Life of Montgomery native Jimmy Carter remembered by fellow radio broadcaster
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WAKA) –Â We have sad news involving a legendary Montgomery radio broadcaster who went on to find fame in Nashville, and nationally.
Entertainment reporter Jimmy Carter died this week in Nashville, at 73. He passed away just two days before his 74th birthday.
He had worked with his friend Larry Stevens at WHHY radio in Montgomery in the 1970s, before leaving for Birmingham and Nashville.
Carter was part of the long-running “Crook and Chase” show on the TNN cable network, where he got to interview countless celebrities and reached a national audience.
He also helped launch the radio station at Auburn University.
Action 8 News caught up with Larry Stevens, who remembers him fondly.
“I could tell a million Jimmy Carter stories,” Stevens said. “He was so full of energy and he did not want anybody to beat him to a news story. Originally, he came to me right out of college, right out of Auburn. He had been working the Auburn station and he called me and said, ‘Can I call in some news stories? I love following that kind of stuff.’ Within two weeks, we had to hire him because he was making us look bad if we didn’t because he was all over the place. He would get to scenes before the paramedics. He saved a little girl’s life by getting her out of a pool and resuscitating her because she was drowning and would probably have died, but he got her out of the pool. He was always everywhere. Just full of energy.”
Jimmy Carter would come down from Nashville to be part of Action 8’s live coverage of Montgomery’s Jubilee CityFest for years back when that annual event took place downtown.
Carter died in his sleep. He was still working the day before he died.
