The news that Frank Fixaris had died last Friday, January 13, hit me like a ton of bricks. Though I never actually met him in person, and only chanced to talk with him on the phone during a couple of interviews, I, like many, many people throughout Maine, loved him like a grandfather.
When the Big Jab, the all-sports station located at 95.5 FM, launched their local sports talk show four years ago, it could have been a disaster. This is a small town, with only so many possible callers, and no avenues for doing any reporting on the Boston sports teams that most locals really care about. But WJAB was smart enough to pair Maine sports journalism legend Fixaris, a long-time sports director at Channel 13, with young buck Dave Schumacher (who actually knows how to run the board and handle callers). The result was a fun and enthusiasm that we at the Phoenix quickly recognized with a Best of Editor’s Pick in 2002 and the rest of Maine quickly recognized by making it Maine’s most talked-about morning radio show of any kind.
Fixaris was a fount of knowledge, sure, but it was his personality that made everyone love him. He made me laugh out loud at least once every time I listened and he conducted some of the most effortless and informative interviews I’ve ever heard. He was perceptive, totally self aware, and completely unconcerned with political correctness. After the Portland Press Herald reported the story of his death by fire in his Falmouth home, 150 people posted their condolences before Sunday was done.
His voice was made for radio, made all the more baritone and gravelly by years of adored cigarette smoking. Fixaris had a great story about having dinner with Johnny Most. One can only imagine the ashtray that sat between them. No doubt they’ve both got an infinite supply of cancer sticks now, and not a worry in the world about their health.
For some reason, Schumacher decided to make Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” Fix’s theme song, egging Fix to sing along every time. If you could listen to Fix croon, “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school,” without smiling, you are truly heartless.
