By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo
John Zach’s Buffalo broadcasting career has spread over seven decades, starting in the late 50’s as a volunteer in the early days of public broadcasting at Channel 17.
When he walks away on December 30th to spend more time with his chickens (and his grandkids, I assume), he takes with him the last vestige of a great era in Buffalo radio.
He learned the craft of radio and radio news from men who treated their jobs in radio like their friends and neighbors treated their jobs at the plant or the office. Buckle down, do your job with all you’ve got and with the highest attention to detail and quality, shut your mouth and get it done with as little nonsense and frill as possible.
For quite some time now, John has been the defiant last holdout of that generation still grinding away in the news mill every day– to the point where there aren’t even many folks left who started ten or twenty years after John did still at work in broadcast news in Buffalo.
The sound and sensibility he has brought to Western New York microphones for nearly 60 years is unmistakable. That unique richness and breadth his presence has added to the tableau of media and journalism in Buffalo will be forever missed from our airwaves and news coverage.
Your chickens and grandkids will like to see more of you, John, and I can assume you won’t mind seeing more of your pillow in the 3am hour. That, however, leaves the rest of us to miss you and your daily presence in our lives.
