President / Founder

Jim, or as he was known in the beginning of Z as “General Jim” for general (manager) Jim Hoge. This is contrary to the belief that it came from a militaristic management style. The story was he recorded a short message when the station signed on and someone logged it in the computer as, “General Jim” – and the name has stuck ever since!

Our Jim was born in San Antonio, Texas but grew up on the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the border of Virginia and West Virginia in the city of Bluefield. He began his broadcasting career at the age of 3 on his grandmother’s TV show, Kiddie Kapers which aired on WHIS-TV Channel 6.

Jim took an early interest in electricity and electronics, building a complete radio station, including a 50-watt transmitter, for a ninth-grade science fair and winning first place in the school.

Jim started working part-time beginning at WHIS/WHAJ radio while in high school.  Within a year, Jim was a popular on-air announcer for the station.

Jim earned degrees in electrical engineering technology from Bluefield State College and business administration (Management/Finance) from Marshall University in Huntington, WV.  At Marshall, he was named the student manager of WMUL-FM, the radio station on campus.   One thing he did was institute 11 hours of Christian music on the weekends.

After graduation, Jim worked primarily in secular radio.  In 1981, he and two associates formed a company called Texar, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, PA that manufactured cutting-edge audio processors for major market broadcasting.

In 1986, Jim sold his interest in Texar and moved to Florida.  While working for a radio station near Orlando, he got inspired to bring contemporary Christian music to the region and was able to find a non-commercial allocation for that purpose.

After 7 long years of litigation with 6 other competing applicants, Z88.3 was born on August 14, 1995.

Presently, Jim is the president and chairman of Z88.3 FM® in Orlando which is broadcast on four full power FM facilities and 13 translators throughout Central Florida serving 4.77 million residents plus encompassing additional offerings that are:

Hot™ 95.9 – Positive Hits & Hip-Hop. Also, on Melbourne/Palm Bay on 97.9 FM, and in Palm Coast on 103.5 FM.

La Z™ 102.5 – ¡Música que llena tu vidaǃ® and also on 88.3 WPOZ-HD4 Orlando, Melbourne and Daytona Beach and on 103.7 FM in Clermont.

The Rock HD®– Positive rock & alternative music.

GPraise® – The best of urban Gospel,in Orlando and Central Florida. (Also, on Sanford/Deltona on 93.3 FM, and in Daytona on 102.9 FM.

ZRewind® – The best of Z88.3 from the early days with Positive Hits spanning 1985 through 2005. (Also, broadcast in The Villages, Leesburg and Ocala on 88.7 WMYZ HD-2, and also on 96.9 FM, The Villages.)

Living Worship® – The best of modern worship 24/7 with limited interruptions.