Jim Thornton (born March 8, 1965, in Huntington, West Virginia) is a television and radio announcer primarily known as a news anchor on KNX in Los Angeles. He appeared as an intern announcer on The Price is Right in 2004 and currently serves as the announcer Wheel of Fortune, succeeding the late Charlie O'Donnell who passed away on November 1, 2010.
Early Life[]
As a child growing up in Huntington, Thornton had the opportunity to try out a microphone for the first time at his church. From that moment on, he knew what he wanted to do with his life.
Graduating from Huntington High School in 1983, he attended Marshall University for one year. In 1984, Jim, along with his college roommate, packed up and moved to Los Angeles where he would start his broadcasting career a year later. He also has a degree in linguistics from Marshall University.
Career[]
Thornton is best known as the afternoon anchor on all-news radio KNX 1070 in Los Angeles. He has also announced on Celebrity Deathmatch (MTV2 revival from 2006-2007) and did narration in a portion of Monsters, Inc. In 2011, he also lent his voice to the Oscar-nominated short animated film, Let's Pollute.
Price is Right[]
Jim appeared in a rotation of intern announcers on The Price is Right following the death of long-time announcer Rod Roddy (died on October 27, 2003). Other intern announcers included seasoned veteran Burton Richardson, Randy West, Daniel Rosen, Art Sanders, Roger Rose, Don Bishop and Rich Fields, whom the producers selected as the permanent replacement for Rod and continued on as the announcer on The Price is Right until 2010 when he was dumped from the program and eventually replaced with current announcer George Gray.
Wheel of Fortune[]
Fields and Thornton would soon cross paths again when they appeared as intern announcers on Wheel of Fortune following the death of long-time announcer Charlie O'Donnell. Rich announced during the weeks of November 22-December 13, plus the week of January 31 while Jim announced during the weeks of December 20, 2010, through January 3, 2011, dubbing over Charlie in the process. He first announced from the studio on the week of January 17.
Other weeks that Jim announced were January 24; February 7, 21, and 28; March 21 and 28; and every Season 28 episode from April 18 onward. He announced in post-production for the weeks of February 7 and March 28, and his announcing for the weeks of May 2-16 was pre-recorded.
On June 13, 2011, Jim was ecstatic to join the Wheel of Fortune family as the show's permanent announcer and because of his new job, he has scaled back from his job at KNX.
Personal Info[]
Jim is married and has one son, Sam.
Gallery[]
