Talk-show host Mangino leaving WKBN
YOUNGSTOWN — Robert Mangino, a popular and sometimes polarizing morning radio talk-show host on WKBN (AM 570), is leaving the Youngstown market for KDKA (AM 1020) in Pittsburgh.
The announcement was made Friday. Mangino’s last day at WKBN will be Friday, and his first day on the air for KDKA will be Feb. 15.
Mangino, who is in his early 40s, has been with WKBN since 1996. He can be heard dispensing opinion and chatting with callers from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays.
He will occupy the 6 to 10 p.m. slot on weekday evenings at the powerful Pittsburgh radio giant.
Bill Kelly, vice president/market manager for WKBN, didn’t want to reveal plans for replacing Mangino at this time. He limited his comments to a statement: “Every once in a while, people really do get an offer they can’t refuse,” he said. “This was the case with Robert. We wish him and his family nothing but the best.”
Mangino — part of a short list of Mahoning Valley celebrities who are knowable by just one name — also didn’t want to talk about the move while still on the air at WKBN. The lifelong New Castle, Pa., resident did, however, stress that his pending break from WKBN is totally amiable, and the move to KDKA has long been a career goal.
“As a teenager in New Castle, I would dream of what it would be like to work at KDKA in Pittsburgh,” he is quoted in a statement released by KDKA. “Now — to be following the great talk-show hosts like John Cigna and Fred Honsberger — and to work with Larry Richert, John Shumway, Marty Griffin and Mike Pintek — the dream has come true.”
Mangino will replace Mike Pintek in the 6 to 10 p.m. slot. Pintek was recently moved to the noon-3 p.m. slot to fill the vacancy left by the recent death of Honsberger, a long-time KDKA personality.
Marshall Adams, program director at KDKA, said his station was fortunate to find a replacement in the Pittsburgh area. “[Mangino] is a stand-out radio host who understands Pittsburgh issues and relates extraordinarily well to Pittsburghers,” Adams said in a news release.
Mangino’s show will be the bridge between the KDKA Afternoon News with Paul Rasmussen and Rose Ryan-Douglas (3 to 6 p.m.) and the Jim Bohannon Show (10 p.m. to 1 a.m.).