with what was happening both locally and nationally.”
Hyams quickly saw the difference between the writing and radio worlds. The things he previously didn’t know about radio, but soon found he enjoyed it, was the ability to be a bit freer in the content he brought to the air. Sure, Hyams wanted to be local with Tennessee coverage, but with four hours a day on the air, he found freedom in doing unique content he couldn’t do at the newspaper.
“On radio, I found a broader span,” said Hyams. “We interviewed Notre Dame’s basketball coach Mike Brey. You wouldn’t do that for the Knoxville News Sentinel newspaper. There was a much broader scope of covering stuff. We might have a representative of the Rose Bowl on to ask them why they have a certain philosophy. I even had Mack Brown from Texas. There was a wider scope. Plus, you’re filling four hours. Think about that. Four hours, five days a week for 25 years. That’s a lot of hours. You’re looking for content, so we broadened the scope of our topics and our interviews and the people we would interview.”
He built both trust and an on-air relationship with sports fans all across the state of Tennessee and beyond. Hyams is incredibly proud of what he helped build on the air at WNML but was ready to pass the torch to the next great after nearly three decades.
Again, this isn’t a full-on retirement. Listeners will still be able to catch Hyams on the air at WNML, just not as frequently as a four-hour daily show. He’s already enjoying his break, even though it’s not even a week old yet. But does he miss anything about the daily show just a few days removed from it?
“I haven’t found it yet,” laughed Hyams. “I’ll probably miss the interaction with the people that I worked with and some of the people that listen to us. They did ask to stay on to do a few things. Somebody said, you’re not retired, you’re just part-time.
“Well, I would say that if my level of work was on a scale of 1-10, was 10, then the part-time work I’ll be doing is like a 1 or a 2. As far as the amount of work, I’m continuing to do a golf talk show. This is our 24th year of hosting Golf Talk. I’m going to help cover the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin. I’m going to help them cover the SEC Football Media Day in Nashville this year. And I’m going to a Saturday and Sunday football show for them. I’ll still be around but I won’t have the daily grind of Monday to Friday.”
The Monday-to-Friday grind for Hyams will be replaced by mornings at the golf course, afternoons hiking The Smokies, and multiple games of pickleball. Needless to say, Hyams will be extremely active, but doing things he’s been waiting several decades to do on more of a daily basis.
The next star will likely emerge in Hyams’ place. But whoever he or she is would be wise to listen to how Hyams became such a huge success in sports media.
“Hard work,” said Hyams. “Another would be having a passion for what I did. I love sports. I enjoyed getting up every day and putting together a show. If I were to advise someone getting into this profession, I would tell them to be versatile. You not only need to be able to do radio, you need to be able to do TV, and very importantly, you need to be a good writer. Those are key elements.”
Tyler McComas is a columnist for BSM and a sports radio talk show host in Norman, OK where he hosts afternoon drive for SportsTalk 1400. You can find him on Twitter @Tyler_McComas or you can email him at TylerMcComas08@yahoo.com.
