Jim was born September 19. 1947 in Bowman, North Dakota. To Paul and Stella (Burt) Thompson.
He grew up in Oregon from 1951-1960 as his dad ranched in Baker, La Grande, and North Powder. During that time Jim was active in 4-H showing the grand champion steer at the Union County Fair twice.
The Thompsons moved back to the Dakotas in 1962 where Jim started High School in Bowman, and then moved and graduated from Sturgis High School in South Dakota, in 1965.
Jim attended, and graduated from, Brown Institute of Broadcasting in Minneapolis in 1966. He started his radio career at KVSH Valentine, Nebraska, then moved to KBHB in Sturgis.
Jim went into the US Army in 1968, serving at Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver as an MP. He then went to Korea where he served on Armed Forces Radio Network in Seoul until May 1970.
Jim has worked at radio stations in Sturgis, Pierre, and Watertown, SD and in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. He is a past chairman of the SD broadcasters and Watertown Chamber of Commerce.
Jim is a lifetime member of the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association, having announced rodeos from 1976-2023. He announced the first ever Circuit Finals rodeo in the PRCA in Deadwood. He has also announced the National High School Finals, the College National Finals, the Senior Pro finals, and the Indian National Finals. Jim was on the announcing team at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in 1986.
Most recently Jim has been chosen 7 times as the announcer for the National Circuit Finals Steer Roping in Torrington, Wyoming, when the committee referred to him as “The Voice of the Steer Roping Finals”.
Jim was involved in Dale Carnegie training as a student and instructor in both sales and management training. He owned and managed Creative Broadcast Services, Inc., in Spearfish, SD, from 1998 until his retirement in January of 2023. CBSi produced a daily talk radio show which aired in 5 states over nearly 20 years.
Jim still writes a newspaper column called “The Good Stuff” in weekly papers in Belle Fourche, Pierre and DeSmet, SD. His radio show of the same name, “The Good Stuff”, aired on two dozen stations in a five state area for 15 years, and his rodeo program
“On the Road Again” was broadcast on a network of stations for 46 years.
Jim has been inducted into the Casey Tibbs SD Rodeo Hall of Fame, the SD Sports Hall of Fame and the Black Hills Stock Show Hall of Fame.
He was voted the Sportscaster of the year in SD 3 times 1975. 1978 and 1979.
Jim was elected to two terms in the SD State Senate in the mid 1990s, representing District 5 in Watertown.
In 2017, the SD Broadcasters honored him with their Tom Brokaw Award for an excellent career.
His brothers Rick and Mark both reside in Dickinson, ND. His brother Steve died in Williston in 2015.
Jim and his wife, Sherry, live in Sturgis, SD. Between them they have 5 children, 17 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.