By Terry L. Hapney, Jr.
The Ironton Tribune

“You’re riding with the James Gang—on Good Times and Great Country, 103.3 WTCR.”
For decades, his warm, deep, friendly voice was always welcoming to radio listeners throughout southern Ohio, northeast Kentucky and western West Virginia. “Jesse James” was his air name on both 103.3/1420 WTCR when it was “high atop Radio Mountain” and the then 105.5 WLGC (We Love Greenup County) when it was in downtown Greenup.
Jesse James Davis, 84, of Ironton, was promoted to that great radio station in the sky on Friday, Oct. 25.
I first met Jesse in early 1992 when I was hired at WTCR to do a weekend air shift while I was an undergraduate at the University of Kentucky.
At that time, WTCR was the number-one rated radio station in America! We would answer the telephone, “Number one in the Tri-State, number one in the nation—WTCR!”
Jesse played a major role in the high ratings we had at WTCR—along with the fact we were named the Country Music Association (CMA) Station of the Year in the 1990s!
While working professionally for more than 36 years now, Jesse is among a small percentage of folks I never heard anyone say anything negative about, ever. He had a heart of gold.
Sarah Diamond Burroway had known Jesse since the early 1980s.
She worked at WLGC, which went on the air in September 1982, from 1982-1984. She worked at WTCR from 1986-1993. She said Jesse’s “deep, resonant voice and unique style of delivery on-air are among the qualities most people across the Tri-State will mention first.”
“To me, Jesse’s qualities that stand out as most memorable are his commitment to family and his heart for people,” Burroway said.
Starting their radio careers the same year, Sarah was 17 and in her first semester at then Ashland Community College—studying radio and mass communications. Jesse was a single father raising two daughters close in age to her.
“He always treated me as a peer, with respect and professionalism,” she said. “I learned lessons of adaptability from him and admired his transition as a former factory worker who embarked on a new career path that sought him, that was totally new and foreign to him.”
Jesse got his big break in radio while he was painting the interior of a business in Greenup. The late Chuck Black and the late Rob Scheibly were in the WLGC production room working on commercials. Bridget Lemon and Sarah were working on reconciling advertising traffic orders and Jesse asked if they needed anything painted. The crew on which Jesse was working had leftover paint.
“We explained the offices were newly-opened, so no thank you,” Burroway said. “Chuck and Rob came out of the production room and asked, ‘Who was that?’ We went outside and called him back in.”
They were impressed with Jesse’s voice and the rest is history.
Burroway said Jesse’s relatability and his genuine approach to people propelled him to high listener ratings as well as to being one of the “most beloved radio announcers in the Tri-State.”
“Whether he was talking on the phone to a caller who wanted to request a song, meeting a listener during a live remote broadcast from an area business, or shaking hands with the number-one country music star at a concert, Jesse treated everyone the same,” she said. “His hometown roots and pride in community gave him an ‘everyman appeal’ that truly lifted him up and set him apart.”
J.B. Miller said Jesse never knew a stranger. J.B. and Jesse lived within a few blocks of one another and worked together.
“I would kid him that he was Ironton’s longest-running renter, as before meeting his wife, Cheryl, he rented nearly 30 years from the late Fannie Kizzee who owned a grocery store next door,” J.B. said. “I learned later he really was Ironton’s longest renter.”
Jesse followed J.B.’s air shift on WTCR, working evenings.
“There was no mistaking his arrival with the rumble of his Harley pulling into the lot on Radio Mountain, followed by his infectious laugh coming through the door,” J.B. said. “He was a joy to work with and be around.”
Jerry Crabtree—”Terry Collins” on 1420/103.3 WTCR—said Jesse befriended and entertained his listening audience “with a smile!”
“I remember once as a promotion for a circus there was a listener contest to see who of us would ride and who would walk behind an elephant in a parade with a shovel,” Jerry said. “Jesse rode and I walked!”
Marilyn Sargent Oppenheimer worked with Jesse at WLGC and WTCR.
“He was undoubtedly one of my favorite people on this earth,” she said. “His voice was so smooth and his presentation such that his listeners loved him. I will miss him.”
Mark Jesse worked with Jesse at WTCR.
“Jess was a great guy, nice to everyone, not a shred of ego, and that fabulous voice! Prayers for his wife and family,” he said.
My friends and colleagues featured in this tribute to Jesse sum up what a wonderful human being he was.
I have tears and goosebumps right now just thinking about what Jesse contributed to this world. We have truly lost one of the very best people ever. And while we feel like we’ve lost him, we know right where he is. He’s at that great radio station in the sky with my friends and colleagues Rob Scheibly (Chris Robbins), Chuck Black, Dave (Poole) McLain, Dave Conley, Dan (Pinkerman) Taylor, Jim “The Flying Dutchman” Schneider, and others. Boy, what a radio lineup that is!
I look forward to joining them one day down the road—high atop Radio Mountain way up in the sky. Until then, Jesse, I look forward to riding with the James Gang once again in the future.
May God bless and comfort Jesse’s family.