Jim Monaghan: Behind the Mic with a New Jersey Radio Icon

We chat with legendary radio personality Jim Monaghan for the podcast’s first-ever virtual episode! A staple of WDHA since 1998, Jim reflects on his decades-long career in radio, his passion for music, and his enduring connection to New Jersey.

The two dive into Jim’s early days in broadcasting, his memorable moments at WDHA, and his role as host of All Mixed Up and Jersey Magazine. Plus, they talk baseball, independent music, and even the Newark Bears—taking listeners on a nostalgic journey through some of the Garden State’s finest traditions.

Whether you’re a radio enthusiast, music lover, or just love a great Jersey story, this episode is packed with laughs, insights, and inspiration from one of the Garden State’s most beloved voices.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

1. Jim’s Journey to WDHA: How a New York native became a notable New Jersey radio host.
2. Radio’s Enduring Appeal: Why local radio continues to thrive despite changing media trends.
3. Memorable Guests and Moments: Jim recalls interviews, events, and pinch-me moments from his storied career.
4. Baseball Passion: Jim’s love for America’s pastime and his connection to the Newark Bears.
5. Balancing Passions: How Jim has juggled radio, music, and community throughout his career.

Episode Highlights:

• Jim’s first foray into radio as a high school student calling in football scores.
• Transitioning from WYNY and WNEW to WDHA and finding his voice in New Jersey rock radio.
• Hosting All Mixed Up, a freeform radio show where Jim has complete creative control.
• Nostalgic stories about the Newark Bears and independent baseball in New Jersey.
• Behind the scenes of Dead Air, Jim’s band that blends his love for music and community.

Quotable Moments:

• “Local radio thrives because it connects with the community in a way no other medium can.”
• “You can’t just play your favorite songs for four hours—you have to give people a reason to tune in.”

Connect with Jim Monaghan:

• Listen Live: Jersey Magazine (6:30-7:00 AM) and All Mixed Up (7:00-10:00 AM) on WDHA 105.5 FM.
• Music Playlists: Explore All Mixed Up playlists at allmixedupradio.com.
• Baseball Coaching: Learn more about Jim’s baseball programs at baseballworkoutzone.com.

Special Mentions in This Episode:

• Mayo Performing Arts Center: mayoarts.org
• Megan Carroll of ReMax Elite: mcsellsbythec.com

Check out our theme song:

• "Ride" by Jackson Pines

Take Action:
Tune in to WDHA for Jim’s Sunday shows, check out his playlists, or dive into one of his baseball programs.

Subscribe & Share:
If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and share it with a friend who loves music, baseball, or Jersey radio. Let’s keep New Jersey loud and proud!

Episode Powered By: The New Jersey Lottery – because anything can happen in Jersey.

Quote of the Episode:
“Whether it’s music, baseball, or radio—passion is the thread that ties it all together.”

Transcript

Jim Monaghan [0:00 - 0:00]: Foreign. 

Mike Ham [0:22 - 0:47]: What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of Greetings for the Garden State, powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm your host, Mike Hamilton. This is our, I mean, our first ever virtual show episode that we've done in like 160 episodes, but we have a special guest and like, literally the only time I ever see Jim is virtually so. I like, I that way. So we're that Jim Monahan here. Jim, welcome to the show. 

Jim Monaghan [0:48 - 0:50]: Thanks, Mike. It's good to be here. Thanks so much for asking. 

Mike Ham [0:50 - 1:02]: Absolutely. Well, I mean, we talk every single week, and I just figured it was rude of me to constantly be on your show every single week, to never have you on. I mean, I figured you just scraped. 

Jim Monaghan [1:02 - 1:04]: The bottom of the barrel. 

Mike Ham [1:04 - 1:53]: Just running out of people. Yeah. I mean, you do the show for a little over three years now and you just run out of guests. Honestly. No, I'm just kidding. Well, there's, I mean, there's so much that I want to talk to you about because we got connected a while back right before the first Jersey Fest that we ran. And literally we've been on your Jersey Magazine show every Sunday morning basically since then. And we've had a lot of cool conversations. And honestly, like, a lot of the conversations that you and I have prior to actually recording those segments are some of my favorites. So I want to kind of bottle those and give them out to people to see. So for people that don't know, Jim Monahan, former morning show host on wdha, still does All Mixed up every Sunday though, correct? Yes, that's correct. 

Jim Monaghan [1:53 - 1:58]: 7 to 10am and of course, Jersey magazine, which is on for 6:30 to 7. 

Mike Ham [1:58 - 2:07]: Right. So I guess my big question is, so you decide to retire from the morning show during the week, why would you want to get up every morning that early on a Sunday? 

Jim Monaghan [2:09 - 2:37]: It's a, it's a fun show to do. All Mixed up is a freeform radio. So when I walk in, it's a blank palette. I decide what to play. It's entirely up to me, which if you know anything about commercial radio, you know how rare it is to be able to have that kind of freedom. So within that, I just, I enjoy it. I really do. I have a good time doing it. I've made a lot of musical friends over the years, and I have a great time with it. 

Mike Ham [2:37 - 2:42]: Yeah. And so you've been with WDHA since 98, I believe. 

Jim Monaghan [2:42 - 2:47]: Yes, right after Thanksgiving of 98. That weekend is when I started. 

Mike Ham [2:47 - 2:52]: Okay. And then mornings you started, I think, in 06. That's. 

Jim Monaghan [2:53 - 2:53]: Yes. 

Mike Ham [2:53 - 3:01]: Right. But you're not a Jersey guy born and raised. Right. You're a New York guy, born in. 

Jim Monaghan [3:01 - 3:19]: Queens, born in Queens, and then lived outside of Philadelphia for a while, came to New Jersey and then went to the Bronx, went to college in the Bronx at Fordham, stayed in the Bronx for a couple of years, and then came back to New Jersey after that. So while I'm not born and raised in New Jersey, I'm certainly a product of the Garden State. 

Mike Ham [3:19 - 3:33]: Sure. And so when you radio, obviously comes into play, I think when we first kind of talked and I was kind of picking your brain a little bit, it was something that early on was something that you kind of got involved in in New York. 

Jim Monaghan [3:33 - 3:33]: Right. 

Mike Ham [3:33 - 3:38]: So you take us through kind of like early gym days of getting involved in radio. 

Jim Monaghan [3:38 - 6:08]: Actually, it started while I was in high school here in New Jersey. I was too small to play football my sophomore year, and I was working for the school newspaper and I was assigned to do cover the football team. So I went to the coach and I asked him, would it be okay if I rode the bus to and from games, that way my parents wouldn't have to be driving all over the place. And he said, yes, that'd be great. And he handed me a list of phone numbers, and he said, but I'm going to need you to call these numbers and give the score of the game afterwards. And it was some newspapers like the Star Ledger and the Morris County Daily Record, I believe the Dover advance was one of them. The New York Times. We used to phone the scores into the New York Times, and there were two radio stations on it. One was WRAN out of Dover, and the other was WMTR in morristown. Oddly enough, WDHA's sister station. So back then, when you called a radio station, if you were being recorded, there was a beep that played in the background, and that had to be done. That was a legal requirement so that the person who was calling knew that their phone call was being recorded. That rule is long gone. So I didn't know that, though. And I'm hearing a beep in the background. The first week I call up, I give the score, and that's it. The second week, I call up and again I hear this beep. I give the score, and the person on the other end of the phone said, that's it. Yeah, that was the score. That's all I was told to do. No, we want to recap. Oh, yeah, that was my reaction. I didn't know. So the next week I write something out, I call them. They were the only ones who wanted any kind of a description. I call, I give a little bit of a recap of what the game was. And I finished by saying, I'm Jim Monahan for WMTR Sports. And so on the way home, my parents picked me up. And on the way home, we're listening to this. I'm a sophomore in high school. I'm hearing myself on the radio. Hey, this is pretty cool. So I did that for my sophomore, junior and senior years. I played JV football junior year. I'd actually grown a little bit. And then knee issues prevented me from playing senior year, but I still did that. So I've got three years, if you will, quote unquote, of radio experience under my belt. I get to Fordham in the Bronx, and literally the first thing I do when I get to the dorm and unpack is call the radio station WFUV and ask, how can I get involved? 

Mike Ham [6:08 - 6:08]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [6:09 - 6:17]: And at this point, Mike, I'm thinking, well, this is going to be a nice hobby. I had no intentions whatsoever of it being a career. 

Mike Ham [6:17 - 6:18]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [6:18 - 7:16]: So the hosts who were on that night said, well, come on up now. Well, they're going to punk this freshman. So I go up, they show me around. I'm thinking, well, this is pretty cool. Did the full orientation. Got involved in the campus radio station and did that for the five years that I was in school and enjoyed it. Didn't think about it as a career until probably the back end of junior year. I was an economics major. I'm thinking, well, I don't want to work in a bank. I don't want to do finance. I could go to law school. I really don't want to do that either. I may as well try this radio thing. And I got an internship at Wyny, which was NBC's FM owned and operated station, was on the same floor as WNBC with Don Imus and Howard Stern in that group. So one thing led to another, that internship turned into a job, and here I am all these years later. 

Mike Ham [7:16 - 7:28]: Yeah. And then use their first. That was the first job in radio. And then you, before WDHA, you came over from WNEW, I think. 

Jim Monaghan [7:28 - 7:29]: Yes. Yeah. 102. 

Mike Ham [7:29 - 8:00]: So WDW FM, I would imagine that the. You said the NBC station there, the FM station, I mean, they're not doing like a lot of music. Were they doing a lot of music? Was a lot of talk radio. I mean, because I know obviously WDHA is known to be New Jersey's classic rock station and has been that way for a long time. But does, does the, is there talk radio involved? Is there a lot of DJing is like, what, what, what were you doing early on? And kind of early on in the career? 

Jim Monaghan [8:00 - 8:37]: WYNY was a soft rock station, but it had come out of an all news operation that NBC had on the FM side. And so they made the switch to go to soft rock. And that's the point where I became an intern there. I wasn't on the air. I worked with various departments, production, promotion. When you're an intern, you do just about anything they need you to do. So when they hired me, it was to help program an automation machine. The music was automated and it was really weird because it would turn the microphone on and off automatically for the jock. 

Mike Ham [8:37 - 8:37]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [8:37 - 9:01]: And you had a specific amount of time to talk and it was listed for you on a computer. But I programmed that machine until they finally said, this is ridiculous, we can't have this. There was one night every so often that machine would glitch and it would just take over. Some nights it would play every single thing that was in the system at once. 

Mike Ham [9:01 - 9:02]: Oh, good. 

Jim Monaghan [9:02 - 9:28]: Other nights it would. Or other days it would just not play anything and you'd have dead air, which I think we're going to get to later. So, you know, there was, there was one time we were in there and everything's firing. It's all the commercials, it's all the music, everything at once. Mike and the program director turned the lights out and he turned to me and he said, because the machine lit up, he goes, looks kind of nice, doesn't it? 

Mike Ham [9:29 - 9:30]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [9:32 - 9:33]: In a weird sort of way. 

Mike Ham [9:33 - 9:39]: Yeah, totally. I mean, that's especially when, I mean, sometimes, like when things are chaos, you just gotta roll with it and. 

Jim Monaghan [9:39 - 9:39]: Right. 

Mike Ham [9:39 - 9:59]: You know, like, what can you do in that moment? Like, you just have to deal with it and make the most of it. So at what point does WDHA, I mean, we. I know that 98 was when you started working there, but at what point does that kind of become part of the picture of maybe the next step for you kind of in your career as you're, as you're going along? 

Jim Monaghan [9:59 - 10:20]: You know, I had listened to DHA for, for quite a while and it was always a good rock station. I enjoyed it. I didn't really know anybody there, but I do remember living in the Bronx and I was able to get DHA in my basement apartment. I lived up in the Woodlawn Heights neighborhood of the Bronx and I could get DHA and it felt like a part of home. 

Mike Ham [10:20 - 10:20]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [10:20 - 10:53]: So I'm at new from January of 80 until November of 1998. And when they start changing the format at naw and they're laying finally they didn't lay anybody off. They fired us. They go through that. DHA became well, let me try this. So I remember calling the program director up and he invited me in for an interview. And I think that was maybe the second week of November and within a week, week and a half, I was on the air doing weekends. 

Mike Ham [10:53 - 12:14]: Yeah. When I, I'm curious because I think you and I have talked about this. So when I started doing this show or even the first show that I ever did, the Morning Spotlight, which I started during COVID for the old real estate job, that I had to just go out and meet people or not go out, do, do virtual meetings and network and all that kind of stuff. Like I didn't still don't really listen to podcasts much. It's really always been radio and you know, wdha like Curtis K and all these other people kind of listen to them growing up. Same thing with like WFIN Mike and the Mad Dog Imus when he was in the mornings there, Joe and Evan, you know, now even now like Boomer and Geo, Craig Carton and all these kind of people. So I'm curious, maybe it's people that, you know, you had listened to growing up or, or anything like that or also get to work with. I mean, are there people that over the course. Because we're going to get into the nitty gritty of WDHA here in a minute, but over this time period, maybe even leading into wdha, are there people that, you know, because you said it was kind of a shot in the dark kind of job that you didn't think was going to be a career and now here we are a couple of years later and it's been a career for you. So can we kind of, are there any people that kind of stand out to you as people that were influential and kind of moving the, the piece along? 

Jim Monaghan [12:14 - 13:41]: You know, looking back, listening to top 40 radio as a kid and at this point I'm in Philadelphia, so the names that I could come up with like Joe Niagara and Highlight, nobody would know in this area. But I remember listening to these guys and they were the Dan Ingrams and the Ron Lundy's of Philadelphia. They were huge AM radio back in the 60s and 70s. These people were as big as the stars of the music they were playing, you know, so you listen to them and they're fun to listen to and the way that they present the music and then moving back up into the New York area, listening to guys like I said, Ron Lundy and Dan Ingram and Harry Harrison, Scott Muni, who was on AM radio at the time, listening to that. There was also, when we would come back into New York, there was WNAW am and one of the big people there was William B. Williams. So I remember, I have vivid memories of listening to William B. Williams as a kid with the Make Believe Ballroom. Especially when we'd come back up, it was a little tough to get new AM in Philadelphia, but if we got once we got close because my mom was from Brooklyn, so she had grown up listening to New York radio. So listening to people like that, I don't know if they were influential on me deciding to do radio, but certainly, you know, you're listening to them and they have this Persona and you like what they're doing and it just seems really cool. 

Mike Ham [13:41 - 13:41]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [13:41 - 14:26]: And then to be able to work years later with someone like Scott Muni and some of the other guys I listen to there, Dennis Elsis and Pete Fornitel and Dave Herman, Richard near, it was just like a dream come true. And then for a short time I got to work at WNAW AM. And I remember on my 30th birthday, I remember being on the air at NAW AM and I remember calling my mom and putting her on the air, asking her, well, do you feel better than you did 30 years ago today? And I'm playing the music that she used to listen to. Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, all of that. So in a way, though I was a rock kid, this was a dream come true. 

Mike Ham [14:26 - 15:39]: The Mayo Performing Arts center is the heart of arts and Entertainment in Morristown, New Jersey. MPAC presents over 200 events annually and is home to an innovative children's arts education program. To see Impact's upcoming schedule of world class concerts, stand up comedy, family shows and more, head to mayoarts.org or just click the link in our show notes. Looking to buy, sell or rent in Monmouth or Ocean counties, Meghan Carroll of ReMax Elite brings local expertise and personalized service. Megan will make your real estate process smooth and stress free bringing Southern hospitality to the Jersey shore. Call Megan today at 732-508-7402 or visit her website at mcsellsbythec.com and I mean, I'm curious too, as you're going along and I think one of the things that you and I connected with as when we first started getting to know each other was the baseball side of our lives and how much that's influenced a lot of stuff. I mean, like, I kind of stepped away several years ago, but you. You're still staying involved and doing all that kind of stuff. So when did that stuff start? Because you. I also want to talk about the Newark Bears very specifically at some point, but scouting, coaching, all these other things. Like, when did that become a piece? Because you mentioned football, but we really haven't heard any baseball so far. 

Jim Monaghan [15:39 - 16:45]: You know, I didn't play baseball in high school. I played a year of JV basketball. I played a year of JV football. And that was really the extent of my high school athletic career. But baseball was always my number one love. My first vivid memory of baseball is 1961. I couldn't read yet, and I remember asking my dad to read me the box scores. Did Mickey hit one last night? That famous 1961 season with Mantle and Maris, and that's my first memory. So, you know, I followed the game at one point doing sports for the high school newspaper. I thought maybe this is something that I would do as a career when I got older. In addition to being on the radio at Fordham, I also did some work for one of the two campus newspapers. Maybe this is a direction that I'm going to want to go in. Did some youth coaching after I got out of college. Never thought that it would turn into a career, but the more I got involved in sports, the more I liked it and the more I thought I wanted to do it. 

Mike Ham [16:46 - 16:58]: Yeah, and let's talk about the Bears, because I was like reading something, doing my little research on. On you, and I saw Director. What was it? Director of Community affairs for the Newark Bears. 

Jim Monaghan [16:58 - 17:00]: Is that Director of Community Relations? 

Mike Ham [17:00 - 17:24]: Yes, community relations. So talk to me about what goes into that and then what that experience was like, because, I mean, you and I could probably sit here and swap stories about Newark Bears games till the tomorrow. But I mean, like, I have some vivid ones of like, Jose and Isaac and Seiko playing there, playing against Ricky Henderson, like all these other things and that stadium and everything. You know, it's. Take me through the New York Bears. 

Jim Monaghan [17:24 - 17:43]: Stuff, the Newark Bears. I don't know exactly how it happened, to be honest with you, because, like, I came home one night, Mike, and there was a message on my home answering machine from a guy named Dave Popkin. And Dave was the Director of Broadcast Operations. I think that was his title. He may have been the assistant gm. 

Mike Ham [17:44 - 17:49]: And it was probably both of those Things, plus the hitting coach, plus the. 

Jim Monaghan [17:49 - 19:01]: He wants me to call him. Yeah, I'm like, I turn to my wife. I. Somebody from the Newark Bears called. So this is 1999. And so I call. He invites me down for an interview. And they didn't have anything full time, but they. They wanted me to do the on field presentation. So in between innings, I'm the one with the microphone doing the dizzy bat race. Yeah, the mc Bring in Rupert out and all of that. But the idea when, when this happened was we're expanding our staff after this season and we'll bring you in. So the opening was for the director of community relations, and I took it. I did that for a little over a year, the 2000 season into the beginning of 2001. And it was a, like, it was like being an intern at wyn, to be honest with you, because we. Everybody did a little bit of everything. We all pulled tarp. I was in the Rupert mascot costume on more than one occasion. Did all different kinds of appearances. Going out with the community, meeting community leaders, dealing with police. It was a very interesting time. 

Mike Ham [19:02 - 19:34]: Yeah, I'm sure. I mean, I just. To me, and I'm sure you would agree, like, the. Back in, like, that era between the Bears, I mean, I know the Jackals are still going, like, independent minor league baseball was like, it was crazy in Jersey. Like, you had so many, like, really good teams, competitive, full stadiums. I mean, it was always a lot of fun to go watch. And then, you know, you get ex big leaguers. Like, I remember, I. I think it was Ozzy. Ozzie Canseco hit a ball. Remember the. The net that protected. What is that, 21? 

Jim Monaghan [19:34 - 19:36]: Yeah, 21. 

Mike Ham [19:36 - 20:02]: He hit a ball to, like, the top of the net. And I was like, I don't know how old I was at that point. Maybe, maybe 10. Maybe it was around that same time because I was born in 90. But, like, I remember thinking, like, that's insane. Like, just to, you know, the visual of that and seeing them, like, being down close to the field and like, getting an autograph and all that, and them being so juiced up on steroids and just like exploding out of their jerseys, it was. It was insane. 

Jim Monaghan [20:02 - 20:09]: Ozzy, in fact, is the reason that net was put there because he kept hitting so many home runs. 

Mike Ham [20:09 - 20:09]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [20:09 - 20:12]: Onto McCarter highway, there was that danger. 

Mike Ham [20:13 - 20:17]: Yeah, that's a big day because there's a lot of cars even that went up and down that road. 

Jim Monaghan [20:17 - 20:27]: So they put that net up. And that would have been during the 2000 season probably a month, maybe two months into the season. And even with that net up there, he was launching baseballs over it. 

Mike Ham [20:27 - 21:08]: Oh my God. Yeah, it was insane. And I, and then when I went to TCNJ and played there for, for those couple years, playing against Rutgers Newark, because the stadium was still there. It's not there anymore, RIP to the stadium. But that was always like such a surreal thing too, to be able to play there, you know, and that was. We always wound up playing at a bunch of minor league stadiums like Yogi Bear Stadium. We played at Newark Bears Stadium, the River Shark Stadium in Canada. We played there. That was always a lot of fun. All right, back to you. Enough about my glory days of baseball. So you started WDHA when you first started wdha, Are you on the air? Are you hosting? Is it another like kind of thing, doing a lot of everything when you first get there in 98? 

Jim Monaghan [21:08 - 21:09]: No, it was all on air. 

Mike Ham [21:09 - 21:13]: Okay. And so when, like what time did you get? Do you start there? 

Jim Monaghan [21:13 - 21:14]: Whatever thing? 

Mike Ham [21:14 - 21:19]: Okay, so you're like, let's jump on. You're a fill in, kind of like consistent. 

Jim Monaghan [21:19 - 21:23]: I think the only shift Mike that I never did at DHA was overnights. 

Mike Ham [21:23 - 21:32]: Okay. And so mornings now, that's what is at 12 years later now. Eight years. No, 10. 

Jim Monaghan [21:32 - 21:34]: 1998 to 2000. 

Mike Ham [21:35 - 21:36]: Not a math guy. 

Jim Monaghan [21:36 - 21:38]: He's 10 years later. 

Mike Ham [21:39 - 22:07]: So 10 years later, you take over mornings. Talk to me about what you wanted, who was doing mornings before you, what was the style of show before you started doing mornings? And then now you're doing a full time show every morning on arguably one of the most notorious rock stations, probably the most notorious rock station in the state. And what are you, what are you trying to bring to it on your first day? 

Jim Monaghan [22:07 - 22:41]: Well, that's a really good question. The music didn't really change. You know, we have a certain. The music has changed a little bit over the years depending upon who the program director is. For a while we were a little bit more blues based and then we got a little bit more grunge at one point and different things. But the core of this station has always been the same, no matter who the program director is. There's some subtle nuances, but for the most part it's a radio station that has played music from the 60s up to whatever era that we happen to be in. 

Mike Ham [22:41 - 22:41]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [22:41 - 23:31]: So for example, today if you tune in, you might hear Jimi Hendrix from 1967 and you're going to hear the Foo Fighters from 2024 or Miles Kennedy from 2025. And it's the program directors. I give them a lot of credit. Terry Carr is the current pd. Now, I've worked for Terry two different times. Terry was the PD two different times. And Terry has a knack for being able to make that. To be able to play that many different decades of music and make it work. And especially, you know, radio these days is so segmented. Yeah. And somehow they make it work. That's all I can tell you. I'm glad I'm not the PD because I don't know if I could. 

Mike Ham [23:33 - 24:11]: Sorry, I'm just having a coughing fit now in the middle of the episode. But. But then you also bring like your own. Your own style and all that kind of stuff too, to it, which I think is great. And I'm also curious too, because obviously WDHA also has a history of doing events and concerts and having people in studio to do interviews and, you know, if they're playing somewhere in the state or whatever. And obviously you being a music lover for pretty much your entire life, were there ever. Pinch me moments like, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm talking to. You know, fill in the blank. I know you got the cardboard cut out of Lenny in the studio there, but, you know, maybe that's a little different. 

Jim Monaghan [24:12 - 24:51]: Yeah. I mean, throughout my career there have been a ton of those moments. The biggest one that stands out is Paul McCartney, who I met when I was at NAW, and that was like meeting royalty. But we've had a ton of people come up through. Up through both radio stations. I just mentioned Miles Kennedy, who's done work with SL and Alter Bridge and some solo work on his own. And one of the nicest people, Mark Tremonti from Creed, also has his own band. Tremonti, he does the Sinatra show as well, which Mike. That is unbelievable to watch him go from what you know of him as a heavy metal guitar player. 

Mike Ham [24:51 - 24:52]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [24:52 - 25:01]: With his own band. And now he's singing Sinatra in the same style with some of the same musicians that Frank played with. 

Mike Ham [25:01 - 25:01]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [25:01 - 25:09]: And he's pulling it off and you jaw just like, you just. It's incredible to watch. 

Mike Ham [25:09 - 26:02]: Yeah, that's. That's awesome. And I think like, I mean, that is certainly a perk of doing a job like that, you know, and then. But I do think there is. I'll say this because I feel like I run into this sometimes with the stuff that I do, which is different but similar in. In some ways where people are like, ah, like, get a real job kind of thing. But you know, like, I mean, has that. I mean, do you still get that? I mean, has that ever happened? But. Because it is. I mean, the amount of time and effort that you're putting on to, like, preparing a show or, you know, like, I know when we do our stuff, you're always prepared with notes and, you know, a lot of times more about the guest than I do, and I just interviewed them in a lot of cases. But taking it seriously and doing all that kind of stuff, like, there's a seriousness to it because you want to put on a good show, you want to put out good content and all that kind of stuff too, right? 

Jim Monaghan [26:02 - 26:14]: Yeah, definitely. It's not. I remember, you know, when I first got into radio and even through later years and I'd been doing it for a while, there was a perception that you're going on the air and you're playing your favorite songs for four hours. 

Mike Ham [26:14 - 26:15]: Totally. 

Jim Monaghan [26:15 - 26:57]: And it's so different from that because you do have to create a reason for people to listen with so many different options available. Whether those options are another radio station, a different format, perhaps. You mentioned, you know, all sports radio. That's certainly, especially in the demographic that DHA has, men 25 to 54, sports is an option. There's Spotify, there's Panzer. There's all these different types of things that can be an option for a listener. Oh, God, this guy's on again. I'm going here. Yeah. And they're pressing a button. So you don't want to be that person. You want to make sure that you're giving them a reason to stay with you. 

Mike Ham [26:57 - 27:03]: Yeah. If Terry is seeing your numbers, like, crash at 6am when you go on air, then they come back when you're off air like that. 

Jim Monaghan [27:03 - 27:04]: Yeah. It's not a good sign. 

Mike Ham [27:04 - 27:43]: A bad look for sure. Yeah. So it's interesting because now I'm curious to kind of get your take on just like radio in general, because you mentioned all these different mediums that people have, but there's still, like, always radio on. And every time people think it's going to die, it doesn't die. Like, what was it serious? And like, all those are supposed to. Supposed to kill radio, didn't you know, they wound up struggling and having to merge with whatever xm, you know. So talk to me about kind of like what you see radio being. Is that why you got out? Like, because you see it coming to an end or it's something that's always going to be there for people? 

Jim Monaghan [27:43 - 27:46]: Well, I mean, I didn't get out, because I'm still in it. 

Mike Ham [27:46 - 27:47]: That's true. Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [27:47 - 27:54]: You know, but as you mentioned, you know, there have been so many different times where people have said, well, this is going to kill radio. 

Mike Ham [27:54 - 27:54]: Yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [27:54 - 28:49]: You know, one of the first things was talking pictures. That was one of the first things was going to do it. Well, yeah, that didn't do it. Television. That didn't do it. Video. Mtv. Video Killed the radio. Star. No, that didn't do it. Satellite, Sirius, XM didn't do it either. The key is to be able to be local, and that's something that DHA has always really, really hammered. They are a New Jersey rock station. You know, when I was at New. You're covering Long island, all five boroughs, Westchester, Rockland and a good chunk of New Jersey. So while a lot of us lived in New Jersey and we were really tight with that community, you also had to be aware of the fact that there were people in Mount Vernon and Yonkers who don't care about Maplewood in South Orange. They don't know where that is. 

Mike Ham [28:50 - 29:16]: Totally. And I think that's. And that's what the thing with DHA being. I remember seeing a picture. I think Mark Mustachio, who you and I both know, showed into me, like, a picture of, like, the original DHA station. Like, this little. Maybe I saw it on Facebook or something. I don't remember where. And I mean, it didn't really even compute how long WDHA has been WDHA and, like, producing radio, you know, and it's crazy. 

Jim Monaghan [29:16 - 29:19]: I'm guessing that was the picture of the house up on Route 10. 

Mike Ham [29:19 - 29:21]: I think it might have been. 

Jim Monaghan [29:21 - 29:22]: Which someone lives in now. 

Mike Ham [29:22 - 29:25]: Okay. It's like, literally just like it looks like a box. 

Jim Monaghan [29:25 - 29:27]: Yes. It is a small Cape Cod home. 

Mike Ham [29:27 - 29:28]: Yes. 

Jim Monaghan [29:28 - 29:33]: It was the last time I drove by a Cape Cod home that had the radio station in it. 

Mike Ham [29:33 - 30:03]: Yeah. Which just to think that that's. I mean, like, you talk about all these. The longevity of radio and all the things that were supposed to kill it, and here we are. And, like, the local. The localness, you know, me, like, I. I think that that is like the top, you know, so I also. Because we're getting close to the end of this episode, and I want. I know we're, you know, be respectful of time. I do want to talk about dead air. And not maybe the dead air on the radio, but your dead air. Can we talk about that a little bit? 

Jim Monaghan [30:03 - 30:04]: That would be, of course, my band. 

Mike Ham [30:04 - 30:05]: Sure. 

Jim Monaghan [30:05 - 31:15]: Which is composed of another radio guy, Tom Kaminsky. He's the drummer. Tom was for years the traffic reporter for WCBS 880. So there's another three. There are three other guys in the band. College classmate of Tom's, Mike, Mike Trinker is the bass player. And then there are two guys who I used to work with. They. Well, I'm still at DBAT and Mountainside doing lessons and what have you. But there were two guys who worked at dbat. Sean Seymour on guitar and Chris Flynn on guitar as well. And so there's a baseball and a radio connection with these guys. We have a good time. Chris Flynn is an amazing guitar player. Sean's not far behind him. And then there's the three of us. We've done some cool things. We've opened for the Smithereens. We opened for Richard Lloyd at the Crossroads in Garwood. We're doing a Smithereens show as part of the Light of day festivities in mid January down in Asbury Park. So it's, it's fun. You know, we're not going to get signed to a major label or time. 

Mike Ham [31:15 - 31:21]: You never know. I'll be playing covers, originals. Both. Yeah, both. 

Jim Monaghan [31:21 - 31:43]: Yeah, yeah. So it's fun. I've been in, in and out of bands since I was probably 13 or 14. I started playing drums and moved to guitar when I was, I think, a sophomore in high school. And so that's my main instrument now is guitar. But as I say, I've been in and out of bands since. Since I was in, I guess, eighth grade was when I started. 

Mike Ham [31:43 - 32:07]: You know what? I think something that I've admired about you, and I've never told you this, but you are involved in a lot of things and that is something that I appreciate. Just knowing that, like, you can have a job and do all these things and. But being able to kind of spread your time to other things and other interests and really tap into those, I think it's amazing. And I applaud you for that, for being able to do that for so long and as long as you have. 

Jim Monaghan [32:07 - 32:37]: Well, thank you. I do appreciate that. I've been very fortunate to be in a position, no matter what job I had, where I was able to combine these things. You know, when I was at WNW fm, there was a period of time where I was the sports director. So I was able to get my sports fixed through that. You know, playing in bands while I was at both radio stations doing sports. At DHA as well, I've been lucky to work for people who encouraged me to do what I'm passionate About. 

Mike Ham [32:37 - 32:38]: Sure, yeah. 

Jim Monaghan [32:38 - 32:49]: And you know, that's a big factor. So whether it was doing baseball on the side or doing a band on the side or anything, I've been very fortunate to work for people who have encouraged me. 

Mike Ham [32:49 - 33:12]: Amazing. Well, this has been great. And I appreciate you taking some time, you know, to sit down with me and flip the script a little bit because like I said at the outset of the show, it's always you talking to me for a few minutes about the stuff that I'm doing. And I mean, I know you, but I just really kind of get to know you a little bit better and a little bit of the, the background in the history of Jim Monahan. So I appreciate you coming out with us. 

Jim Monaghan [33:12 - 33:37]: Well, thank you so much. And I'm a fan of your work as well. You know, when you first approached me, it's, gosh, it's gotta be 10 months ago now. I think, is there a way that we can do something with wdha? And I remember going to Terry Carr and I think you had sent an email to Terry as well because she said, yeah, they reached out to me and we were going through. I said, well, what about a segment on Jersey magazine? Yeah, and that's literally how it happened. 

Mike Ham [33:37 - 33:58]: Jersey Fest, like the PR folks from White Eagle sent something over and she was like, yeah, great. And then we got connected and then it's been kismet ever since. So you and I are boys now. Maybe, maybe someday we'll actually meet in person. But you know, I kind of like this virtual thing. It's, it's nice. It cuts down on my gas and my driving times. 

Jim Monaghan [33:58 - 34:02]: Yeah, definitely. Well, again, thank you very much. I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. 

Mike Ham [34:03 - 34:10]: Absolutely. Thank you, Jim. And if people want to connect with you, if they want to learn more about you, where would you send them to go do that? 

Jim Monaghan [34:10 - 34:32]: They can do a couple of different things. They can go to allmixedupradio.com which has the playlists from my Sunday shows. They can listen to me at 105.5 FM WDHA. I'm on Sunday mornings, obviously, and some occasional fill ins. And then for my baseball stuff, you can go to baseballworkoutzone.com awesome. 

Mike Ham [34:32 - 34:59]: We'll put all those in the show notes, but we just go click them. Get a lesson from Jim, all while you're listening to him on the radio. I mean, recording of him someplace. Awesome. We'll put those, all those in the show notes. Jim, thank you again for doing this with us. I know we got some more stuff that you and I have to do before we actually, like, sign out of here, but I'll just wrap it up. So this has been the Greetings of the Garden State podcast, powered by the New Jersey Lottery. I'm Mike Ham. He was Jim Monahan. We'll catch you next time. 

Jim Monaghan [35:06 - 35:08]: Do you all right. 

Mike Ham [35:09 - 35:12]: Oh, tell me before you go all. 

Jim Monaghan [35:12 - 35:15]: The way do you all right. 

Mike Ham [35:32 - 35:32]: It.