NorthEast Radio Watch 2/13/2023: Longtime Valley Voice Silenced

In this week’s issue… VCY enters NYC – New Mets radio team named – Gem moves in Scranton – WBUR anchor runs off, joins circus – Toronto mayor, ex-host resigns

By SCOTT FYBUSH

*It’s not often that we start this column somewhere across our usual borders, but WHOT (101.1) in Youngstown, Ohio covers a broad swath of western Pennsylvania, where “Hot 101” is the default top-40 station for many listeners between Erie and Pittsburgh.

It’s an unusual station in many ways, both because it’s one of the longest-running top-40 formats in the country (it started on AM at 1570 and then 1330 under Erie’s Myron Jones before the format moved to the big FM signal), and because of the longevity of its airstaff, especially morning man Arthur “A.C.” McCullough.

McCullough, who died late last week, was a Youngstown native who never left. A graduate of Youngstown East High School, he wrote about growing up listening to WHOT, saying he never wanted to work anywhere else – and he didn’t. McCullough joined WHOT in 1971, eventually taking the morning slot that became his home for decades. Paired since 1989 with Kelly Stevens, he brought a laid-back approach to the show right up until last month, when he left the air due to illness.

McCullough was 76. No plans have been announced yet for funeral services, or for the future of the morning show on WHOT.

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