(WWJ) – For decades, Mort Crim’s voice was part of the soundtrack for the city of Detroit. From 1978-1997 Crim anchored the news on WDIV in Detroit, becoming a beloved staple of the community.
Though he’s been gone from Detroit for more than 25 years, he’s still one of the city’s biggest cheerleaders, telling WWJ’s Zach Clark on The Daily J podcast he will “always feel connected to the city.”
“And I absolutely rejoice in the progress the city has made, and it’s all because of the people,” Crim said.
In his post-news days, Crim has hardly been “retired,” in the traditional sense. He’s worked with Detroit rocker Jack White, actor Will Ferrell, and most recently, budding pop star Olivia Rodrigo.
On this week’s edition of “Sunday Conversations,” Clark shares his chat with Crim, learning just how he got hooked in with those celebrities and how he stays connected to Detroit while he travels the country in an RV.
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Crim’s love for Detroit began at a crossroads in his career when he got the pitch to come start a news operation from the ground up at a time Detroit was suffering from a bad reputation.
“I know Detroit has a bad reputation, and I’m aware that you’re talking to Los Angeles and New York and it’s a lot more glamorous,” Crim said he was told at the time. “At the end of the conversation after making the pitch for us to come to Detroit, he said, ‘how old are you?’ I believe I was 42 at that time.”
“And he said, ‘well, you’ve got about half your career left and I can think of a lot worse ways to spend the rest of your career than helping a beat-up old city finding its way back,’” Crim said.
Upon reflecting on those comments, he said he realized he wasn’t needed in New York or L.A.
“I suddenly felt, maybe I’m needed to help Detroit as a journalist and I liked that challenge. And I never have for one moment regretted the decision to go to Detroit and it’s so heartening and fun for me to watch what is happening in Detroit these days with the true renaissance that has taken place and is taking place,” he said.
Fast forward a quarter century and now one of the hottest names in music is also appreciating Crim. Crim explains he got a call from Olivia Rodrigo's camp a few years ago after she heard The White Stripes use his voice on "Little Acorns."
He says Jack White's brother called him years ago after discovering some of Crim's old tapes at a recording studio and that they wanted to build a song around one of his stories.
"My first thought was, well they're just gonna use the words and he's gonna build a song around the words," he said. "But then the producer said, 'no, no, no, we want to use your voice. We want to actually build a song around your commentary.'"
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