Jim Kippen was born in Sudbury, Ontario and attended a technical high school. He worked in mining related jobs during and post school. He enlisted in the RCAF and worked as a radar technician for five years before leaving to work for Canadian National Telecommunications as a radio technician at the rail yards in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He enrolled in the broadcast engineering technology course with CREI, a continuing education division of Washington University, and began working with the CTV television station CJAY-TV (now named CKY-TV) in Winnipeg. During his five year stint at CJAY, he was involved in mobile productions including CFL Football and the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team. He was also responsible for the station's transmitter maintenance. Jim came to CFPL-TV in 1971 as a broadcast technician. In 1985, he was promoted to Supervisor of Engineering and in 1995, he became Manager of Engineering. In 1997, Jim assumed his current title of Manager, Engineering and Operations.