WFMS morning host Jim Denny riding into sunset after 35 years at station

In a sometimes tearful announcement on local country radio stalwart WFMS-FM 95.5, morning host Jim Denny said Friday that he soon would leave the station after a 35-year run.

Denny was inducted into the Nashville, Tennessee-based Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2014. He said Friday morning that he had decided to retire and that his last day on the air would be Friday, Dec. 15.

“It’s hard to believe that I’ve spent over half my life behind the mic at WFMS,” Denny said in a media release. “I have met so many wonderful people and have worked with the best of the best. … God has truly blessed me.”

An Indianapolis native, Denny graduated from Cathedral High School and attended Marian University. He started at WFMS in 1988 and was joined by co-host Kevin Freeman in 1996 to form the “Jim & Kevin Show” in the morning slot.

Deb Honeycutt joined the on-air duo 20 years ago. “Jim, Deb & Kevin” remains the WFMS morning show to this day.

“It would be hard to overstate [Denny’s] longstanding influence at WFMS and the impact he’s had on our listeners’ lives with community service being among his most passionate tenets,” said Christopher “Boomer” Layfield, program director for WFMS, which is owned by Atlanta-based Cumulus Media.

In his announcement on Friday, Denny was sometime overcome with emotion, talking about the support of his family and co-workers and his long affiliation with WFMS.

“I’m very excited about this new chapter. It’s just turning that page—that’s always the tough part,” he said. “I’m very excited about finally getting some sleep and hanging with family and friends.

“I’m going to work on my bad golf game. I’m going to work on playing guitar. I’m going to go fishing with my grandson. I’m going to go to lunch with friends I haven’t been to lunch with in a long time. I’m going to get on a plane and visit some people. I’m very much looking forward to this next phase in my life. But I want you to know that there are four letters that I will never forget and I will carry them for the rest of my life. And those letters are WFMS.”

He let out a heavy sigh and said in a broken voice what sounded like, “I did it. … Anyway, I’m here to try to deal.”

Denny’s tenure has coincided with the station’s strong run on local airwaves since the 1990s. Over that time it has enjoyed several stints as the most-listened-to radio station in central Indiana.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, WFMS was a perennial top-three station—and the king of country in this market. It slid to the bottom of the top 10 several times between the mid-2000s and 2010s, but it returned to the most-listened-to spot in 2018 after station managers refreshed the station’s strategy to appeal to younger listeners while staying tru to older fans.

More recent ratings were not immediately available.