{"id":309178,"date":"2026-03-02T09:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309178\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T09:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T09:10:09","slug":"phantom-billstickers-creator-and-the-exponents-first-manager-jim-wilson-passes-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309178\/","title":{"rendered":"Phantom Billstickers\u2019 creator and The Exponents\u2019 first manager Jim Wilson passes away"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phantom Billstickers say they will be honouring Wilson\u2019s life over the coming days and invite \u201cthose who knew him, or simply felt his presence in the cities he helped shape, to join us in reflection\u201d. <\/p>\n

Wilson is survived by his loving wife Kelly, his step-children Tessa and Andrew, and his grandchildren, Isaiah and Jaya.<\/p>\n

The Herald published a feature article on Wilson\u2019s life last month. You can read it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wilson formed Phantom in Christchurch in 1982 with \u201ca bundle of posters, a bucket of paste and a brush\u201d before selling it in 1985 and buying it back in 1992.<\/p>\n

He had a long and influential history with local music. <\/p>\n

He was The Exponents\u2019 first manager, back when they started out as Dance Exponents. On his recommendation, they were signed to Mushroom Records by Mike Chunn.<\/p>\n

\"JimJim Wilson (right) with Jordan Luck of The Exponents. Photo \/ Jim Wilson Collection<\/p>\n

Flying Nun Records founder \u00adRoger Shepherd has previously credited Wilson with creating the Christchurch live music scene that fostered the first wave of groups on the label. <\/p>\n

Phantom later ventured into Auckland and Wellington and has become a multi-million-dollar business, revolutionising the way poster advertising is operated. <\/p>\n

\"PhantomPhantom Billstickers poster hangers at work on a Saturday morning in central Auckland.
\nPhoto \/ Greg Bowker <\/p>\n

Wilson said in a social media post in January<\/a> that he was suffering from respiratory problems. <\/p>\n

\u201cI can scarcely breathe to walk across the room and it seems like every day I have a brand new symptom. I\u2019ve had lots of tests and nothing uncovers the problem. I\u2019ve been hauled off to hospital in an ambulance countless times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson says he is not afraid of dying but is fearful of \u201cliving this way for much longer\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have found that the best thing to do with an impending death is to dream a lot. This helps press the bad thoughts out. Poetry also helps; it is a beautiful thing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe only regrets I have about an impending death are that I can\u2019t take Kelly [his partner] with me, nor my dogs, nor my Volkswagens.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said at the time that he had been in touch with the Assisted Dying Group, which was going to assess him \u201cfor a quick and durable death\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw a cardiologist last week and she confirmed \u2013 once again \u2013 that my situation is terminal,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phantom Billstickers say they will be honouring Wilson\u2019s life over the coming days and invite \u201cthose who knew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[74,95,4995,5837,142022,1656,40124,6179,156,158644,1888,311,134,16081,3223,2190,93,157,111,139,69,51627,50487,168635,142023,5424,223,6038,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-309178","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-after","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-away","11":"tag-battle","12":"tag-billstickers","13":"tag-company","14":"tag-creator","15":"tag-died","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-exponents","18":"tag-first","19":"tag-founder","20":"tag-health","21":"tag-jim","22":"tag-legend","23":"tag-long","24":"tag-manager","25":"tag-music","26":"tag-new-zealand","27":"tag-newzealand","28":"tag-nz","29":"tag-passes","30":"tag-phantom","31":"tag-pioneering","32":"tag-postering","33":"tag-street","34":"tag-the","35":"tag-wilson","36":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}