Jim Loupas is the president of James Loupas Associates, and a veteran of more years in the broadcasting industry than he sometimes cares to remember. He's been creating audience-grabbing psychoacoustics for radio stations since he was Director of Engineering at WCFL Chicago in its glory years (he was a child at the time, of course). He also consults with cable television networks on using audio to attract and hold audience share.

Sound is his passion. Have lunch with him, and it's likely that he'll comment on the acoustics of the restaurant and how the ambient sound and room noise is either attracting repeat business or driving it away. Watch a movie with him and he'll explain why you can't understand what the actors are saying. Watch television and you'll learn about loudness and ease of listening, and how the sound of the program or network is matched—or not matched—to its target viewers.

Radio, of course, being pure sound, has been his vocation and avocation since he was a high-school kid skipping school to run remotes in his home town of Gary, Indiana. He's had years of high-level management experience, and puts that background to good use in technical negotiations and studio design. But his uncanny ability to listen is what sets him apart.

Over time and experience, he has developed a proprietary four-step method of what he calls "psychoacoustic adjustment"—of adjusting and processing the sound of a radio station to appeal specifically and strongly to its target audience.

He and his wife, novelist and freelance writer Elizabeth Loupas, live in Coppell, Texas.