From two different parts of the outer OMW Coverage Area, two noted broadcasters have passed away recently.
Since we don’t know all that much about either man, we’ll mostly let the information we’ve been provided carry the day…
WALT: Known on-air in the Ashland/Mansfield/Mid-Ohio area as Walt Roberts, a veteran broadcaster in the region is no longer with us.
Roberts, known away from the microphone as Walt Stampfli, was quite instrumental in management and station ownership. (His radio stations are now a part of the Clear Channel Mid-Ohio cluster for the most part, with the Mount Vernon stations with BAS Broadcasting.)
We’ve been provided a copy of his death notice:
Walt “Roberts” Stampfli, 84, of rural Ashland, passed away peacefully at his residence on Tuesday evening, May 17, 2011.
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio on March 20, 1927 to the late Charles Alvin and Clara Louise (Pope) Stampfli. He was a graduate of Collinwood High School in Cleveland and attended Kent State University.
Walt began his radio announcer career in Newark, Ohio in 1951. He then worked at radio stations in Elyria, Cleveland, Warren and Mansfield, Ohio before coming to Ashland in 1962 as an announcer for WNCO AM/FM where he enjoyed doing his morning show weekdays from 7-9 a.m. Walt became President and General Manager of WNCO AM/FM. In 1989 he put Low Power TV Station W59BP, Ashland on the air. He then acquired WMVO-AM/WQIO-FM in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and later acquired stations in Galion, Loudonville, and Fredericktown, and became the President and General Manager of the Ashland Broadcasting Corp.
Walt was a community minded person. He attended the First United Methodist Church. He was active in Demolay and was Past President of the Ashland County TB Association, The North Central Ohio Broadcasters Association, The Mansfield Playhouse, The Mansfield Little Theater and the Ashland Noon Lions. He had also served as a board member of the Ohio Association of Broadcasters, The Ashland Chamber of Commerce, the Richland Economic Development Corp., the Ashland Downtown Revitalization Committee and the Ashland AAA Board. One of his proudest appointments was when he served as the Ohio District 11 Representative to the National Association of Broadcasters
He had served in the United States Navy on a destroyer escort during World War II.
On March 17, 1973 he was married to Joan M. Hurd who survives him. He is also survived by one daughter, Sarah S. (C. Benjamin) Hoggard of rural Ashland; one son, Dean R. (Darla J.) Stampfli of Ontario, OH; five grandchildren, Noah Stampfli, Jack Hoggard, Grace Stampfli, Samuel Hoggard and Isaac Stampfli. He is also survived by “The Old Timer”
Walt was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, Betty Olsin; one brother, Charles Alvin Stampfli, Jr. and several aunts, uncles and cousins.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Dan Bilkert officiating. Burial, with military honors provided by the Ashland Veterans Honor Guard, will be in the Ashland Cemetery. Friends may visit with the family on Friday, May 20, 2011 from 7-9 p.m. at the Denbow-Primm-Kemery Funeral Home and also from 10:00 a.m. to the time of the service on Saturday at the First United Methodist Church. The family suggests that memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist Church, 220 Sandusky St, Ashland, Ohio 44805 or to Hospice of North Central Ohio, 1050 Dauch Dr, Ashland, Ohio 44805.
For those not able to attend online expressions of sympathy may be made to the family by using the funeral home website www.dpkfh.com
BERNIE C: Word of the passing of former North Central Ohio radio personality “Bernie C” comes from a former colleague of his:
Bernie C has passed away in California of congestive heart failure. Bernie held down weekends as a DJ at WNRR in Bellevue, Ohio, when the station was all live all the time.
His real name was Bernie Celek. He had been one of the original staff in 1973, along with Bill Weisinger (Uncle Bill, who recently passed in Cleveland), Bob Ladd, Kim Newsom and Jim Larvik.
WNRR is today’s BAS Broadcasting classic hits WOHF/92.1 “The Wolf”, part of the extensive BAS Sandusky-area cluster…
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