Part 2 of 2: A.C. McCullough Truly Was Area’s “RADIO VOICE,” Final Sign Off

By: Greg Gulas
Read Part 1

Niles native and lifetime Mahoning Valley resident, Rick George, echoed Kovach’s sentiment.” A.C. was a big part of my generation growing up,” George stated.  “Back in the 1970s, all we had was a radio to listen to our music and A.C. was the man we all listened to every weekday morning when heading off to school.  He was a part of our morning ritual.”

Joe Belacastro, an Aliquippa, Pennsylvania native and owner of Hair Together on Market Street in Boardman, appreciated McCullough’s love for his hometown and Ohio professional teams.

“I always loved listening to A.C. the day after the Browns-Steelers game,” noted the knowledgeable rock n’ roll afficionado.  “He wasn’t usually in the best of moods and while I know some of what he would say regarding those games was strictly showbiz,  you knew in his heart he loved his Browns.”

As members of the media, Dana Balash, the Dean of area sports directors who is in his fourth decade at WFMJ-TV, Channel 21 and Bob Hannon, former sports director of WYTV-TV, Channel 33 who currently serves as president-chief professional officer for the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, both agree that A.C. was a breath of fresh air on the area’s airwaves.

“A.C. was radio for us while growing up,” said Balash.  “He got your day started every morning while his loyalty to the Cleveland Browns was second to none.  A.C. and the others at WHOT in the day, were the guys to listen to.  I always looked forward to hearing him every morning while in high school and there is a reason he was a legend in local radio for so many years.”

Hannon added,  “The same station for 52 years, that you may never see again.  His on- air work was always fresh and he knew how to connect with his audience.  He was truly a Youngstown legend, someone who could have gone to a bigger city but wanted to remain home and do it all here.”

Marco Marinucci currently serves as director of athletics at Boardman High School and has enjoyed a four-decade career in education.

“While I never had the opportunity to meet A.C., I grew up listening to him and considered him the ‘Voice of the Valley’ for all age groups,” Marinucci stated.  “He was definitely the type of guy that made you feel better, no matter what kind of day you were having.  He had a huge impact on our area and will be missed by all.”

Bob Camardo is also a lifetime Mahoning Valley resident who is president of the local sports organization, Curbstone Coaches.

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“Anybody in the last 50 years who has driven to work in the morning and is a music lover, considers A.C. McCullough a friend even if they never had the pleasure of meeting him,” Camardo noted  “His easy delivery and good nature has made mornings easier for countless Valley commuters every day.  It was comforting to know when you turned on your radio in the morning, A.C. was the voice that was there awaiting you.  As time went on and satellite radio and other means of listening to music permeated the airwaves, the number of listeners dwindled for local shows but A.C. seemed to persevere.  Now that he is gone, mornings will never be the same.”

John Butera, a New Waterford resident who serves as a correspondent for ESPN Sports, FOX, CBS-TV and NBC, among other sports entities, said the area was blessed that McCullough wanted to remain in his hometown.

“If you were from the Mahoning Valley and never heard A.C. then you didn’t have a radio,” Butera said.  “We were so blessed that someone of his class and talent never left our area.  Quite simply, he knew his stuff and continued to adjust to all the different genres of music over the years.”

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Dennis Timko is an area native who currently resides in Birmingham, Alabama, recently retiring from U.S. Steel.  While he returns to the area several times a year, he said streaming on the internet has kept him in touch with the goings-on back in his hometown and A.C. McCullough was a big reason why.

“In the ‘60s and ‘70s, WHOT was the ‘internet’ for young people living in the Mahoning Valley,” Timko stated.  “They kept us informed of what was going on over the entire listening area along with playing all the hits from the greatest Rock and Roll and Motown groups that ever recorded a song.  A.C. was a big part of that and when I moved to Alabama because of my job, the internet and advent of streaming kept me in touch with A.C. many mornings and that always made me feel like I was still at home.”

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Jack Matzye is a stand-up comedian who hails from the area but has lived in Los Angeles since the late ‘70s. “A.C. will always be remembered for his love for the Cleveland Browns,”  Matzye added.  “I am willing to bet that he enjoyed every minute of the 1989 season opener at Three Rivers Stadium when Cleveland manhandled the Steelers, 51-0.”

Former Campbell Memorial head football coach, Ed Rozum, coached McCullough’s two sons. “I grew up with A.C. on my radio and while WHOT to me was the Cadillac of stations, A.C. was definitely the Cadillac on the area’s airwaves,” Rozum stated.  “His sons, Deland and Damon, both played for me at CMHS and we were lucky to have him speak at one of our rallies prior to a game.  I am going to miss the area’s top radio voice.”

Area boxing promoter and sandlot baseball coach, Mike Cefalde, said “A.C. was just a tremendous person inside and out, loved the community, loved people and most especially his Cleveland sports teams.”

Girard resident, Gil Starr, added “waking up with A.C. in the morning was a great way to start the day.” So in closing, my friendship with A.C. McCullough goes back some five decades to the early-1980’s when I served as Youngstown State University sports information director.

A.C. was always willing to give our sports teams a plug but when necessary, had to call out their play if it was less than satisfactory, a trait not all broadcasters can pull off and still be liked by those he is calling out.

He was fair while being biased about his hometown teams.

I was a speech and drama major (my emphasis was on broadcasting) at YSU in the early to mid-1970’s and had the great fortune of being taught by one of McCullough’s mentors, Boots Bell, taking him for no less than five classes on Jones Hall’s fourth floor, which housed the broadcasting equipment.  In the very first broadcasting class that I ever took, time was winding down on out initial class session and Boots pulled a transistor radio out of his file cabinet, telling us to be silent because someone very important, currently on the air, was going to say Hello to the class and wish us Good Luck over the course of the quarter.  Sure enough, at 1:48 p.m. and prior to our 1:50 p.m. dismissal, Boots turned the radio on, adjusted the dial to 1330-AM and it was A.C. McCullough calling out the class, as if on cue, to wish us nothing but success.

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A.C.’s mid-day sign-off was ‘Keep a little love in your heart, a little music in your soul’ and how apropos it is that A.C. has, in my eyes, signed off to that line for one last time.

Cortland resident and area educator, Rocco Nero, who has served as superintendent for both Southington and Lowellville Schools, said it best when he appropriately called A.C. “the Jimmy Brown of radio for our era because he was simply ‘The Greatest’ of them all.”

Read Part 1