Blogger 365 Day 142 - Congratulations are in order

     Something happened the other night that I forgot to mention and since this place has been an absence of good news recently, maybe, just maybe, this piece of good news is worth mentioning.

     Back right around the time I was entering radio there was another person that that was in radio here in Pittsburgh by the name of Rocco Pendola.  I can't say I was avid listener of Rocco's show here on WTAE 1250AM, I listened when I could, but on my list of hierarchy in radio, he was not appointment listening for me unlike the late Doug Hoerth and Laurence Gaines, but when I could listen to Rocco's show I liked it.  At times it was a little abrasive, but not to such a degree that I found the show disagreeable.

     Apparently I wasn't the only one who at least liked his show, as Rocco would see his career go from Pittsburgh to The Ticket in Dallas, which is a much bigger market, in case you were wondering.  It was at that point that I had stopped listening for a minute, because this was in the day when streaming on the web was more a novelty than a practical was of listening to the radio.  Besides, why would a guy like me living in Pittsburgh want to listen to people talk about the local Dallas sports teams?

     It wouldn't be long before I would get to hear Rocco again though, he was picked up by Sportsfan Radio Network, which at the time was a nationally syndicated sports talk radio network.  I think I might have called his show once or twice, but I am not much when it comes to being a caller when in comes to radio, my skills were always better suited to being a producer.

     Admittedly my memory becomes a little bit fuzzy here, I am not sure if Rocco was employed by Sportsfan to the very end or whether he either left or was let go before bankruptcy came and Sportsfan was no more, but again I just lost touch with him and what was happening in his life.  Best I can understand he went back to school in California and studied urban planning before being picked up by The Street.com, where he was (and continues to this day) in writing financial advice columns.

     I found myself reaching out to him though when Laurence Gaines passed away.  I know that they had worked at the same station in Pittsburgh for a while, though I didn't know how close they were.  And for a inute I was acting almost as a go between, keeping Rocco in the loop of things that were happening here as I was to find out that he was a good friend of Laurence's (which doesn't surprise me, Laurence seemed to touch everyone that way, another reason why he remains the gold standard in talk radio producers in my eyes).  The process would repeat itself about a year later with the passing of Doug Hoerth, though not to quite the same degree as Doug was more of a loner than Laurence was.

     Through all of this I am not sure if I would say that Rocco and I became friends, maybe somewhere between acquaintance and friend if I had to pinpoint exactly what our relationship actually is.

      Right about now you are probably wondering just what the hell this all has to do with good news.  Well, I used to use my blog page to pimp my own radio show appearances, if I was sitting in for Lynn Cullen or if I was going to be on Doug's Friday group show.  Today I am going to use it to pimp someone else's good radio fortune, as Rocco is back in radio with a regular shift as he will be doing Sunday mornings on Fox Sports Radio (http://www.foxsportsradio.com/main.html) starting on June 1st from 9am-1pm EST.   Congrats Rocco!!!!