Playing as a musician in front of crowds, writing music reviews and learning how to work technical equipment in the studio, taught Jim Voigt how to talk to people and think on his feet. Voigt is a local celebrity more commonly known as “The Critic.”
When Voigt moved to Charleston from New York in 1992, a friend who owned the radio station 96 Wave discovered Voigt’s talent as a music critic and invited him to join the Sunday night shows where Voigt became known as the “Cutting Edge Critic.” Voigt said when he moved to the morning show the nickname was shortened to The Critic and it stuck.
In 2007, 96 Wave ended its run and Voigt moved over to 105.5 The Bridge, where he worked as an on-air personality from 2008-2022. He left in August 2022 to focus on a travel concept he created called One Day Fun Day. The idea is to take the earliest flight out to the city of his choice and spend the day attending a sports game or concert and sampling local bars and restaurants before returning on the latest flight home.
This strategy typically costs a couple or few hundred dollars for the day, according to Voigt, who said One Day Fun Day makes travel affordable for just about everyone. Examples of Voigt’s spontaneous $60-80 round trip destinations include Savannah, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Chicago and Tampa. Appropriately, “Team Critic is Everywhere,” has become Voigt’s slogan.
In early May 2024, Gabe Reynolds took over as the operations manager for both 105.5 The Bridge and 98 Rock, where he said everybody everywhere was talking about The Critic and his connectivity with the community. Reynolds reached out to Voigt about meeting up for a beer and talking about the direction the station was headed. He said he asked Voigt to come back to The Bridge and it all came together from there.
“His energy catches on across the building,” Reynolds said. “His musical knowledge is unprecedented. He is the face of radio and the heart of this station. His return is very important for us moving forward.”
Voigt made the big announcement about his return to The Bridge in July at a RiverDogs game and said since then the result has been tremendous. “The last 30 years has been a fun run. Here’s to the next 30 years of playing music and One Day Fun Days.”
By Sarah Rose
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