Radio Following stints working in radio in
Southern California and
Honolulu, French became morning DJ on the Seattle radio station
KIRO in 1959. He left KIRO in 1971 and moved to
KVI, where he produced and wrote
radio dramas. French was dismissed from his position at KVI in 1978, and he returned to KIRO in as a host 1980. He stepped down from his position as a host in 1994. In 1996, French began production of the radio drama program
Imagination Theatre, which in 2003 moved to
KIXI. His syndicated programs are now broadcast on over 120 stations in the U.S. and Canada and are also broadcast via
XM Satellite Radio throughout North America. In January 2017, it was announced that, due to age and health issues, French and his family would be closing down their production company, Jim French Productions, and discontinuing all broadcasts of
Imagination Theatre at the end of March 2017.
Imagination Theatre was relaunched in 2019, following a successful crowdfunding campaign headed by actors and producers
John Patrick Lowrie and Larry Albert, and is now produced by Aural Vision, LLC.
Voice acting As an actor, French appeared on the 1996 NBC miniseries ''
Pandora's Clock as a non-commissioned officer. He was best known for voice acting work in video games by Valve Corporation, most notably Father Grigori in Half-Life 2, Bill in Left 4 Dead and
Left 4 Dead 2 and the Elder Titan in Dota 2. He additionally voiced the Scientist in Gunman Chronicles and the Fisherman in the tech demo Half-Life 2: Lost Coast''. ==Personal life and death==