“I am Hamilton” spotlights the contributions of alumni, teachers, parents, students, support workers, and community members in providing opportunities for children in the classrooms of Hamilton County Schools.
Today, “I am Hamilton” spotlights James Howard, the morning show personality at Sunny 92.3 radio and host of This-N-That on Channel 9.
Mr. Howard has worked in local radio for the past 25 years as an on-air personality for WDEF Sunny 92.3. For the past 18 years, he has hosted the morning show and become a fixture in the morning routine for many citizens of the Tennessee Valley. He also hosts News Channel 9’s This-N-That at 12:30 p.m. each weekday.
“I was born and raised, through and through a Chattanoogan,” Mr. Howard said. He grew up in East Brainerd and went to East Brainerd Elementary and graduated from Tyner High School. Howard played football and tennis at Tyner and participated in plays and school musicals.
“I had just a great experience at Tyner,” Mr. Howard said. “I look back and think of my coaches and my teachers and the influence they had on me, and I think of encouragement. Just little words of encouragements that teachers and coaches had for me to let me know that I could do this and I could be successful.”
It was Mr. Howard’s drama teacher who encouraged him to pursue a career in performance but a chance visit by broadcast representatives to Tyner his junior year put him on his career path. “It was career day at Tyner High School, and I saw this sign that said broadcasting where a couple of guys were sitting at a table in the Tyner cafeteria. I just walked up and started asking questions and talked to them about radio,” Mr. Howard remembered. “So, career day at Tyner was responsible for me being on radio and television. I think back, and if I had not made that connection on career day at Tyner, I often wonder where I would be today.”