By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
A familiar voice will greet WBCO listeners beginning Monday morning for the station’s new community talk show – WBCO Spotlight with Jim Radke.
“Jim Radke was the obvious choice,” said Jason Kester, station manager for the Bucyrus Radio Group that includes WBCO. “He’s been a part of this radio station for over 36 years. In those 36 years Jim has been heavily involved, and not only in the community but in every aspect of these radio stations. He was a natural fit to host a show about community issues.”
Radke, known for decades as the Bucyrus Radio Group’s play-by-play personality for high school sports, joked about the additional responsibility and compared his new role to coming off the bench and getting in in the game.
“I don’t feel worried about it because I’ve always been the back-up here,” Radke said, noting the history of community talk shows on WBCO. “I would guess the community talk show tradition goes all the way back to 1962 when we first went on the air.”
Radke said the show will focus largely on what’s going on in the area and, above all else, being a source of information for listeners.
“I hope they’re going to find what’s going on in the community,” Rake said. “Not only events that are coming up, but the political aspects from the politicians and superintendents, just to make it a better community to be in.”
The show’s guests will range from school officials to politicians, to various community leaders and representatives from public organizations.
“I would say we’re going to try and find a balance between issues and events,” Radke said.
Kester noted the show was about keeping the radio station what it’s always been for listeners.
“The motivation behind this was to continue to serve the community,” Kester said. “In the short time I’ve been here not a day goes by that I don’t talk to leaders and businesses in the community at-large. They have made it clear that (community talk) was one of the benefits for the community from the station they enjoyed.”
The show will air 9:10 to 9:30 in the morning Mondays through Fridays with Mayor Jeff Reser of Bucyrus as the show’s first guest on April 6.