Jim Fleming was born in Madison, Wisconsin, grew up in Champaign, Illinois, then later returned to Madison as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin - Madison majoring in English. During this period, he worked as a volunteer at Wisconsin Public Radio.
Several years later, Fleming returned again to Madison to become an associate producer on the Peabody and Prix Italia Award-winning national radio drama project "Earplay" which ran from 1974-1975.
In 1974, Fleming co-produced "The Snow Goose" and then two years later co-produced the production of "Guernica" which won the Ohio State Bicentennial Award.
In 1975, Fleming became a co-host on WPR's "Morning Report," then worked as cultural producer/interviewer on the arts magazine Art and Soul between 1977 and 1984.
While Fleming has hosted many classical music programs, he loves combining his interests in the classics with his interest in discussing the arts. His arts interviews were a regular feature of the classical music programs "Prelude" and "Sunday Morning with Jim Fleming."
For more than thirty years he has been a reader for "Chapter a Day," a program which brings the best of literature to radio.
During his years at WPR, Fleming has also held a number of management positions including music director and associate director/program manager, overseeing Wisconsin Public Radio's programming through much of the 80's.
In 1990, Fleming joined the national production team of To the Best of Our Knowledge. Though he retired from the music service in December 2009, he continued to work as host of "To The Best Of Our Knowledge" until 2013. He continues to be the producer of "Chapter a Day."