Milestone: ‘Kingbird’ Hangs Up His Cans
• We want to extend our very best wishes to Daytona Beach radio icon James King, better known and love as “Kingbird,” who last Friday officially unplugged from middays and retired from Southern Stone Country WKRO (93.1 Coast Country)/Daytona Beach, closing the book on a remarkable half-century radio career, the past 40 on Coast Country!
King broke the news of his impending retirement earlier this month in a Facebook post that read, “It is with mixed emotion that I have decided to retire from the rewarding and challenging world of broadcasting. Working with a broom handle for a tone arm, spending three days dangling in the air above a used car lot, taking a busload of rednecks to the Alabama June Jam, sharing a studio with cats and rats to working in the current, beautiful facility we’re in today, and everything in between has made this 50-plus-year career in our community an honor and a joy. I have been blessed and humbled by the support of so many in our industry and the loyalty of so many devoted listeners. I wish you all good health and happiness.”
Coast Country also gave King his own Facebook shout-out last Thursday, posting, “The King of Daytona radio is retiring! There will never be another like our beloved Kingbird, who’s starting a new chapter in his life. Join us in wishing Kingbird all the best… Long live The Kingbird!”
By way of tribute to his colleague, Coast Country afternoon personality Chris Rhoads posted, “There’s an old saying — whenever sports stars retire, he was an even better person off the ice or the field than he was on it. Kingbird, it has been an honor to follow you on the air here at 93.1 Coast Country for the past 7 years. Thanks for being such an inspiration to me and so many. You’re proof that nice guys do finish first! Best of luck in the next chapter of your life, and may God continue to bless you, as you’ve blessed us for decades. Long live the King!!” [Photo credit: WNDB/News Daytona Beach].
