James Malone (born 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a radio personality and stand-up comedian based in Cleveland, Ohio, currently hosting a weekday show heard on

iHeart iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...

WTAM WTAM (1100 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, and carries a news/ talk/sports format commonly known as "Newsradio WTAM 1100". Owned by iHeartMedia, WTAM serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Oh ...

1100 AM/106.9 FM in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

He is best known as the longtime co-host of the morning show on

WMJI WMJI (105.7 MHz) – branded ''Majic 105.7'' – is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, serving Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio. It is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts a classic hits r ...

alongside John Lanigan, with whom he won a 2005

Marconi Award :''"Marconi Award" links here. Note that in the Netherlands, the radio academy awards are also called Marconi Awards.'' The Marconi Radio Awards are presented annually by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to the top radio stations and ...

for Large Market Personality.

Bio/Early life

Malone was born in 1954 as the youngest of three children to his parents Johnathan and Shirley, growing up on the east side of Cleveland in the Glenville neighborhood. He attended Chesterfield Elementary School (where by his own admission he was a class comedian), and when he became a teenager (after his family had moved to suburban

Shaker Heights Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cock ...

), he attended Shaker Heights High School, where he graduated in 1972. Malone then went to college, originally attending Cleveland State University, transferring after a semester to Morehouse College in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, before settling in at

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

, where he eventually graduated from in the mid '70s.

Stand-up Comedy

After college, Malone had bounced around between jobs as an insurance salesman and a real estate agent (following in his father's footsteps), while performing as a stand-up comedian on the side. The main part of Malone's act was called "Knuckleheads in the News", where Malone would read headlines from the newspaper and comment about some of the more outlandish stories. In 1985,

FM 105.7 morning DJ John Lanigan happened to be in attendance during one of Malone's shows at the (now defunct) Cleveland Comedy Club, and asked him to bring his "Knuckleheads" routine to his radio show.

Radio career

Malone began his radio career in 1985, at first doing his "Knuckleheads" routine in weekly appearances on WMJI's popular ''Lanigan and Webster'' show. In 1991, Malone became a full-time co-host on the program, which then became known as ''Lanigan, Webster, and Malone'', and then eventually just ''Lanigan and Malone'' after John Webster left the show in 1996. Malone won a Marconi Award for Large Market Personality of the Year in 2005 (shared with Lanigan) Lanigan would retire in 2014, but Malone would continue as morning show co-host until 2021, when he began hosting his own weekly show heard Fridays on WMJI sister station

WARF WARF (1350 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Akron, Ohio, known as "Fox Sports 1350 The Gambler" and carrying a sports format. Owned by iHeartMedia, WARF serves the Greater Cleveland and Akron metro areas as an affiliate of Fox Spo ...

AM 1350, and replayed Saturday mornings on WMJI. In April 2022, the show moved to sister station

1100 AM/106.9 FM, airing weekdays from 9-10 a.m.

Personal

Since 1996, Malone, his wife April, and his daughter Angela stage the annual "Malone Scholarship Golf Classic", a golf tournament which raises money to give college scholarships to high school students who may not be able to attend college without financial aid. Malone also continues performing on the local stand-up comedy circuit.

Awards and honors

*2003 Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee *2005 NAB Marconi Award for Large Market Personality of the Year (shared with John Lanigan) *Shaker Heights High School Hall of Fame inductee *2010 Cleveland Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame inductee

References

External links

Malone Scholarship Golf Classic website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Jimmy Radio personalities from Cleveland Living people 1954 births