10/27/2025
I’ve been thinking lately of my undergrad radio days at Ann Arbor. Amidst my jumbled thoughts are memories of Jim Manheim AKA “Tex”, who rotated on the Sat Americana shows.
Tex was neither student nor at the where I first honed my skills at UMich. He was a long-standing crew member on the Sat/Sun specialty block, hosting the Down Home Show and Bill Monroe for Breakfast — country, bluegrass and roots music. For a while, Tex also board-opped for 14K Islands, the show on Sunday’s block that preceded RadioZilla!, the East Asian popular and modern show that I DJed. Kind of neat to witness Tex’s emergent interest in 🇮🇩 (and my own!).
That was Jim’s style — deep knowledge of Americana, supplemented by a persistent curiosity about all the world’s people.
I hadn’t been at WCBN for long when I was thrown into mgmt/exec staff. We ran an emergency fundraiser asking for $$$ on short notice. As a naive newbie, I had no idea what I was supposed to be supervising, but I saw the whole weekend crew snap into action, shaking down listeners and doing it with such joy and aplomb — it really showed me how much the station meant to our community. DHS & BMfB were top earner$, in no small part to the charisma of its co-hosts Tex and Longhandle Bob. That weekend changed my status from “just another gone-after-🎓 student” to part of Team Radio. I was so inspired by community heroes like Tex.
About a year ago, Tex actually moved to Yogyakarta to retire, and appeared to be flourishing there. We’d stayed in touch, and had just messaged at the end of Sept, when I had just landed in Taiwan, and were commiserating about muggy tropical Asian island climes.
Two weeks later, while I was traveling, he succumbed to complications of pneumonia and passed away.
This past year has certainly taught me something about paying tribute to 📻 friends who shaped the course of my life in more ways than I can account w/ IG limits.
Rest in Peace, dear friend. May your voice🎶 resound forever in the ether.
1st pic: Tex @ WCBN ~ 2007
2nd: Tex @ ??, photo from his brother Dan.
