Until October 2019, Jamie McKibbin was primarily known as the GM of a group of Jackson, Mich., stations and as the host of a popular hour-long Saturday morning outdoors show. Then, McKibbin entered radio station ownership with his wife, Katina.
It is now known that McKibbin, an active hunter, has died while out with a friend in a boating accident tied to their outdoorsman’s outing.
According to WILX-10, the Lansing-based NBC affiliate, McKibbin was on a boat with friend James “Bud” Miller. WILX reports the boat overturned late Sunday evening, and Miller and McKibbin were reported missing after failing to return to their cabin.
Their bodies were found Monday afternoon along the shoreline of the Clendening Lake reservoir, near Tippecanoe, Ohio, to the south of Canton. The boat was not recovered as of Monday at 11pm; McKibbin’s radio stations report that foul weather could have played a role in the boat capsizing.
According to local authorities, Miller and McKibbin drowned; no firearms activity was seen. It is also uncertain if Miller and McKibbin were wearing life jackets.
He is survived by Katina McKibbin, his 14-year-old son Walter, his mother Sharon and her husband Robert, of Camden, Mich. In comments made off-camera to WILX-10, she noted that Jamie was “a wonderful husband and father.”
December 16 marks the first anniversary of radio ownership for McKibbin, who on that date closed on his $3.8 million acquisition of Class B News/Talk WKHM-AM 970 and FM translator W268CA at 101.5 MHz in Jackson, Mich.; Class A Hot AC WKHM-FM 105.3 “K105.3”, licensed to Brooklyn, Mich.; Class C Country WIBM-AM 1450 and FM translator W240DG at 95.9 in Jackson, branded as “The Power Cow”; and W270CJ at 101.9 MHz in Jackson, the local ESPN Radio affiliate and home for the weekly Jamie McKibbin Outdoor Show; from Jackson Radio Works.
Three days later, his McKibbin Media Group made its second deal, Class A WCSR-FM 92.1 and Class C WCSR-AM 1340/FM translator W258DE at 99.5 MHz some 35 miles to the south of Jackson, in Hillsdale, Mich. The stations serve the community as “Radio Hillsdale” as the county’s lone broadcast services.
McKibbin agreed to acquire the stations from WCSR Inc., owned by Michael Flynn, for $575,000, pending final Net Operating Working Capital figures.
The owners of Jackson Radio Works, Bruce and Susan Goldsen, had owned the stations they sold to McKibbin since 1997. McKibbin had been on the payroll since Day One of their ownership.
Speaking to WILX, Bruce Goldsen said, “It is such a loss for both Jackson and Hillsdale. It’s going to be a tough one to recover [from] but people will get through it, and they will.”
Sue Goldsen added that McKibbin’s lifelong dream was to be an owner in the media business. “We were ready to retire and found someone within our family who was willing to carry on the commitment to community … I think the legacy that he will leave is that the people who knew him and loved him and loved the community and loved radio are going to make sure that his legacy and his dream moves forward.”
McKibbin served on the Michigan Association of Broadcasters Board of Directors.
