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John Grdic retires as his son, Jack, takes over at 21 WFMJ-TV
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
John Grdic says he’s looking forward to retirement — most notably, he says, to spend time with his four grandchildren and learn a new trade: photography.
“I just thought it was really nice and something I’d be interested in,” he said.
Grdic, 67, a Youngstown State University alum, isn’t as familiar with all of the intricacies of photography as he is with, say, bowling (he was a card-carrying qualifier for the senior tour and has a 300 ring).
But if his off-camera work is any indication — he’s spent the past 27 years as general manager at 21 WFMJ-TV — it shouldn’t take Grdic long to learn all the tricks of the trade.
It also shouldn’t take long for his replacement to get used to his new role.
That’s because his replacement is none other than his son, Jack.
The two have spent most of the past two decades working together. Jack has been station sales manager since 1997.
As of last week, Jack, 41, officially took over his dad’s role as station general manager.
“It’s the highest honor a father can receive from his son,” John said in reference to Jack following in his footsteps.
For Jack, he knows those footsteps are quite large.
His father had built a visual media powerhouse in the Mahoning Valley since taking the reins of the last-place station in 1984.
The station is now virtually No. 1 across the board in local news and syndicated programs.
“He’s got to keep us on top,” John said.
And luckily for Jack, he can look carefully at his father’s career, which spanned 43 years, beginning in 1968, when John worked in radio sales for WFMJ radio.
John eventually moved up to sales manager and then station manager. In 1984, he was selected as the television station’s new general manager.
He led the local NBC affiliate to many firsts: first local station to broadcast in stereo, first station to put the time and temperature graphic on the screen, the first station with a website and the first to expand Friday night sports coverage.
In 1986, John was one of the first station managers to sign on to a new concept of a black, female, daytime talk-show host when he signed up for a new show distributed by King World called “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
John is also credited for bringing in NBC Today Show weatherman Willard Scott — twice — to the Canfield Fair, boosting the fair’s prestige.
But he says he couldn’t do it alone.
He credits the success to his anchors, reporters, cameramen, producers and other staffers affiliated with the station.
“The most important product you can offer is your people, the employees,” he said. “It’s not John Grdic; its everyone in the same boat.”
The people were the reason for the success, John said, but it was he who hired many of the faces that appear on today’s newscasts.
There also are those you won’t see, like Mona Alexander, WFMJ news director.
Alexander worked at station competitor 27 WKBN-TV before Grdic enticed her to join his team.
“I would say John’s contributions to the station and the community can’t be overestimated,” Alexander said. “He cares so much about WFMJ, the people who work here and the community, and we are all better because of him.”
John said he had plenty of opportunities to move to bigger markets such as Cleveland and Houston, but said he simply couldn’t leave WFMJ, where he was given the freedom to run the station the way he wanted.
“In bigger markets, you become a number,” he said. “I didn’t want that.”
He also wanted to stay close to his family, including his son, Jack, who from an early age took interest in following in John’s footsteps.
Jack hung around the station often, even before he attended Kent State University, before John hired him full time in 1993.
“I told him, ‘If you don’t work out, I will be the first to tell you that you’re not fitting in and you need to find new work,’” John said.
Thankfully, that never happened.
Jack, 41, now takes over the general manager’s seat, inside his father’s wood-panel corner office, taking the Grdic reign into its fourth decade at the television station.
Both have high expectations for the future of the WFMJ family.
One of his primary goals is to continue the growth of WFMJ’s sister channel, WBCB-TV, an affiliate of the CW network.
“I think the network has solidified itself as the station for the younger demographic,” said Jack, who also wants to expand the station’s sports presence.
John will be watching — from a distance, of course. He said he has no plans on calling the shots at WFMJ from home.
“It’s like a chapter in my life that’s changing,” he said. “It was just time. There’s a time when you just know it.”