50-Year-Reunion

James S. “ Jim ” Hoge 443 Timber Ridge Drive, Longwood Florida 32779

Office (407) 869 - 8000 jim.hoge@gmail.com

Jim ’ s mother always said, “ This kid was born with a mission! ” In the 5th grade, Jim became crazy about radio. By the ninth grade he had built a complete radio station, including a 50 - watt transmitter for the science fair and winning first place. By high school, he was on - the - air on the local Bluefield radio stations. Jim went on to earn degrees in Electrical Engineering Technology from Bluefield State College in 1977 and Bachelors in Business Administration from Marshall University in 1980. At Marshall, he was named the student manager of WMUL FM, the radio station on campus and with the aid of work study students and the nine hours of statistics he took for his major; he instituted call - out research to gage the listening tastes and habits of the student body to improve the station. A skill that proved to be handy in the future. After graduation, Jim worked primarily in secular radio. In 1981, he and two associates formed a company called Texar, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that manufactured cutting - edge audio processors for major market broadcasting. The Texar Audio Prism® improved the listenability of major stations from New York to LA, increasing their ratings. In 1987, Jim sold his interest in Texar and took a job as General Manager of a radio station near Orlando. While there, he met his future wife, Eunice Medina at church who challenged him to bring contemporary Christian music to the Orlando radio dial. One last FM allocation existed for Orlando but caused interference to a local television station and therefore sat unused. Using his engineering background, Jim approached the management of WKMG - TV Orlando and explained that a FM signal combined with a television signal into the same antenna would not interfere with viewers. WKMG - TV man agement agreed to the idea and by November, 1988, an application was filed with the Federal Communications Com mission (FCC) for a construction permit for the unused FM channel. Jim and Eunice were married at First Baptist Church in Cali, Colombia July 1, 1989. Daughter Laura Viviana was born August 8, 1991 and her younger sister, Hannah Gabriella was born on June 29, 1994. Eunice, who has her Master ’ s De gree in Education, homeschooled the girls. Jim worked at as many as three jobs at once to put food on the table while prosecuting the application through the FCC.

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