O’Brien departs Broadcast Communications, Inc.

I was going to try to write this piece in the “third person”, but let’s face it… that’s dumb! Instead, let me just tell you flat out, as of 12:01 a.m. November 1, my nearly-17 years with Broadcast Communications, Inc. will be over. I am leaving with no ill-will nor because I was asked to leave. The time just felt right for me to step away.

For me, this was quite a step out of my comfort zone in 2006. Although I knew a few people who worked there (Clarke Ingram and Jason Togyer among them) it was a great distance for me to get to work. Although I had been to North Versailles many times in my life, it wasn’t frequent enough for me to feel “at home” in the beginning. Little did I know that what I thought would be “a couple years until something else came along” would turn into 12 1/2 years of driving the Parkway East to Forest Hills (or the “WTAE Exit”) onto Ardmore Boulevard (Route 30) all the way out to where 30 meets Route 48! Hundreds of trips later, I wore two cars out in that time. The latter automobile had additional mileage with frequent, yet occasional trips back and forth to Columbus, Ohio.

When I started there in earnest in 2007, Bob and Ashley Stevens only had two stations at their North Versailles studios. WKHB (620 Irwin), and WKFB (770 Jeannette). They also owned, and still own WANB in Waynesburg – then on 1580 AM and 103.1 FM. There the AM was moved to 1280 and 103.1 eventually became WKVE Mt. Pleasant.

By the time I left working at the studios in 2019, there were 8 full-power signals and (I think) 5 or 6 FM translators to keep monitored! It was a lot, if we’re being honest, but I still loved it. My doctor however, was not amused. By 2019, I was 5 years into a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease and she could see it (the job, not to mention the drive to and from) was taking a toll on me. Something I myself did not see full-scale until I scaled back to a “remote position”. So these last four years or so I’ve maintained the job (basically reversing my positions with my current main job in church administration and communications) as a side hustle continuing my duties as program host and a few clerical tasks that I had overseen while working at the studios. What did we ever do without the Internet?!

Truth be told, I’ve been thinking about doing this for about a year. I just wanted to have another side gig in place. As luck would have it, such an opportunity came about about a month ago and I hope to make an official announcement about that in early 2024. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I remain on the air at WRCT, Tube City Online Radio and Vulcan Sound Radio with my Smooth, Relaxing & Easy program. I also do some features for JIBontheweb.com.

In closing, let me just offer many, many thanks to the Stevens family and to all of those with whom I worked at BCI over the 17 years. May you continue to have years of success!