James Reith

James Edward "Jim" Reith (born 1958) is an American talk-radio host in Central New York area. He describes himself as a neither a liberal nor conservative.

His show, The Jim Reith Show, airs on WSYR radio in Syracuse, New York. It is the number one general local live talk forum in Central New York. He also happens to host the *only* general local live talk show in Central New York.

Personal life
Reith grew up on 2 Comstock Road in Baldwinsville, New York. He graduated from C.W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, NY in 1976. After high school Jim served 5 years in the United States Navy. When his service was up in the navy he attended Onondaga Community College. He graduated with honors from the Radio and Television Program. In a 2007 interview with George Noory (host of the nationally syndicated radio program "Coast to coast"), Jim revealed that he believes he has the power to turn street lamps on and off using telepathy.

Anti-Condiment Connoisseur
According to the Jim Reith Show’s opening, Jim Reith is a self proclaimed anti-condiment connoisseur. He especially has a disdain for people who put mayonnaise on French Fries.
Career
After college he worked as a court reporter for WSYR for 15 years.

On December 15, 1999, Jim Reith began his own show called The Jim Reith Show.

In November 2005, Glenn Beck gave a performance of his Christmas Tour in Syracuse. This event was co-sponsored by Clear Channel, who owns Reith's radio station. Jim and Glenn had lunch on the day of the performance, and Jim presented Glenn to the audience at the event. Shortly thereafter, Reith announced that he would guest host The Glenn Beck Program on November 16, 2005. So far, that has been the only time Reith has hosted a national talk show.

Political views
On his show, Reith addresses many current political, social, and economic issues of the greater Syracuse area. While most of Reith's commentary is from a conservative Catholic viewpoint, he does not self-identify as a Republican or a Democrat. He is anti abortion, anti death penalty, supportive of many social programs and against certain instances of eminent domain.

Reith was not in favor of the war in Iraq. He is in favor of staying there now that the United States has entered into the war and supports the troops 100%. On the Glen Beck show Reith asked his audience to rejoice regarding the first Iraq elections. He said this several times. Jim is a strident believer that the petroleum industry should be a non-profit entity in the U.S.

The Jim Reith Show
The Jim Reith Show is a local radio program based out of Syracuse, New York. It began in 1997 airing on in the afternoon time slot of 4:05 - 7:00 PM. During this time, listeners may call or interact online with Jim Reith using The Jim Reith Show Forum. On September 11, 2006, the show was expanded by one hour and now begins at 3:06 PM.

Reith states on his radio program, “I have a mind of a sieve”, despite the fact that he can recall many important facts, interact with forum posts and talk on the air at the same time. Jim likes to mock "one-issue voters", yet admits to the fact that he will never vote for any candidate, on any level, who is pro-choice.

Dislikes callers with opposing viewpoints
Jim seems to enjoy attempts at embarazzing (yes misspelled since Jim is an older fellow who loves to make fun of misspellings) people who call in. Yet when he features an actual guest he claims to disagree with, he curls up into a ball without asking hard questions. Answering and dismissing listeners calling in to his switchboard is the bulk of the show's format. Callers who disagree with a particular viewpoint Reith takes on a topic are routinely hung up on, live on the air. Reith will often launch into a poor impression of Bill Murray's character from the movie "Caddyshack" to decry these callers as "Winnie-the-Poohs", "Yay-hoos", "Wingers" or some other silly name-calling insult. Listeners of the immensely popular radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity (between which his disaster of a show is sandwiched) are labelled "idiots". If Jim himself detects the show is at an extreme non-interest, or low point (or presumeably wakes from a quick snooze during a 10 minute interview with a local public official), he will yell something into his microphone, causing an overmodulated buzzing. National radio and television personality Glenn Beck once let Jim guest host for his show. Reith squandered this opportunity, stuttering and stammering so badly that he was never again tapped for this duty. Fortunately for Salt City talk radio fans, 1390AM in Syracuse recently picked up the NYC-based "Steve Malzberg show" opposite Reith. If you are lucky enough to receive a good signal from the Albany Clear Channel affiliate 810 WGY, you can listen to a far more engaging and interesting program during this time slot, which WSYR tape-delays in order to broadcast Reith.

Program History
1997

The Jim Reith Show began in December 15, 1999 airing on WSYR (AM) in Syracuse, New York, in the afternoon time slot of 4:05 - 7:00 PM.

2006

On September 11, 2006, the show was expanded by one hour and now begins at 3:05 PM.

Guests
Guests of the show are often local, state and sometimes nationally known politicians. Other guests are local Syracuse leaders (i.e. Nancy Cantor, Syracuse University Chancellor and the mayor of Syracuse, Matthew Driscoll).

Snack and CD of the Day
The show usually has a snack and CD of the day. The snack and the CD of the Day are stated by the host of the show. Often, these snacks are from local Syracuse establishments. Though not often is the “snack of the day” an actual snack (i.e. Bullhead), it is still feature on the radio show as a snack. Often, the snack is as fascinating as an apple, and Jim will proceed to slobber over the microphone, smacking, chewing and gabbing about the apple for five scintillating minutes of compelling radio airtime.

The Jim Reith Forum Show
Listeners of the show are able to interactive directly with Jim Reith. One of the ways to interact directly is through the show’s forum. Posts are made by the listeners and replies are made from Reith via the airwaves or an actual post from himself.

Regular Guests (or Jim's Zoo Crew)
*Headcheese
*Zeke (Brother-in-law)
*Excitable Boy

==="Reithisms"===
Jim Reith has many colloquialisms specific to the Jim Reith Show. Some examples are "I got a mind like a sieve", "No man", "Quite Frankly", "Outstanding", "Tremendous" and "Now that’s what I’m talking about".

Program Intro/End
The Jim Reith Show uses the Green Day song "Basket Case" as the top of the hour intro

He ends the program every night with “Have a great night and God willing, we are all back at this again tomorrow.” The closing music since January 9, 2007 has been a sample from the Dream Theater song "Scenes 2: Overture 1928" from the album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory.

Program Staff
*Producer Dan / (August 30, 2004 - October 20, 2006)
*Producer Bill / (October 30, 2006 - present

Substitute Hosts
*Matthew Driscoll
*Stephanie Miner - June 7, 2006

Trivia

*Reith’s favorite band is Green Day.
*Reith is a practicing Roman Catholic.
*Reith is a huge Yankees fan.
*Reith tries to keep his physical identity a secret by not posting pictures of himself in print or online. In a cover story interview with the Syracuse New Times, his picture was partially obscured by a large, old fashioned microphone. Reith claims to do this so that he will not receive special treatment from local businesses.

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See Also

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