That "Radio Show" Guy
By Chris Anderson
Business Report Staff
Jim Rose starts each week the same way. Rose pushes the name of his Daytona Beach law firm Rice & Rose and raises awareness of current legal trends and issues to the local public. But Rose isn’t networking
at a Monday morning chamber of commerce breakfast—he’s broadcasting over the radio.
Rose is the host of a half-hour weekly half-hour call-in radio show called “The Rice & Rose Legal Forum,” airs every Monday at 9 a.m. on WNDB 1150 AM.
On the show, Rose discusses various legal topics, often has a guest, and takes calls from listeners. Rice & Rose pays WNDB to air the show, which made its debut in 2000. Rose said it would be difficult to measure exactly how much business the firm gets from the radio show, but said, “It’s a noticeable amount.” The main purpose of the show, said Rose, is marketing. “It’s about the recognition. It’s mostly a reinforcement tool” to prospective clients – i.e., the show’s listeners, Rose said. “People will say, ‘Oh right, you’re the guy that has that radio show,’” he said.
Rose describes the show’s target audience as “older, more conservative people.” Guests on “The Rice & Rose Legal Forum” have included judges, lawyers from other area firms, sheriffs, state attorneys, and city council members, among others.
In a show that aired earlier this month, Rose invited Rice & Rose partner Paul Rice to talk about current family law trends. Rice told listeners that there is currently a motion in the state legislature to do away with the term “custodial parent.” If that were to happen, it could mean less litigation over which parent has custody over the kids, and more negotiation over timeshare arrangements, he said. It makes sense,” Rice told the show’s listeners. “Forget the labels. The reality is that the parents are dividing the time up with their children.”
Rose got his first radio experience in the 1980s when WNDB invited him on the air as a legal expert. Rose remembers the first question he received from a caller. “They asked how to cash in Israeli bonds they had. So my first answer ever on the radio was ‘I don’t know.’”
"They asked how to cash in Israeli
bonds they had. So my first answer
ever on the radio was ‘I don’t know."
Jim Rose, partner Rice & Rose law firm
But WNDB continued to invite Rose to speak on the air as a legal expert. He said he got better every time as a result. “I realized that I was pretty good at it and wanted to do more,” Rose said. Rose knew of a lawyer in Orlando who had his own radio show and figured he could do something similar in Daytona Beach.
A Sanford native, Rose graduated from University of Florida College of Law in 1982, before taking his first job as an attorney at the law firm Becks & Becks in Daytona Beach. Rose met Rice at that firm before the pair left Becks & Becks to open their own legal practice in 1986. Rice & Rose began as a two-attorney firm and worked out of a 1,000-square-foot office on Palmetto Avenue in Daytona Beach. The firm later expanded to three attorneys and worked out of a larger office along North Halifax Avenue in Daytona Beach.
In 2001, Rice & Rose moved into its current digs: a two-story, 10,500-square-foot office building on Seabreeze Boulevard in Daytona Beach. Today, the firm has five attorneys. Rice & Rose is a full-service firm whose practice areas include business and corporate law, civil litigation, marital and family law, and criminal defense. Rose said he plans to continue to do his radio show for years to come. “I have a blast doing it,” said Rose. “The firm gets some business from it. I’m also raising the awareness of various legal issues. It’s really a great way to start the week.”
Posted February 13, 2009