The Mississippi Association of Broadcasters reports that a radio patriarch in Mississippi has died. Mims Boswell, Jr. passed away Tuesday at the Attala County Nursing Home, putting to rest with him a career that spanned over 50 years and saw all the major changes in communications over the latter half of the 20th century.
Boswell was the first employee of future radio magnate Cy Bahakel, who signed WKOZ on the air in 1947. Boswell bought the station in the early 1960s and moved the studio to its present location on Golf Course Rd. where Kicks96.7, Breezy101, 98.3 The Groove and WKOZ’s programming originate.
Over the decades the company Boswell founded saw success in Kosciusko, Jackson (with Kickin’ K105), Carthage, Philadelphia and now all of Central Mississippi. Career highlights include hosting Paul Harvey’s national broadcast from WKOZ studios in 1961.
“Mims Boswell runs our ABC station here and runs 67 acres of angus cattle just five minutes from the studio,” the late Harvey said at the time. Boswell also hosted a visit from Col. Oliver North in 2003.
Boswell will be laid to rest Thursday at Parkway Cemetery following the 10 a.m. service at Jordan Funeral Home chapel. Visitation is 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. In lieu of flowers, please send memorials to Presbyterian Day School. H. Mims Boswell, Jr. was 85.
