Page 47 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2022 - Online Magazine

Army
VietnAm erA

Recently, TTU
Chancellor Robert
Duncan recognized Jim
Stewart for his part in
launching the tradition of
tailgating at Texas Tech
football games in 1981.
He has a plaque to prove
it. Someone should call
in to his show and ask
him to tell that story.

relied on for There really is only one good word to describe Jim’s
Ag News. He life—from driving Jeeps in the Army to driving
retired from celebrities around Lubbock to his beautiful wife of 48
radio in 2002, years to launching Texas Tech’s tailgate tradition to
“but since I his four children, eight grandchildren and 14 great-
loved to work, grandchildren to his longstanding radio presence as
I got me a job Lubbock’s Ag Reporter. Blessed.
at United. They
called me the
VP of ‘Carry-
outers.’”

In 2005, Wade
Wilkes, owner
of KRFE, was
deployed to the Middle East again, and the station
needed somebody to do their Ag Report. That was
17 years ago. Jim continues on KRFE-580AM every
afternoon from 12:30 to 1:30. He talks about the
weather, the markets, the economy, politics, and
everything in between. He has frequent guests, like
commentator Tim Snyder of Dallas and Sid Miller,
Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. “I love this job.
I’ve learned so much from farmers. They are the
salt of the earth, and they’re smart. If they tell you
something, you can take it to the bank.”

When Jim remembers his career as a police officer,
he smiles. For some reason, he often found himself
escorting celebrities—some you may have heard
of—like Dolly Parton and Tom Jones. He even got to
be Elvis Presley's bodyguard for a day and a half. As
a reporter, he has interviewed five sitting Presidents,
one-on-one. Once, in Atlanta, Pres. George HW Bush
walked into a pressroom full of reporters and said,
“Stewart, how’s everything in Lubbock?” When
George W. Bush was Governor of Texas, he met Jim
once, and after that, he always called him “Jimbo.”
Blessed. Catch the Senior Link Radio Show at noon
every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month!

Lubbock Senior Link 47