For generations of broadcast media leaders across Western Pennsylvania, Frank Iorio Jr. is perhaps a household name. He began his career in the early 1970s as a sales executive at WIXZ-AM 1360 in McKeesport, Pa., and in 1994 through his Pittsburgh Radio Partners would become the owner of WBVP-AM and what is today WAOB-FM.
The FM was spun in 1995, and the AM was sold to its longtime General Manager in 2014 so Iorio could focus on WJAS-AM, which he’d just acquired. Then came the news in November 2020 that Iorio would be selling WJAS and FM translator W256DE at 99.1 MHz to St. Barnabas Broadcasting.
Iorio said that the WJAS deal would conclude 50 years in broadcasting. It turns out he’s now had a change of heart about retirement.
