Donna Hartman admits that when she promised a celebration of life last June on Facebook for Jim Scott, her late husband, that she had no clue how or when she could organize an event for his thousands of fans.
“As soon as I posted it, I knew that I couldn’t do it. I’m just one person,” Hartman says.
She was more convinced when she saw hundreds of comments on the Facebook post within hours of her announcing that Scott, 81, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, on June 28 last year.
One of the most popular radio personalities in Cincinnati history, Scott came here in 1968 to do mornings at WSAI-AM. He was heard on YES95, WINK94.1 and WLW-AM until retiring in April 2015. Scott’s show was No. 1 in the Cincinnati morning radio ratings every decade from the 1970s until his retirement.
The social media response was practically paralyzing.
“I thought I knew how big Jim was, but after he passed I saw it in a slightly different light. He was big!” she says.
A month later, help arrived from an unexpected source — a young woman who was Jim’s classmate at Mount St. Joseph University in 2017, when he completed the college degree he began more than 50 years ago. Maria Bruce, a mental health specialist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, had remained a close friend, carrying a banner in front of Scott in Findlay Market Opening Day parades and visiting him regularly in his final months.
“Maria contacted me in July and said, 'This is something we really want to do. And it would do the most good as a fundraiser for ALS,' ” Hartman recalls.
The event grew from there.
Retired sportscaster Dennis Janson, who started his career at WSAI-AM and met Scott his first day in town, will be one of three hosts. He’ll be joined by two of Scott’s former WLW-AM co-workers: Mo Egger, a sports talk host who started his career producing Scott’s morning show, and Scott's longtime morning news anchor Brian Combs.
Retired Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman and his wife, Amanda, also have offered to help. Many Mount administrators and musicians also are helping organize the June event.
“It’s going to be a tribute show with lots of photographs, and audio, and some video of Jim in the background, and with live musical performances,” Hartman says.
The gathering in the Mount St. Joseph theater will be a ticketed event benefiting the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute. Tickets will be "moderately priced," Hartman says.
And the date? June 28 is the one-year anniversary of Scott’s death.
“It wasn’t by design. The date was just available,” Hartman says. “It was a ‘Jim wink.’ “
She finds solace in what she calls a “Jim wink,” when something happens that's just too coincidental. Like hearing their favorite song on the radio at a special time, or finding a small wood trinket with the “Serenity Prayer” on her first run since he died on their favorite jogging route.
“It was Jim’s favorite prayer. He said it a lot when he had ALS," she says. "I was waking after my run, and picking up some trash, and I saw this little square thing off the road. It was a Jim wink."
Hartman says all phases of Scott’s life in Cincinnati will be celebrated at the event — his radio career, his family, the Findlay Market Opening Day parade, and his support of the Salvation Army and other charities.
Ticket information, participants, performers and speakers will be announced at a later date. Stay tuned.
