You first may have heard of James T. Harris as "James from Sherman Park," a caller to local radio shows. Always enthusiastic and informative as a caller, Harris, a former teacher and current corporate and motivational speaker and consultant, got the call, if you will, to be a talk show host due to the quality of this comments.

Today, he's a bright, younger voice on WTMJ-AM radio. Talking about a wide range of issues, ideas and options, his "National Conversation" radio show appears from 1-3 p.m. Saturday and 6- 9 p.m. Sunday (he also fills in on weekdays).

Harris is "quintessential Milwaukee through and through," lives in the City with his family, collaboratively works for change and, through his show and speaking, works to get others to better understand generational differences.

He's political, passionate and lively. And, in this Milwaukee Talks he discusses his conservative views, Brett Favre, what Milwaukee needs, Barack Obama and more.

OMC: Give us the two to three-minute James T. Harris bio.

James Harris: Child of one Randy and Dessie Harris. First generation born here in Milwaukee -- my parents are from Mississippi. Grew up on the northwest side of Milwaukee, attending Browning High School, and then John Muir Junior High School, and then I started to stretch as I decided to go to Tech -- Milwaukee Tech -- instead of the neighborhood Madison High School. Quintessential Milwaukee through and through. I love the city. Grew up here. Thought I was going to get away for a minute -- I moved and actually went to school in Madison. That didn't work out. After a couple of semesters, I decided to leave before they kicked me out.

Ended up in Champagne, Illinois for a couple of years, but then came back to Milwaukee to finish school, and ended up graduating from -- eventually from -- Cardinal Stritch, by way of UW-Milwaukee and then a year overseas at University of Nottingham, England. I then came home and worked for a little bit before I met my beautiful wife. Almost left again, then when I met her, the grass was greener and the sky was bluer. Started having babies, and now (my) parents are just seven minutes away, so Milwaukee is a place that I couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now because all of my community, church, family, friends are all within about a ten-mile radius. So, love the city.

OMC: Tell me about your first job.

JH: The first job I ever -- paying job, where I had to pay the government and they got their money first -- I was a dishwasher for a restaurant up near Northridge. It's not there anymore, but I remember my first job, my first night as a dishwasher, I got snowed, I believe is the term. There were pots and pans as far as the eye could see -- on the floor, going back and I remember having that deep, sinking feeling like I was never going to get out of this, and a guy came over, and just helped me out. I worked there for about six months before I realized, "I can't do this. I'm not cut out for this." But that was the first job, and from there, I went on to, basically through my college years, I worked as a busboy or a waiter in different types of establishments.

OMC: What about post-college? Did you know when you were going to school what you wanted to be when you grew up?

JH: Absolutely not. That's probably why I floundered in Madison. After three semesters there, it came down to me ordering my pizza while wearing my Nino Cerruti plaid shorts waiting for him to square, you know, in the fountain. Literally in the fountain. That's when I knew that things weren't going well. I went on hiatus -- when I went to Illinois actually. I had a couple of roommates who helped me get myself together.

I was very undisciplined. One was studying Bio-Chem to get his doctorate in Bio-Chem, and the other was getting his Masters in English as a Second Language, and they kind of provided the structure that I was missing. I didn't know what I wanted to do until I came back to Milwaukee and had a back injury. I ended up having to have back surgery and I came home, and talked to my best friend's mother about things I was gifted and talented with, and things that I really loved.

OMC: When was that?

JH: This would have been 1986-'87. In '87 I injured myself and came home. I recuperated most of '87 and went back to school in '88. When I went back, I went back with purpose. I went back with mission. So, my GPA had to be like 1.6 when I left Madison. I escaped. And then when I went back to school, I got it up to 3.6. I mean, I lived in Golda Meir Library. I was studying history, sociology and education. I wanted to teach. Go on to teach history.

Once that was decided, I was able to focus on that goal. Still took a little time though. I went to school in England in December of '88. I came back, and in that time period made a transition to Cardinal Stritch because I was getting the run around at UWM. I just felt like I had to jump through this hoop, jump through that hoop. I figured I pay more and be able to concentrate and get out, because the nuns at Cardinal Stritch -- they don't play. So I made that switch when I came back from England in the autumn of '89 -- I started at Stritch and knocked it out in about two years.

OMC: Where was your first teaching job?

JH: I did a cooperative teaching job at West Bend West High School. By this time it was late in the day man, I was about 23-24 years old ... actually, I was older than that. I didn't want to do student teaching, so I looked for an opportunity that would pay me to get that training, which was a coop and cooperative style in West Bend. Did that, and immediately came back to Milwaukee, finished up the schoolwork, and my first and only teaching job was at Brown Deer High School from 1991-2000.

OMC: Now your have a leadership development and speaking business, right? Did that evolve out of the teaching?

JH: Teaching prepared me, man, for speaking. You had to try to teach history to a bunch of kids who didn't want to be there at 8 in the morning. So, you kind of have to find a way to entertain them, to make it interesting. So, about four years into my teaching, remember I told you I started out at West Bend West, I worked with freshmen. Those freshmen invited me back to be their commencement speaker, which was still the biggest honor in my teaching career.

I did their commencement address and afterwards there was a woman in the audience from The West Bend Company, and she asked me, "Do you speak professionally?" ... and up until that point, Jeff, the ideal of, "People get paid for this? Are you serious?" So I lied and had to say "yes, I am." I went home and had some cards made up, you know. (Laughs)

My first professional speaking job was as a teacher. I spoke to West Bend Company, and they were doing issues on diversity. I kind of took a different view on it, put together an address, and they hired me. And then in the West Bend area, I started to get more gigs -- maybe two or three a year that I would do in the evenings.

Over the years, they started to pick up more and more until it got to a point where I had to make a choice, because I didn't want to take days off -- I didn't want to "double dip" as they would say. So it came down to, "Do you really want to give a go at this or do you want to stay in the teaching profession?" and all signs were saying, you know, "go for it." So, I stepped out in 2000 and started the first incarnation of my business, Culture shock, and now, five years later, I changed it to Illumination.

OMC: From the speaking circuit to your current talk show, were there stops in between there?

JH: There were many! I listened to talk radio and that actually started when I was in West Bend, when I would drive home from the teaching gig in West Bend. I'd have the radio on, and I discovered the last three minutes of Rush Limbaugh driving back from West bend, and I'm like, "who is this guy?" And right after that, you know, Mark Belling came on and I started to listen to that, and that's how I first got involved -- listening to talk radio driving back and forth from West Bend.

In that period listening to Belling, you had Charlie Sykes sit in for him, Jeff Wagner sit in for him, and they went over to WTMJ, so I would find myself listening in the morning, and listening in the evening, just listening to talk radio for a couple of years. Then I got to the point where I would call in on an issue, and I would call all the local talk shows -- if I was listening and driving in my car, and they gave out a number, I'd call, and after years of doing that ... in the summer of 2006, I was calling in to Jeff Wagner -- it was when the Crocodile Hunter died: Steve Irwin -- and I called in to respond to that, and the producer of the show said, "Oh, what's your name?" I responded with James from Sherman Park -- that was my moniker.'

I called in as James from Sherman Park, and he said, "Dude, we've been trying to get a hold of you, cuz you've been calling in here for years." He went on to say that there was something about the way you articulate your topics, how you stand, we were wondering if we could talk to you. So, I gave him my number and he called back a few days later, and they said, "We were wondering if you would be interested in co-hosting a show ... with me."

It was actually Executive Producer Joe Scialfa and I thought, "Are you kidding? What?" I thought really maybe they had been on the Web site and saw my company and maybe some type of benefit or something, but never expected him to say, "Would you be interested in co-hosting." Then he was honest and said that if this works out there could be ... we think you have a voice that the community would like to hear, and if it works out, there could be a show in it.

And that's how it started. I'd been calling in for years, they invited me to sit in on a couple of shows -- I co-hosted seven shows with Joe Scialfa, and they gave me a solo opportunity. The Bucks Game ran into overtime, so I was only on for about six minutes. I went to a commercial break thinking that I'd be back after the break, and they said, "No, it's over." I was like "What? What? Oh, thank you, good night!" And then they started to give me Sunday evening opportunities. It just worked up to the point where I filled in for Jeff Wagner, and weekend shows -- Saturday afternoons and Sunday evenings. It was just like that.

OMC: What's been the biggest surprise and biggest challenge of being a talk show host?

JH: I was surprised by how quickly people hate me, to be honest. And I was also shocked by people who thought I was a fraud -- like I'm acting this way just to get notoriety. That completely took me by surprise. People that I had known for a couple of years were e-mailing me, and they were like, "Congratulations, but you're a sellout." And I'm like, "I'm just sayin' the things that I've always believed in. I'm shocked." And I still am. Whenever people e-mail me and it's like a hate-fest.

I think me being on radio started at the same time as the blog ... actually, I was blogging before the radio ... a little bit before the radio, and I'm just, you know, responding. Current events class ... I was a current events teacher ... just talking about what was happening. And it didn't get too many hits then, but then of course once the radio, things picked up, but that's the biggest thing that shocked me. The negative response.

And then the second thing is, you know ... life is show prep. I'll talk about stories that happen, and the family responds. Ho! You know? My mom or my sister calling me -- why'd you talk about that. "But it happened!" "You shouldn't be puttin' family business..." "Oh my God!" So, the personal stuff, and sometimes when you get in to a very controversial story, you know, people are crazy, and I'm always in the city, and you're always afraid of who may roll up on you. I got kids. You know, how much of this do I wanna ... I definitely don't want my words to impact on their lives negatively. It's going to happen to a certain degree, but when you start getting into personal safety ... some issues have come up over the past year and a half with some things that I've muddled into. That's been surprising.

The other thing, I'm kind of shocked ... WTMJ is the biggest station in the state ... and you know, it maybe sounds odd. I knew that when I went into this, but the impact of the words you're saying are being broadcast all over the state -- Michigan, Illinois. It still surprises me -- continuously surprises me -- that people are listening. I love the positive feedback ... I love the negative feedback, as well. Sometimes we'll get into it, because it's all about conversation. I just try to keep it about conversation. The widespread distribution of my ideas has been humbling.

OMC: Can you talk a little bit about the roots of your political beliefs and how you'd explain them to someone?

JH: The one thing I do try to do with national conversation ... I'm a conservative. I've voted Republican my whole adult life, but I grew up in a Democratic household, and what happened to us, actually, being exposed to different ideas, and these two friends who were my roommates whom I mentioned earlier, they were ... we were ... I don't know if political as much as our ideas were rooted out of our world view, which is rooted in that of our religion. Because we all practice the same religion.

So, I realize that there's people who are of a different political ilk who also are very religious, which makes the conversation all the more interesting to me. But, I can only say that my show is based off of the beliefs that I have, and they were forged through -- first being given to me and shaped by my family, and then forged through my different life experiences -- through college, through traveling throughout the world.

Although I studied in England, I traveled throughout Eastern and Western Europe before and after communism, through Africa, India, Turkey, and the people that I met and every conversation I had helped shape how I see the world. What I try to do with the national conversation radio show, is that I bring that stuff in.

But one of the things that I also try to do is to bring responsible religious conversation back to the national conversation. It's been purged, and usually when we do talk about it, it's laced with hate. I try not to do that. I really try to get people to think consciously about why they believe the things that they do and what it's linked to ... and to help them have that color their world view and how they approach life.

So, I called my radio show "The Biggest Current Events Class in Wisconsin." And one of the things I also try to do is to help people bring that whole element of my speaker side, where I deal with generations and history. And bring that into the conversation as well. And, so, what is it rooted on? Man, I'm in Milwaukee, my parents are from the South, we have that whole component.

One of my unexpressed goals is to get people of different ethnic backgrounds to talk together and to commiserate with each other, and all of that is rooted out of my world view, you know, that's been shaped by the church, that's been shaped by my family, that's been shaped by travel and education.

OMC: If you had a magic wand and you could change three things about Milwaukee, what would they be?

JH: The first thing I would do is I'd point that wand at that big ugly orange asterisk that's blocking the Milwaukee Art Museum and make it disappear -- go away. The second thing I would do is wave my magic wand and I would reduce the taxes in this state -- the tax climate, in particularly in Milwaukee. The tax climate, the property tax issue, and the Milwaukee Public School issue; I would try to wrap that all up in the second one. And here's where people would say that I'm radical -- I'd like to see the Milwaukee Public Schools not disappear, but flip-flop. I think that the private school and the home schooling should be the way people are going, and the public school should be for the people who can't do that. But right now, we're pouring tons of money, and it's not working. I would wave my wand, and we would be the leader of alternative schools in the nation -- Milwaukee. The third thing I would do, is wave my magic wand ... and you know Jeff, you're asking me at a real bad time, because, if I could wave my wand, I'd make Milwaukee's climate more like Florida's.

OMC: We'll give you that, four things.

JH: But also what I would do -- the last thing I would do -- is to change the mindset of Milwaukeeans. We're so negative about our own city. We're so negative about what exists here, and that's one of my pet peeves about the citizens who live here. We don't know what we have. We don't know how well we actually have it, and when other people visit the city, or other people relocate here, they're excited, and they're enthusiastic, and they see what we don't see.

I have good friends that came here and established a restaurant, and he's always going on about the wonderful things that Milwaukee has, and people are like, "What?" Or, if someone moves in from a different city, a Milwaukeean will say, "Well, why did you move here? Why Milwaukee?" Like, surprised. Shocked. You know. I would like to wave the wand and get them to get rid of that negative attitude about this place. We're here! So if we can't see it, and we can't enjoy it, if we can't explain to other people what's great about this place, what do we expect?

OMC: Please give Mayor Barrett a grade for his first term?

JH: Um, controversy! Mayor Barrett's boys and ours play on the same baseball team -- carpool together. My wife would cringe when she hears this. I like -- everybody likes -- the mayor. I like Mayor Barrett. I honestly do. I can say this because I know. However, I would've liked to have seen more out of him. More leadership. Even for more right or wrong. Even if he goes on the wrong -- stands out on something that ends up being completely backwards, he's out there.

I would give him a D+/C- on the leadership thing, because he has not given Milwaukee a vision to aspire to. And I believe as a leader, that's very important. You need to articulate what's great about our community and where you're taking it and get the people to buy into it. He hasn't done that. D+.

However, I think you have to give people the benefit of the doubt the first go-around, all right? And I understand that there's problems with the administration, a problem with the organization, but ... it's not the hard grade, you know, it's the "here's where you are now" assessment, right? But the real grade will come in the second term. Because I think that now that he's got his bearings, now that people are used to him in this spot, he has an opportunity, at this time, to make some very bold moves.

And I'm afraid -- well, bringing in the police chief was one great stroke, so we can, you know, start to look up, straight up on that. And I'm hoping there are more decisions down the line that are like that. Bold moves that help address our problems here.

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31 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by Mark727 on Nov. 8, 2008 at 10:22 p.m. (report)

Congratulations to James T. Harris... He is truly a Free man that adheres to "Solid Conservative" beliefs of Hope, Values, Rightousness and Principles...! He encompasses the very essence of what is right in the world without succumbing to the rest of the masses that base their opinions without logical reasoning or without a solid Spiritual Principles! The same Spiritual Principles that are the foundation of our "Constitution" and adheared to by "Great Leaders" of the past including a very famous Conservative... Martin Luther King Jr.! James T Harris is a man of "Integrity" and it takes "Guts" to stand for his Christian beliefs in these trying times and I Commend him in highest regards. The same regards as Bill Cosby... when he spoke to the local community about responsibility and accountability... he was chastised unmercifully by the media for being too harsh on the "irresponsible" men of that community. Well James just joined the ranks of a "Very Special" group of leaders... not "Lemmings"...! I believe Benjamin Franklin once said... "A man of Integrity expects to be believed... and when he isn't... he lets Time prove himself Right"...! James wasn't against Obama personally... but for what Obama see's as a solution to this nation both ethically and politically! How many times were you told by a teacher... You have a Good Child... but it's the other troublemakers he hangs out with...! I've been told all along... "You Are... who you associate with"...! You can conclude what that says about Obama... who's collaborated with terrorists, sided with fraudulent bankers and a phsychotic religious leader of 20 years! Congratulations James... "When you stick your head above the rest of the crowd... you're bound to get hit with a few tomato's"... And I'm willing to associate myself with Mr. James T. Harris! God Bless this nation... and I pray that God guides us through another Liberal administration with minimum collateral damage to the People it should be serving! Sincerely Mark727

Posted by cantweallgetalong on Nov. 4, 2008 at 1:24 p.m. (report)

Yes I am an Obama supporter! Yes I am an African American (very proud of this!) It seems to me that Mr. Harris has a problem with his family tree. I'm not voting for Obama because he is black (misconception by white America.) Im voting for him because he is different, intelligent, and aspiring. I'm voting for him because he has a vision of unity and equality for all as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did. We need someone to unite this country domestically and abroad with the world. Also we need someone who will honestly try to reform the country's policies that hurt us all. McCain only want to help the rich. Well, 90 %( or more) of us are not rich and deserve a break also. Not once did I hear McCain mention how he would help us hard working middle class people. That trickle down method has not worked during the Bush administration. In fact, we're worst off now and things are getting worsted. I'm voting for a Change! Obama at least deserve a chance.

Posted by truckerswife on Oct. 16, 2008 at 5:50 p.m. (report)

James - you are awesome to listen to. So honest and courageous to speak your mind. I agree with your views. I can catch you only when you fill in for Jeff Wagner. Do you have other fill in times or your own show? I listen during my short lunch time in my car and hate having to turn off the radio and go back. Keep it up James. You are a breath of fresh air.

Posted by 1hopemills on Oct. 15, 2008 at 8:06 p.m. (report)

discrimanation is discrimanation rather it be race, religion or age and this person just discrimanated against JOHN MCCAIN because of his age. he/she also said racism is alive and well in America in 2008 ,yes it is but it is pretty clear that the majority of racist remarks is comming from the balck community and I think Mr. Harris would agree.

Posted by 1 nation on Oct. 15, 2008 at 7:53 p.m. (report)

Race is an issue in this years election cnn, an overwhelming amount of whites are voting for obama and an overwhelming amount of blacks are not voting for MCCAIN because of his color. Who has the problem here? And when a black man goes against the norm of the black community they treat him worse than any white person probably ever has. I'm sure he knows who the racist are in America. I applaud Mr Harris for being a true American!!!