[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 17, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1819]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN RECOGNITION OF JIM WILLIAMS

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                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 17, 2003

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the 
distinguished service of Mr. Jim Williams, KYSL-FM radio newscaster of 
Frisco, CO.
  Mr. Williams arrived in Summit County in March of 2000 and has since 
proved to be the voice of Summit County news. Mr. Williams has provided 
Summit County residents with not only daily newscasts and sportscasts, 
but has been a major supporter of community events. Williams got his 
start in broadcast journalism in 1979 in Wray. He has since moved from 
station to station and state to state.
  This past spring, Mr. Williams was honored by the Colorado 
Broadcasters Association (CBA) with a first and second place in the 
best newscast category and was named CBA's medium-market broadcast 
citizen of the year for 2002.
  The dedication, enthusiasm and activism with which Mr. Williams has 
pursued his work deserves our most sincere thanks. Thus, I ask my 
colleagues to join me in thanking Mr. Jim Williams for his service and 
many contributions to his community. He is much appreciated.
  Sadly for the Summit County community, Mr. Williams will give his 
last live broadcast on September 10, 2003 and then head to Illinois to 
co-host a radio talk show.
  For the benefit of our colleagues, I am attaching a copy of a recent 
story about Mr. Williams that appeared in the Summit Daily News.

              [From the Summit Daily News, Sept. 3, 2003]

                       Jim Williams To Leave KYSL

                           (By Jane Stebbins)

       Frisco.--Jim Williams, the rare committed radio newscaster 
     to work in the community, is leaving KYSL-FM for a new job in 
     Illinois as co-host of a radio talk show.
       In addition to the news, Williams broadcasted Summit High 
     School football games and gave detailed, if not breathless, 
     reports of other Tiger sports, perhaps most memorably the 
     recent state tournament girls volleyball teams.
       His last live newscast--he said it will be a difficult 
     one--will be at 9 a.m. September 10.
       ``It's one of the challenges left, one of the reasons it's 
     so exciting,'' he said of the talk show gig. ``It's something 
     new, something different.''
       Williams got his start in broadcast journalism in 1979 in 
     Wray, where he reported farm news, obituaries, hospital 
     admissions and releases, maintained the transmitter, cleaned 
     the toilets and sold ads, he said.
       He then moved from station to station and state to state: 
     Morris, Minn., Ogallala, Neb., Sioux Falls, S.D., 
     Springfield, Ill., Myrtle Beach, and Columbia, S.C., Denver, 
     Aspen, Vail, Avon and Frisco.
       He landed in Summit County in March 2000 and has written 
     and voiced daily newscasts and sportscasts, provided play-by-
     play broadcasts of high school games--a feature that was 
     deleted this summer from KYSL's programming--and represented 
     the station as an emcee at numerous community events.
       Now, he will co-host an afternoon talk show with Beth 
     Whisman on Citadel Communications' WJBC in a market that has 
     the potential for more than 110,000 listeners.
       ``It'll be a little bit of everything,'' Williams said of 
     the focus of the show. ``They had a guy there who was really, 
     really political, using the radio as his bully pulpit--you 
     don't want that. The idea when people are going home is not 
     to irritate them. It won't be light talk, but it'll be 
     lighter than that.''
       He looks forward to discussing politics, entertainment and 
     local politics. And in his new job, unlike in the news world 
     where reporters try to be unbiased, Williams will be allowed 
     to hold opinions.
       ``The thing that'll get me to cringe is when people will 
     try to nail me down on social issues,'' he said. ``That's 
     when I'll be sweating and backpedalling. I need to get off 
     the news fence and develop an opinion.''
       While here, Williams has reported on at least one major 
     story each year. His first year, he was on the sidelines when 
     Carlos Ebert-Santos was tackled during Summit High School's 
     homecoming football game. The aspiring pro-football player 
     had broken his neck.
       ``Carlos was on a roll that night,'' Williams recalled. 
     ``He would have gone for 200, 300 yards offense that night. 
     To see him go down and not get up was chilling. It was one of 
     the moments I was speechless. I didn't know what to say to 
     people. I didn't want to alarm them.
       ``To see him come back and walk was heartwarming,'' he said 
     of Ebert-Santos' recovery. ``It was a terrible story that had 
     about as good an ending as it could have.''
       Equally as chilling was the Sharon Garrison murder story 
     and husband Chuck Garrison's murder trial in 2002.
       The big story in recent weeks has been basketball star Kobe 
     Bryant's sexual assault charge in Eagle.
       In between, Williams has been the emcee for the rubber duck 
     race in Breckenridge--``Anything for the Summit Foundation,'' 
     Williams said--Frisco's Barbecue Challenge, Fourth of July, 
     Music on Main Street and Concerts in the Park, among many 
     other events.
       Williams said he will miss Summit County community events, 
     his co-workers and people in the community--but most of all 
     the high school kids, he said, wiping away a tear.
       ``I hate moving more than anything, but it's the nature of 
     this business,'' he said. ``This job has been pretty close to 
     ideal. This community has been awesome; it's the best place 
     I've been. But this challenge excites me. It's not an 
     opportunity that comes along every day.''
       Normally an easy talker, Williams is stumped as to what 
     he'll say that last time on Summit County's airwaves.
       ``I might try to be silly like Dennis Miller and say, 
     ``That's the news, and I'm out of here,''' he said. ``I think 
     it'll be something more from the heart. These people have 
     really gotten in my heart. If I could have this joy again (in 
     another community), I'd be blessed.''
       He'll be back, he said, albeit as a tourist.
       ``Hopefully, I'll still know enough people to get a lift 
     ticket or two,'' he said.

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