Jim Rome

Rome was born in Los Angeles and graduated from Calabasas High School in Calabasas, California in 1982. He earned a degree in communications from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 1987. He and his wife, Janet, live in Irvine, California with their two sons, Jake and Logan. == Broadcasting career ==

Rome started his radio career at college radio station KCSB-FM while at UCSB, where he was sports director for one quarter, and at news station KTMS, also in Santa Barbara, where he began as a traffic reporter and became a sports talk host in summer 1987. At the end of 1990, he moved to XTRA Sports 690 in San Diego, where he began what is known as The Jim Rome Show, or "The Jungle". A loop of the instrumental intro of Iggy Pop's song "Lust for Life" and the instrumental intro of Guns N' Roses' song "Welcome to the Jungle" are the show's signature music and have been since 1990. The show's production moved to a studio in downtown Los Angeles in spring 1994, although the broadcast came from XTRA San Diego. At the same time that the studio moved, the show start time shifted to 9am Pacific/12pm Eastern staying there for the rest of 2024. The program was syndicated in 1996 through Premiere Radio Networks, which sold it to an assortment of local stations including ESPN Radio affiliates. A new contract took effect in January 2013 bringing the program to the CBS Sports Radio network, which simulcasted the program on its local FM/AM stations, its SiriusXM satellite channel (now known as Infinity Sports), and its cable TV channel. As of February 2024 the television version of the program was dropped by CBS Sports. The video feed is now marketed as a co-production with X and is also available on various other streaming services. Beginning with the first new show of 2025 in January, the show moved to the 3–6 pm Eastern/12–3 pm Pacific time slot. Many local stations and the Infinity Sports channel on Sirius chose to retain their pre-existing shows in that slot and no longer carry the Rome show, which is available only on 60 local affiliates and seeks listeners on its streaming platforms instead. As of 2026 the show is again carried on SiriusXM, on the "Sports Play-by-Play" channels. Over time, the show's production facility moved to the Premiere Radio building in Sherman Oaks, an area in Los Angeles, then an undisclosed Orange County location, and finally as part of the start of TV simulcasting in January 2018, a custom-built studio in Costa Mesa, California. Due to past incidents of overzealous fans trespassing at the studio, the exact addresses of the former and current Orange County studios are not publicized. To provide continuity across the show's eras in San Diego , Los Angeles, and Orange County, it is consistently referred to as originating from "Southern California". In 2005, the TV versions of the show were criticized for obscuring the studio's location by using the "Southern California" terminology and footage of the downtown Los Angeles skyline despite being broadcast from almost 40 miles away in the Costa Mesa area. The radio show was formerly heard on more than 200 stations across the U.S. and Canada and had an audience of about 2.5 million. In 1998, Rome released an album entitled Welcome to the Jungle, which featured memorable sound bites and music from the show. In early 2003, Rome was interviewing friend Mark Shapiro, executive producer of programming and production at ESPN, on his radio program. Unexpectedly, the two began to discuss a possible return of Rome to ESPN and within a few months, Rome was officially rehired to host Rome Is Burning. Rome openly attributes the interview as being the impetus to his return to television. == Controversy and incidents ==

Rome gained notoriety in 1994 for an incident on his ESPN2 television show, Talk2, when his guest was NFL quarterback Jim Everett (at the time Everett was with the New Orleans Saints). Rome had often referred to Everett on radio as "Chris" (after Chris Evert, the female tennis player), suggesting that Everett was less than a man whenever he shied away from getting hit by the defense. Everett appeared as a guest on the television show, where he warned Rome about repeating the insult. Rome continued to address Everett as "Chris" and Everett overturned the table between them and shoved Rome to the floor while still on the air. Their confrontation resulted in no legal action and Rome publicly apologized to Everett. Rome considers the event as one of his mistakes early in his career. In 1997, hockey legend Gordie Howe announced an attempt to play a shift with the International Hockey League's Detroit Vipers, which would allow Howe to claim he has played professional hockey in six decades. Rome challenged the star, who was 69, offering a bounty of $3,000 to any player on the team playing against the Vipers to take Howe out of the game permanently by saying, "Drop gloves with Howe and pummel this old fool back to reality." The bounty, which reached at least $5,071, would be given to anyone landing a punch on Howe. Rome clarified the statements were a joke. In 2012, Rome was involved in a controversy with NBA Commissioner David Stern. During an interview, Rome asked Stern about the conspiracy theories that the NBA draft lottery was fixed in favor of the New Orleans Hornets. Rome said, "Was the fix in for the lottery?" Stern replied with two answers: "Number one, no; and a statement, shame on you for asking." He proceeded to ask Rome the loaded question, "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Stern intended to suggest that the subject has been asked a question he can not answer without incriminating himself. He was saying he felt Rome was being unfair. On January 1, 2015, Rome sent out a tweet, "Is... anyone not in a marching band who thinks those dorks running around with their instruments are cool?" After backlash, he deleted the tweet and apologized. The incident inspired the hashtag "#MarchOnRome". == Celebrity appearances ==

Rome made cameo appearances in the movies Space Jam, Two for the Money, and the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard. He appeared in Blink-182's music video "What's My Age Again?" and appeared on the HBO sitcom Arliss. Rome was parodied in the South Park episode "Sarcastaball" and the Jim Everett altercation was spoofed in the episode "The F Word". On May 3, 2004, Rome hosted Pat Tillman's memorial service. On January 28, 2006, Rome was elected to the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in Beverly Hills, California. Any Given Sunday, an Oliver Stone film, features John C. McGinley playing a brash sportscaster "Jack Rose," a character based on Rome. ==Horse racing==

After poking fun at horse racing for years saying "it's not a sport, it's a bet," Rome seemed to take greater interest in horse racing after interviewing Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux many times on his show. Rome then took up a stronger interest in buying thoroughbreds. He first was a part owner of Wing Forward, who in his North American debut, made a dramatic last-to-first comeback to win the race. Rome mentioned it being "one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had." In 2008, Jim and his wife Janet purchased a stake in a two-year-old colt, giving them a potential shot at the Triple Crown stakes races in 2009. Listeners suggested names for the horse, who eventually was named Gallatin's Run. By 2012, Jim Rome owned part or all of 14 horses in connection with multiple partnerships including his own stable, Jungle Racing, LLC. The first to gain national attention was the winner of the 2012 and 2013 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, a filly named Mizdirection. Rome's feelings after winning the Breeder's Cup race: “I’ve just had a moment I’ve never experienced in my life. That was absolutely awesome.” He purchased an interest in her for $50,000 in 2010. He co-owned the mare with Bill Strauss, Danny Gohs, Borris Beljak, and Kevin Nish. , Mizdirection won 11 of 17 starts and retired from racing with $1,719,621 in earnings. She was usually ridden by jockey Mike Smith. Two days after her 2014 Breeders' Cup win, Mizdirection was purchased for $2.7 million at the Fasig-Tipton sale by Al Shaqab Racing of Qatar, then owned by Sheikh Joaan Al Thani, and retired to become a broodmare. Rome's next significant race horse was Shared Belief, a gelding by Candy Ride, named the Eclipse Award winner in the two-year-old male division for 2013. As a three-year-old, he continued winning and closed out the 2014 year with a record of eight wins in nine races (five of six races in 2014 alone). He earned over $2 million in earnings, again with Mike Smith as his regular rider. As a four-year-old, the horse defeated 2014 Kentucky Derby winner and horse of the year California Chrome in both horses' first race of the season, then Shared Belief had a decisive win in the Santa Anita Handicap. ==References==