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Jim Bohannon dies at 78

Legendary broadcaster grew up in Lebanon

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Former Lebanon resident and nationally-syndicated radio personality Jim Bohannon died Friday at the Prisma Health Cottingham Hospice House in Seneca, S.C. He was 78. He was born Jan. 7, 1944, in Corvallis, Ore. and moved with his parents the late Everett and Dorothy Bohannon to Lebanon when he was a few months old. He spent the rest of his childhood here and graduated from Lebanon High School in the Class of 1962. The Bohannon family made their home many years at 21 Stanwood Drive in Lebanon. Bohannon took an early interest in broadcasting. He picked up his first on-air job in 1960 at the age of 16 at his hometown radio station KLWT-AM. After graduating from high school he moved to Springfield and attended Southwest Missouri State University. During his college years he worked as a disc jockey at KICK radio and also served as a news reporter at KWTO-AM. For more on this story see the LCR.