James K. Davis (amateur radio call sign W2JKD) is a second-generation, lifelong broadcaster whose career spans the golden age of Top 40 radio and deca
James K. Davis (amateur radio call sign W2JKD) is a second-generation, lifelong broadcaster whose career spans the golden age of Top 40 radio and decades of major-market programming and executive leadership. A native of Buffalo, New York, Davis followed in the footsteps of his mother, a singer on WKBW/Buffalo, and began his own broadcasting path as an air personality in Western New York before rising to some of the most iconic stations in American radio.
Jim at WTTO AM Toledo
Davis became nationally recognized during his time at CKLW in Windsor/Detroit — “The Big 8” under legendary programmer Paul Drew. Rebranded on-air as “Big Jim Edwards,” he entered a culture defined by speed, precision, and relentless standards. Davis’s firsthand account of joining CKLW captures the station’s intensity: a whirlwind start that included a Pontiac convertible ride with a car phone, a run to Motown to pick up a Supremes exclusive, and an early on-air lesson in CKLW discipline when Drew made him replay an entire break after forgetting the call letters. Davis later moved into morning drive, where he recalls the station’s extraordinary dominance—highlighted by a 23 share in 1969—while CKLW’s 20/20 News delivered “tune-in” journalism through riots, assassinations, and a nation at war.
Beyond CKLW, Davis worked in major markets at legendary outlets including WOR-FM/New York, KHJ/Los Angeles, and WLS-AM/Chicago, and while employed by RKO General Broadcasting, he was twice nominated for Billboard magazine’s “Major Market Air Personality of the Year.” As radio evolved, Davis shifted from the air studio to the management suite, beginning in the early 1970s as Operations Manager at ABC’s Chicago outlet WDAI-FM and then holding a series of major-market leadership roles, including programming/management positions in Pittsburgh (WPEZ), Detroit (WXYZ, ABC O&O), Dallas (KLIF), and Los Angeles at KMPC, the flagship station of Gene Autry’s Golden West Broadcasters.
In 1981, Davis entered senior management as Vice President/General Manager of WVAF/Charleston, West Virginia, where he also served the industry and public: as State Director for the National Radio Broadcasters Association, a Board member of the West Virginia Broadcasters Association, and a federally appointed State Chairman of the Emergency Broadcast System. In Charleston he also became a visible community broadcaster—coordinating and hosting annual March of Dimes telethons on WVAH TV-23 and hosting a Saturday night program, “The Movie Club.”
Jim Hampton Interviews James K. Davis (Big Jim Edwards)
Davis later became a partner and VP/GM at WNFI/Daytona Beach, remained with the corporation after its sale, and served as interim GM for multiple Florida stations including WCOA/WJLQ (Pensacola) and WPAP (Panama City). In 1988, he joined Regional Broadcasters of Michigan as General Manager of WGRD AM/FM (Grand Rapids)—a station recognized as “Station of the Year” by the Grand Rapids Radio Broadcasters Association—while Davis himself served as that organization’s Vice President. He was also appointed to a Radio Advertising Bureau “blue ribbon” panel on New Business Development.
In 1991, Davis became Executive Vice President and General Manager of WZVU (Oldies 107.1) in the Monmouth/Ocean, New Jersey market, then returned to Florida, later serving in multi-station leadership roles including Vice President/Market Manager for a Sarasota cluster under Clear Channel Communications. He has also been associated with Vero Beach Broadcasters, LLC, operating a cluster including WGYL, WGNX, WOSN, and WTTB (AM).
A broadcaster with a teacher’s mindset, Davis authored “The Sales Success Spectrum — A System of Radio Sales,”used as a station training manual. Outside broadcasting, he is an accomplished aviator—a multi-engine commercial instrument-rated pilot and owner/operator of a twin-engine Aero Commander—and has served in the Civil Air Patrol as a trained search-and-rescue pilot. An amateur radio operator since age twelve, Davis holds an Extra Classlicense and earned ARRL designated examiner status in 1985.
From the airwaves of CKLW’s Big 8 to executive leadership across major U.S. markets, James K. Davis represents a rare kind of radio career: one built on high-standard craft, major-market competition, and a lifelong devotion to communications—on the air and in the air.
