James Howard "Jim" Leckrone

James Howard "Jim" Leckrone died at his home in Columbus Wed. March 7, 2012. He was preceded in death by his parents Howard and Elenore Leckrone, his wife Laura Leckrone, his brother W. Thomas Leckrone, and his grandson Stanley Jacob Lawson. He is survived by his children Debra (Thomas) McCunney of Columbus, Jay Leckrone of Auburn, Washington, Amanda Lawson of Urbana, Ohio. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Kate (Shane) Murry of Columbus,Michael McCunney of Sacramento Ca., Rebecca Leckrone, James (MaryGrace) Leckrone, Joshua Leckrone of Port Orchard, Wa. Victoria Lawson and Mark Christopher Lawson of Athens, Oh. He is also survived by 8 great-grandchildren, Addison and Leighton Murry,Camden Anderson,Julian McCunney, Evelynn, Tyler and Cadence Leckrone and Melchizedek Leckrone, nephews Tom and Dan Leckrone and niece Connie (Leckrone) Dowling.

Jim was born in Chillicothe, Ohio Feb 5, 1936. He studied Vocal Music at Ohio University but switched to Radio/TV Journalism graduating in 1958. He was a member of the Columbus Boys Choir in the late 30's to 40's recording an early album in which he ws a featured soloist. His wonderful voice made him a feature in a variety of stage roles as a youth and on throughout his adult life. Once at OU he was bitten by the Radio bug. He began his Radio Career at WHIZ in Zanesville in 1955 making .75 an hour. He also did a top ten show at the Fairview Drive Inn for 5 more dollars a week plus a free meal a day from the restaurant. He earned another $5 a week and free movie admission entertaining between movies. In his spare time he earned his pilots license in '56. While enrolled at OU he was on the old WOUI wired wireless AM station. He was the first News Director for WOUB AM when it went on the air in the fall of '57. He moved on to WERC (now WORK) in York, PA where he took the name of Mike D'or to use on the air. He started out doing the afternoon drive/evening Dee-Jay show but after 18 months became the News Director and also filled in at sister station WERE in Cleveland.He left there to take the Music Director position at WKYW. He was the "clean" replacement after the payola scandle. He was named Producer of Program PM, about a year later. It was the number one evening radio program in Cleveland. He was ordered to put some unknown guy named Mike Douglas, who was doing a local show on TV downstairs, and his guest on the program for an hour once a week. He needed someone to fill time on Program PM and he thought Douglas was pretty good. He slotted a weekly segment for them. It was the first talk show ever of that type and the format was being adapted to TV and syndicated by the owner, Westinghouse. At the age of 27 he was fired because "he was an old-timer" he was replaced by a 24 yr old. Radio was a "young man's game." He moved to straight news as a TV reporter/anchor at WIMA in Lima. He broke into the live local talk show to bring Lima the first news of Kennedy being shot. They went into uninterrupted news coverage a while later when the national press took over the broadcast. It was another first. He believed his station went commercial free until after the funeral was over. He considered that day to be a "Sea of Change" as TV became the dominant provider of live news coverage for the masses and the end of the golden era of radio news. While in Lima he began to purchase really high performance sports cars such as the Sunbeam Tiger and so also began his love affair with Triumphs. He also performed on the Local TV show Ester's Parade when they needed a fill in for a cancelled performer. He was active in Lima with a host of play productions. He left WIMA after three years for WTVN AM in Columbus. He worked the mornings with John Fraim. He moved his family to a farm in Circleville and bought a Crosley race car. The family had moved 13 times in 8 years. He added a Fiat and a Mustang for his wife to drive instead of the station wagon. He, John and some others decided racing cars was a really fine idea. They had a lot of fun. He left WTVN and took a position as the Assistant to the Finance Director for the State of Ohio and served both the Rhodes and Gilligan administrations. He left the State to take a position at the Transportation Research Center in Marysville. It meshed well with his hobby of race car driving. He had purchased a 1970 Camaro Z28 from a friend and being Jim, he got on a first name basis with the PD in Central Ohio, especially South Bloomfield's finest. He knew well several of the drivers and owners that tested race cars at the TRC and considered them friends. SCCA was his second priority about that time. He ran Solo II and rallys and road races too. He was a fixture at Mid-Ohio as a corner worker and picked up other duties too. He began racing a Ford Pinto show room stock. He quit racing after the untimely death of Mark Donahue. He considered him a friend. He and Mark commiserated about the Marysville area cops. He was devistated. He went back into radio in the mid 70's. He moved to WBNS hosting a Sunday afternoon music shift. He went back to the news in the "Mornings with Jack & Dick." He began his own syndicated radio news show in the early 80's. It was the Ohio News Network. He was doing daily broadcasts for 16 stations with a listening audience of over a million people but couldn't sell commercials. He sold the business off. It went through several owners before it became what it is today. He had become the Head Announcer at Mid-Ohio Race Course. He moved on to WMNI. He came in one day to give a Girl Scout troop a tour of the station and the machines went wild while they were in the newsroom. The tour was cut short. Operation Desert Storm had begun. He was working the evenings for WCOL when he got a call to get up and turn the TV on. It was 9-11. He once stated he thought he had been on staff at almost every radio station in Central Ohio. He covered everything from entertainers (He was very fond of Barbara Eden) to First Ladies (Pat Nixon was his favorite) and the local beat too. He claimed he was the only reporter that showed for the press conference introducing Jack Hanna to Columbus. He came home with a story that he felt this guy Hanna was going to do good for the zoo. He also worked for Metro Traffic, WLOH, and ended his career where he had started, in Athens as News Director. He recently posted this on his Facebook page: "Fifty years ago I was working at KYW in Cleveland. On two occassions the station assigned me to drive to New Concord to cover the planned orbital flight of John Glenn. Both times the lift off was postponed because of problems. On the third try he did it, but KYW had decided I didn't need to cover the New Concord reaction. Today, I sat in the same room with Glenn as he talked to an audience about that flight. I guess I have gone full circle. Only took me 50 years." He was currently freelancing for Rueters News and was covering three different stories at the time of his death.

Jim was also a past member of the Columbus Symphony Choir and The Roundtown Players of Circleville, and too many others to name. He was a gifted singer and was proud that he had played every male role in Oklahoma plus every male lead in the Rogers & Hart, Rogers & Hammerstein musicals. He loved classical singing as much as he loved modern musicals. He was also on the announcing team for the Columbus 400. He was the Voice of the Logan Elm Braves Marching band while his kids were in High School. He announced Wrestling Tournaments and Girls Soccer for Westland High School as needed when his Grandkids competed. He was very active in AA. He was dedicated to the program. A mentor had taught him that it can all be summarized with two words: Love and Serve.