Jimmy Staggs

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Jimmy Pearson Staggs (1935 – November 6, 2007), known as Jim Stagg to his listeners, was a longtime Chicago, USA radio disc jockey and record store owner.

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[edit] Early life

Staggs was born in 1935 in Bessemer, Alabama. Staggs was a stellar student and athlete in high school who passed on a football scholarship to Georgia Tech. Staggs later graduated from the University of Alabama.

[edit] Radio career

Staggs worked in radio in Birmingham, Philadelphia, San Francisco (on KYA), and Milwaukee before landing at KYW in Cleveland.

In 1965, KYW program director Ken Draper moved to WCFL to assume the same duties. He then recruited Staggs and several other disc jockeys, including Jim Runyon and Jerry G. (Bishop) from KYW in Cleveland to WCFL in Chicago. At both stations, Staggs often lined up the playlist.

Staggs also narrated radio's spoof of Batman, Chickenman. As his radio career wound down, Staggs hosted innovative talk and music shows on WMAQ-AM.

[edit] WCFL career

At WCFL, Chicago's longtime "Voice of Labor", later known as "Super CFL" during its battles with WLS for teen listeners, Staggs was the "afternoon drive" (the station's high-profile 3 to 6 p.m. slot) disc jockey. He referred to the studio call-in line as the "Stagg Line" and produced a feature titled "Stagg's Starbeat" -- in-depth, provocative, and insightful interviews with local, national and international music celebrities. Staggs interviewed nearly every major rock star of the 1960s, including Neil Diamond, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, the Supremes, The Monkees, and Simon & Garfunkel.

Staggs had a rich voice and a relatively straight delivery for the era. He was also known for his fast-paced, tight productions. Staggs eschewed the flashy theatrics of other Top-40 radio hosts in favor a straightforward rock and roll show that kept the focus on the music.

Staggs rose to program director at WCFL - where he authorized the station to play the controversial Ballad of John and Yoko.

[edit] Beatles Coverage

Staggs and Bishop were among about a dozen reporters who traveled on The Beatles' private plane during the band's 1964 U.S. tour. The reporters had credentials connecting them to the tour and sometimes found themselves running through screaming hordes of teenage girls right along with the members of the band.

During the Beatles' 1965 tour, Staggs broadcast hourly updates to a rapt radio audience. This tour was much more heavily covered, and Staggs and other media were relegated to a second plane.

Staggs also covered The Beatles' third tour in 1966, travelling with the band from London to Chicago. On all three tours, Staggs captured, on tape, The Beatles' reactions and comments in every city and after each concert.

[edit] Post-Radio Career

Staggs left the radio business in 1975, as the medium's so-called Golden Age finally gave out, and started a chain of record stores in the northern suburbs of Chicago. Staggs opened a record store called "Record City," which eventually became a chain with locations in Lake Zurich, Skokie, Glenview, and Northbrook, with two more outlets in Orlando, Florida. The last Record City, in Lake Zurich, closed in 2005.

Staggs also became a licensed Realtor, working with Keller Williams Realty in Libertyville, and started, along with his wife Valene and daughter Dina, a business Looking Back Productionsthat chronicled people's lives through video montages and interviews.

[edit] Personal

Staggs and his wife of 45 years, Valene, had four children -- son Patrick, and daughters Kara, Lisa, and Dina. At the time of his death, Staggs had five grandchildren.

Staggs died on November 6, 2007 at his Lake Forest, Illinois home of complications from esophageal cancer.

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