Former WNIR conservative talk show host Jim Isabella mounts campaign for Akron mayor

A prominent voice in Akron's conservative talk radio is running for mayor.

Jim Isabella, who left WNIR FM radio early last year after signing an undisclosed separation agreement, told the Beacon Journal on Sunday that he never intended to run for mayor when he moved back to Akron in December.

But he hopes his loyal fans can help the GOP do something they haven't for 40 years: run Akron City Hall.

Isabella met and lived with his first wife, who died in 2013, in Akron. They later moved to Cuyahoga Falls. Isabella, who turns 64 on Saturday, has lived the past seven years in Medina.

Recently separated from his second wife, Isabella said he moved in December into an apartment around the corner from the Summit County Republican Party headquarters in the Merriman Valley. There, he asked party leaders who they had running for the city’s top political office.

Party leadership gave Isabella the same answer they gave the Beacon Journal months ago: No one.

“And they got all excited about the possibility of me running,” he said. “As I understand it, I have their full backing.”

In recent election cycles, the Republican Party has thrown little more than an endorsement, and virtually no money, to its candidates for mayor. Attorney Eddie Sipplen, who left the national party when Donald Trump took control, had to fundraise outside the local GOP apparatus in the last open election for mayor in 2015. Josh Sines, who died in 2021, also ran without financial support from the local party in 2019.

With Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan not seeking a third term this year, Republicans are again eyeing an open race. But Akron hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1979.

“The odds are very much against me, and I know that. But I feel like I have nothing to lose,” said Isabella, who is asking supporters to sign his candidate petition from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Summit County GOP headquarters at 1755 Merriman Road.

“They’re looking for the guy to break the stranglehold,” Isabella said of local conservatives seeking to break Democrat control of Akron City Hall, “and a guy who really can speak his mind freely.”

“I don’t know if anybody else (in the Republican Party) has pulled petitions from the board of elections at this point,” Melissa Wilkinson, the executive director of the Summit County GOP, said Sunday of Isabella being the only known Republican candidate in the race that's already attracted six Democrats.

Wilkinson said she’s “going to do something a little different this year” in terms of supporting local candidates. She has scheduled a post-primary fundraiser on May 24 at Todaro’s Party Center in the Merriman Valley. Along with getting the endorsement of the party, GOP candidates running for everything from school board in suburban communities to mayor of Akron can bring their campaigns together and see if anyone will donate to them.

What has Jim Isabella been up to?

Isabella said he’s working as a chemical dependency counselor assistant at a residential facility in Akron. He also does voiceovers for WKSU.

But he no longer has hours of local airwaves all to himself. Behind the microphone since 2012, Isabella's evening talk show led WNIR for years. Akron Life, an online publication, ranked him the top local talk show host in Akron in 2021.

Isabella was diagnosed in March 2020 with COVID-19, two days after entering the hospital. He was off air for five weeks with a bad cough. He returned to his show in the spring of 2020 and stayed there until January 2022, when he began negotiations to leave.

The stress of six-day workweeks strained his marriage, he said at the time, and one of the major sticking points in his attempt to leave was the radio station’s push for a non-compete clause that would bar him from working for competitors.

A request for comment was emailed Sunday to top management at WNIR.

Since leaving the station, Isabella has broadcast on Facebook to his followers. He said he never planned to run for office while married. Now that he’s in the process of a divorce, he’s living in Akron and collecting signatures to run for mayor.

He said he hopes to channel frustrations some are feeling over failed attempts to speak with elected officials. His big issues will be listening to rank-and-file police and more effectively deploying additional resources for road improvements. He pointed to cracked concrete and washboard asphalt on patches of Market and Exchange that have recently been fixed.

Isabella promises to run a positive campaign. He said he's "not a genius" but would surround himself with smart people who "seek the truth and deal with it, even if it's painful."

He said he's learned a lot from reflecting on his talk show after callers ask him what he'd do if he ran city government.

"You don't get to be popular as a talk show host by just yammering," he said. "I mean, honestly, there's a lot of talk show hosts who are awful, because if it isn't Biden and Trump, they have nothing to say. And I realized, also, a lot more depth in my thinking ... "

"I used to call him 'Horrible Horrigan,'" Isabella said of past criticisms of the current mayor and his relationship with police and their chiefs. "I'm not going to do (that anymore). I'm going to run a positive campaign. I will point out the flaws. But I will talk about what I'm going to do instead of throwing mud at everybody. You know? I mean, when you're a talk show host, it's a little different."

Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: WNIR conservative talk show host Jim Isabella Republican Akron mayor