Three days ago, James Arthur Rud passed away. Many of us knew him as “Jimmy Reed”, a Minneapolis/St. Paul DJ with a career spanning over 4 decades.
I started listening to radio when I was 3 years old. This was back in 1967. I heard many DJs, but there were two whom I quickly learned to recognize by name and voice. One was Twin Cities radio legend True Don Bleu. He spent 10 years at KDWB prior to his 1978 gig with KHJ in Los Angeles. The other was Jimmy Reed. Jimmy also worked for KDWB and then KRSI. By the time I knew his name, he was on WDGY. First on the evening show and then afternoons, Jimmy spent 15 years at WDGY. He even stayed on when Storz flipped the format from Rock to Country in September, 1977. WDGY going country was a BIG deal to us kids who had grown up with the station. Jimmy Reed could do it all. He also owned and operated Reed’s Pizza in Prior Lake.
Jimmy Reed’s obituary announcement from the Red Wing Republican Eagle can be found here. R.I.P, sir. You were an inspiration to countless kids like myself who grew up with Twin Cities radio in the 1970s. We heard you on WDGY and immediately knew what we wanted to be when we grew up.