The News-Gazette.com: Getting Personal: WDWS talk-show host Jim Turpin

Getting Personal: WDWS talk-show host Jim Turpin

By Rebecca Mabry

Sunday, July 5, 2009 8:33 AM CDT

Explain in one sentence what it is you do.

I am a talk-show host on radio station WDWS Monday through Saturday.

What time do you typically get up? What do you do the first hour of the morning?

I get up at 6 a.m. After the usual bathroom stuff, I eat breakfast in the car, consisting of a bottle of Ensure and a banana, arriving at WDWS at 6:45 a.m. At that time I begin prepping for the talk show by reading The News-Gazette, the Tribune, the Sun-Times, USA Today, the Capitol Fax Blog, the Illini Pundit and various other Internet sites. During this time two cups of coffee and one Diet Pepsi are added to the nutritional start of my day.

What did you have for lunch today? Where? Who with?

Today I ate lunch with my wife, Louise. She had a healthy salad and I had two pieces of toast smothered with extra-crunchyz peanut butter plus a glass of milk.

WDWS talk-show host Jim Turpin, 77. By The News-Gazette

Best high school memory?

I was honored at East Richland High School in Olney by being elected class president three of my four years. My senior year I was named "Best All Around," although no one said best all around what.

What's a perfect Sunday afternoon include?

Here's my perfect Sunday: sleep in a bit, church, brunch at some nice restaurant, a nap, a long bike ride and a cookout (at someone else's house).

Was there one book you read as a child that you still cherish? Own? Read?

I read Huck Finn time after time when I was growing up. It was a great adventure story and I imagined myself on the Mississippi. It was not until later that I learned what a great piece of literature it was and the racial implications. None of that occurred to me early on. My first trip on the Mississippi came on the American Queen (not exactly like Huck's and Jim's raft). But, it was easy to sit there on deck and dream about the book – and simpler times. I have not read the book for a long time, but it's lodged up there somewhere.

Where on earth are you dying to go? Why?

I have always wanted to bicycle coast-to-coast. Put the back wheel in the Pacific, bike across America, then put the front wheel in the Atlantic. Thousands do it every year. But I waited too long. Riding to Philo and back is not quite what I had in mind.

Tell me about your favorite pet.

When I was 10 we had a great bulldog. Someone gave him the creative name of "Old Pal." Later, my Dad raised beagles and we hunted rabbits and quail with them. As our kids were growing up we had a black cocker named Licorice. This dog was nasty. When we took him for a walk, people would move to the other side of the street. He once nailed a young kid singing Christmas carols on our front porch. He also ate a packaged ham off a neighbor's porch soon after the mailman had delivered it. Our latest was a golden cocker named Abby – a sweetheart that we had to have put down a few years ago.

Have you discovered as you matured that you are becoming like one of your parents? Which one and how?

My mother and father worked very hard all their lives, mostly at the International Shoe Factory in Olney. My dad also had a band that played most weekends. Both died too soon. I feel their work ethic is something they passed on to me.

What would you order for your last meal?

I would like a loaf of soup (broccoli and cheese) from the Atlanta Bread Company. Then, some ice cream covered lavishly with peanut butter.

What can you NOT live without?

Family, faith and friends.

Who do you have on your iPod?

I don't have an iPod, but I do feel connected with my BlackBerry, my computer, Facebook and my newly acquired Kindle E-book. If I did have an iPod I would load it up with Blood, Sweat and Tears plus show tunes, such as "Le Mis."

What's the happiest memory of your life?

The day of my wedding, the birth of my children and the Flyin' Illini's trip to the Final Four in 1989.

If you could host a dinner party with any living person in the world, what three people would you invite?

Lou Henson, Bob Knight and Ted Valentine.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

When I was on a grade school basketball team I made a bad pass and started telling everyone how it happened and it wasn't my fault. An Olney High School player named Bobby Schmalhausen said to me, "Don't ever make excuses – just do it better next time." I think about that a lot, even today.

What's your best piece of advice?

Have faith in God.

What was your first job, and how much did you make an hour?

I collected used glass pop bottles and returned them to the grocer. He paid me 2 cents per bottle.

What was a pivotal decision in your career, and how did you arrive at that decision?

When I was with Armed Forces Radio in Korea in the early 1950s all I wanted to do was return to Olney and work at either the Olney Daily Mail or radio station WVLN. My wife preached that I should return to college, get my degree, then look for work. She won. I did. It has turned out pretty well.

Do you have a bad habit? What is it?

I yell at the radio and/or television when the Illini are not playing well.

How do you handle a stressful situation?

I would handle a stressful situation with a series of steps: Count to 10, pray, take a Lorazepam, then ask myself, "What would Loren Tate do?"