OMW has learned that WHBC/1480 Canton personality Skip Hornyak passed away early yesterday.
Hornyak was a fixture at the then-Beaverkettle-owned WHBC starting in 1967 as morning host, then moved to the midday slot, and finally hosted overnights until his retirement in 2000. Hornyak also hosted “Tradio” on WHBC for many years.
Prior to joining WHBC, Hornyak also served as the program director for WTIG/990 Massillon (of course, WTIG now operates as an ESPN Radio affiliate).
The Formet-Clevinger-Gordon Funeral Home will be handling the funeral arrangements.
I had the privilege to work with Skip for almost a decade and a half. He was fun to work with and a true professional in every sense of the word. Never knew anyone who didn’t like him personally or professionally. He always had a good thing to say about everyone he knew.
Skip was instrumental in allowing me to break into the business. I grew up in Massillon just a few blocks from Skip’s Perry township home. While he worked at WTIG, he used to bring me home overnight AP wire copy so I could practice and later he was instrumental in introducing me to the radio station soon-to-be named GM Bill Raihall, who hired me for my first job. I remember Skip’s kindness….his love for his profession…..his smile…..his laugh (and his massive forearms!!). What a class act. My sympathies to his family and friends. God rest your soul, Skip….
Those were the days when local radio meant something. In Skip’s days, local news was just that – local.
Now we must suffer with Fox and know that everytime they are on, there will be nothing local- no local news or sports. WHBC was great back then thanks to Skip. You were missed long before your passing- Skip. God be with you….