MANGENIUS

WHEN 4 HOURS A DAY ISN'T ENOUGH

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WEB POLL QUESTION OF THE DAY!

Poll: Rush Limbaugh reportedly signed a $400,000,000.00 contract through 2016, that includes a $100,000,000.00 signing bonus. Is he worth it?

*****end poll*****

Q & A WITH MANGINO

Web Page Editor:  Question # 1. How did you get started in radio?

Mangino:  I couldn't find anything else I wanted to do for a living.  I tried sales, retail management, factory work, the list goes on. Hated them all.  Nothing caught my interest like radio.  Especially talk radio.  I actually volunteered to come in and just hang out at a radio station in El Paso.  After a month or so I got a part time job.  A couple of months later I was there full time.

Web Page Editor: Question # 2.  Do you remember when you first thought you would want to work in radio?

Mangino:  Sure.  I was about 12, maybe 13.  Remember when you where young and you wanted to do what your dad did when you grew up.  Well my dad worked as a bridge foreman for Penn DOT.  I knew I didn't want to do that.  But, my uncle, Frank Squillo, was working at WKST in New Castle, (PA). Talking on the radio and having people listen to you and get paid for it.  Now that my friend is making a living.

Web Page Editor:  Question #3.  What was your first full time radio job?

Mangino:  Back in '90 I worked in Sales and worked as a board op for a Christian station in EL Paso, TX, 1590 KELP. It wasn't really what I wanted to do in radio but at least I was no longer on the outside looking in.

Web Page Editor:  Question #4.  Have you been in radio ever since?

Mangino:  No.  I moved back to New Castle for family reasons in '91.  I tried the pizza business for a while.  What did you expect? I'm Italian.  After the pizza thing didn't work I was changing jobs every 9 months to a year.  I just couldn't find anything I liked.  You know? Thinking back, I drove my wife nuts.  But she's been great.  I wouldn't be where I am today without her support.

Web Page Editor:  Question #5.  Why do you say that?

Mangino:  Well, I was working for a convenience store as a manager at the time and HATED it.  I'd be depressed driving home for the weekend, just knowing I had to go back to work on Monday.  And that's when I decided to do all I could to get back into radio full time.  While working part-time for a couple of stations in Mercer, PA and still at the convenience store, I heard about a full time morning show opening at WBZY in New Castle. Are you ready for this? It paid a whopping $5.50 an hour, about a third of what I was making at the time.  I sent in the tape and resume and landed it.  I remember going home and telling Diana all about it and how excited I was to finally have a full time job on the air.  Now think about this for a moment.  We where in our mid 20's, my daughter, Rachel was about 3 and Diana is a stay at home mom.  I actually had the nerve to ask her what she thought about me taking the job.  She looked at me, smiled, and said, "Will you be happy?"  I said, "YES."  She replied, "We've made it this far. We'll figure it out.  Go ahead and take the job."  How many women on the planet would say something like that?  If she didn't, I may still be telling people "sorry, our pumps are all pre pay."

Web Page Editor:  Question #6.  When did you decide you wanted to be a talk show host?

Mangino:  From the beginning.  I played oldies at WBZY but, the whole time I just wanted to talk.  I remember getting called in for a meeting with the General Manager about how little music I was playing in the morning.  Can you believe he didn't like me only playing 2 to 4 songs an hour and talking the rest of the time?  He obviously didn't appreciate what he had with me.

Web Page Editor: Question #7.  How did you arrive at 570 WKBN?

Mangino:  One day I finally had the chance to fill in for WBZY's mid day one hour talk show called "Hotline at Noontime".  That morning I called Dan Rivers and asked him if he needed anyone for summer fill in work.  He said "Yea, send me a tape." I said, "Why don't you tune into the show today from noon till one and see what you think."  The next day I had a message on my answering machine at home asking me if I was willing to go on for an hour the next day on WKBN.  First, I screamed like a girl.  Then I called him back in the calmest voice I could muster and said I would be there.  I've bee apart of the station ever since.

Web Page Editor:  Question #8.  Do you remember that first show?

Mangino:  Oh yea!  Boy was I nervous.  The old studio at Sunset was at least 6 times larger than any studio I had been in before.   It was a truly awesome experience to just sit in the studio behind the microphone.  Fortunately I had a great topic to go with.  There was a shooting of a man that was pulled over by a police officer.  I remember it going so well that the guy who was on after me couldn't change the topic to what he wanted to talk about.  The phone lines were full and they all still wanted to talk about my topic.  I felt like I hit a home run.

Web Page Editor:  Question #9.  Do you have any shows that stick out in your mind more than any others?

Mangino:  Off the top of my head there are two.  The first was when I was working on a plumbing project at home and decided to vent about it on the air one morning.  All I asked on the air was "who was the shoemaker who did that job".  Never for one minute did I think it would go anywhere just a little venting and then on with the other topics for the day.  But the phones just exploded.  I couldn't believe how many people where offended because someone they loved sold shoes, repaired shoes or made shoes at some point in their lives.  It was insane.  The other was when I vented again about my wife not checking the pockets before she washed my pants and destroyed a $100.00 check.  Again, I didn't think that much of it at first but boy did that take off.  I turned into a 6 hour topic on two different shows.  People where calling in defending my wife and taking shots at me.  All except one dear woman named Viola who took my side and thought my wife was wrong.  Sometimes you just don't know what will take off.

Web Page Editor:  Looking back is there anything you would do differently?

Mangino:  I would have tried to get into radio when I was younger and did all I could to stay in it.  Some times it seems like a waste of time working all those jobs I hated.  But, at the same time it's important to keep in mind that all the bad times play a part in who we are today.

MANGINO'S MUSTS