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By DEAN WELLS, Staff Writer
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Times
Observer file photo
LeRoy Schneck is seated during Veterans Day ceremonies last November in
Warren.
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1/5/2008 - He was named Warren
County’s “Man of the Century.”
It was a pretty accurate description.
Warren County residents are mourning the loss of long-time radio icon
LeRoy Schneck, who died Thursday night [January 3, 2008] at Warren General Hospital. He
was hospitalized after suffering a fall.
Schneck, 88, was the
owner and well-known radio personality for the Kinzua Broadcasting
Company, which opened for business in 1946.
“He was probably
among the best known residents that Warren County has every had,” local
historian Chase Putnam said Friday. “If I had to put it in a few words,
his contributions to the community, I’d have difficulty doing it. They
were so monumental, he’s always going to be remembered. He was one of
the finest men I’ve ever known.”
Schneck covered numerous
historical events in a live format over his 64 years in radio,
including elections, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy,
the dedication of the Kinzua Dam and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks on the United States. He covered the Carver House Hotel fire in
the 1950s which killed four people, including one of his radio station
employees.
In addition to his coverage of major events, Schneck
will also be known for his popular “Just Stuff” segment, which he began
in 1948.
“LeRoy Schneck certainly has earned the title as the
‘Great Communicator’ of Warren County,’” Warren Mayor Mark Phillips
said. “Citizens from all corners of the county have voiced admiration
and high respect for the words spoken by and the person himself, LeRoy
Schneck. He will be immensely missed by all of us.”
The Oil
City native attended Allegheny College, where he began his lifelong
love affair with radio after one of his classes toured stations in
Sharon and Pittsburgh.
“The idea of talking into that
(microphone) and have people all over town listening was kind of
attractive,” Schneck reflected during an interview with the Times
Observer in 2005.
Schneck went to work for a radio station in
DuBois as an announcer after graduating college in 1941. Several months
later, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Schneck found himself in the
U.S. Army and served in Italy, working with the USO, where he met such
celebrities as Humphrey Bogart and Marlene Dietrich.
After
leaving the service, Schneck returned to work at the radio station in
DuBois. Not long after that, he and three friends in the industry made
the decision to open a station in an untapped market. They ended up in
Warren.
The station opened up at 310 Second Ave., where it remains today.
The same year the station opened, Schneck married his wife, Jane. The
couple had five children.
Schneck began his popular “Just Stuff” commentaries in 1948, starting
with a five-minute format and quickly expanded it.
“He started ‘Just Stuff’ from the very beginning days of the station,”
Dave Whipple said.
Whipple worked as on-air talent for Schneck from 1976 until 2005, when
Schneck sold the radio station to Radio Partner, LLC.
“Candidly, he started it because he liked to talk,” Whipple said of the
segment. “He loved to talk.”
Whipple said there was no set format for “Just Stuff.” “He just talked
about whatever was on his mind, some current event,” he said.
He garnered numerous awards and citations over his decades-long career.
He received a citation from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for his
work. He was named Man of the Century by the Warren County Chamber of
Commerce. He received Allegheny College’s Gold Citation and was named
Broadcaster of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters.
“He loved this business,” Whipple said. “Radio was just his life. My
sadness, I guess, is tempered by the fact that he spent his entire life
doing what he loved. What could be better than that? We should all be
so lucky.”
Pete Pepke, a retired banker and renowned jazz
musician who served with Schneck for 10 years on the Downtown Business
Group, called Schneck “the most unselfish person I’ve ever met.”
“There will never be another LeRoy Schneck,” Pepke said. “He was
completely dedicated to this community.”
Jim Decker, long-time director of the Warren County Chamber of Commerce
and currently president of the Warren County Chamber of Business and
Industry, concurred.
“It’s going to be difficult to ever
replace that sort of commitment to the community LeRoy showed over the
years. He was an icon.”
“He was such an asset,” Whipple added. “It’s sad news just not for me,
but for the entire community.”
Mike Hostovich, executive director of the United Fund of Warren County,
said he will “sorely miss” Schneck’s involvement in the Four Flags
Ceremony.
Hostovich helps coordinate the ceremony, which is
held at Crescent Park on Memorial Day Weekend. Schneck has acted as
master of ceremonies for the event for years.
“I think he
missed it once, and that was about three years ago when he fell ill
while on a trip to the West Coast,” Hostovich said. “He actually came
to the ceremony, though. Somebody pushed him up in a wheelchair. It
made the event so much better that LeRoy was able to be there.”
After selling ownership of Kinzua Broadcasting in 2005, Schneck retired
to his home in Warren, where he still occasionally made on-air
contributions.
“It was a difficult decision for him to make,” Whipple said, “but he
was ready. He was 85.”
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