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2009 Distinguished Citizen Jim Fitzgerald

Rancho Mirage resident Jim “Fitz” Fitzgerald, a towering presence on the local radio landscape, was picked by the Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors as their 2009 Distinguished Citizen. Fitzgerald is KJJZ Radio’s morning personality and program director. He is also well-known in the Palm Springs Valley as a successful producer and music promoter. Fitzgerald and his wife, Wendy Jane, moved to the Palm Springs Valley in 1998 from New York City, and they have since created a vibrant music scene here with a loyal following.

Fitzgerald started his “Fitz at the Ritz” weekly Wednesday after-work gatherings with live music shortly after arriving in the desert. “Fitz at the Ritz” became known as the “Fitz Social Soiree” when the Ritz-Carlton became the Lodge at Rancho Mirage. The soiree’s home has been the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort in Indian Wells for the past five years.

Fitzgerald also created the “World Wine and Music Series” at the Gardens on El Paseo in 1998. These concerts have raised over $500,000 for local charities over the years. The beneficiaries have included United Way of the Desert, Angel View Crippled Children, United Cerebral Palsy, Variety Club of the Desert, American Red Cross, ACT for MS, Joslyn Senior Center, La Quinta Arts Foundation, Palm Desert After School Programs, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Desert, Desert Samaritans, Animal Samaritans, and many others.

Fitzgerald has also produced the successful “Fitz’s Jazz Café” in partnership with the McCallum Theater, which has enjoyed a run of over 100 shows over the past 10 years. Featured artists have included Diana Krall, Michael Bublé, Natalie Cole, Chris Botti, Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, to name just a few.

Fitzgerald was nominated by the College of the Desert Foundation to be a candidate in their “Man About Town” fundraiser last year. Fitzgerald and two other candidates raised approximately $500,000 for the college, and it was Fitzgerald’s on-air, nonstop, 13-hour radiothon that not only raised funds for the college but also brought tremendous awareness to the community about the college and its needs.

Fitzgerald was the Chamber’s producer of choice to provide music for the initial two years of the Rancho Mirage Art Affaire. He continued in that position for several years after the City of Rancho Mirage took over the management of the annual November art and music festival. Fitzgerald has also produced live entertainment at the La Quinta Arts Festival, Cathedral City’s Fountain Works, PGA West’s free outdoor “Concert under the Stars” and Intimate Evenings at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram.

Fitzgerald is a native of the Washington, D.C., area and has been working in the entertainment business since he was 17 years old. His family owned racehorses, and he became fascinated with racetrack announcers — so much so that he began calling the races at his home through the house’s intercom system. After high school Fitzgerald went to the National Academy of Broadcasting, where he graduated with a perfect 4.0 grade average. Fitzgerald has worked many different formats in radio in various markets, including Washington, D.C., and Miami, and has been nationally syndicated via Westwood One in Los Angeles and Sony SW Networks in New York.

As a producer of live entertainment, Fitzgerald spent a year on the road with the Oak Ridge Boys, writing and producing music. Prior to that venture, he was producing rock and country music shows in 15,000- to 20,000-seat arenas around the country.

Readers of Palm Springs Life magazine have voted him the “#1 On Air Personality,” and he has been nominated for a national industry award by the radio industry trade magazine Radio & Records for “Radio Personality of the Year.”