Mike Mastovich: 'Voice of IUP' documents 60 years of broadcasting

Jul. 24—Like so many others in the United States, long-time radio personality Jack Benedict temporarily was out of work at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Benedict, who has spent 60 years in broadcasting throughout the region and is known as the "Voice of IUP sports," might have been away from the microphone, but he didn't sit by idly.

"I started to write in April 2020," said the 79-year-old Benedict, who is sports director at Renda Broadcasting. "I was furloughed by the radio station for 18 months. I needed something to do. IUP wasn't going to play. I started my autobiography."

Benedict's book, "My Major League Life in Broadcasting," is set to be released on Aug. 2, Benedict said, with a portion of the $18 cost going to Four Footed Friends and the Indiana County Humane Society.

The book will be available at the Book Nook in Indiana, the Co-op store on the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus, and at Renda Broadcasting station WCCS AM 1160 and FM 101.1 in Homer City.

Benedict began covering the school in 1969. He's called some of the most iconic moments in program history in both football and men's and women's basketball.

"I'll start my 54th year of covering IUP in September in football season," Benedict said. "I've done 557 football games and probably 2,500 men's and women's basketball games combined. If I can go four more years of at least 10 football games a year, I can hopefully hit 600."

Benedict's book certainly details Indiana's sports' greatest moments. It also tells the story of a broadcaster who found a home while calling games throughout Indiana County and the surrounding region. In addition to his athletic work, Benedict aired eight sportscasts each weekday morning on WCCS and WDAD.

The book also emphasizes just how significant of an impact Benedict and his fellow broadcasters had on the lives of so many student-athletes. The Johnstown area produced many standouts whose names Benedict called, such as Bishop McCort Catholic's Dave Seidel (football) in the 1980s, or Greater Johnstown's Chuck Wyatt (football) and Mario Hardison (football) in the 1990s, or McCort's Sarah Pastorek (women's basketball) in the 2010s, or current Indiana men's basketball player Nolan Burk, a Bishop Carroll Catholic High School graduate.

Benedict's is a story of a young man chasing his dream and landing jobs at different radio stations until he settled into a six-decade career at the microphone.

"One year after I got out of high school, I got the job at WCVI in Connellsville in June 1962," Benedict said. "In fact, I was on the air when President John F. Kennedy was killed (on Nov. 22, 1963) — that was a lowlight for me."

In 1969, Benedict became a part of the radio team at WDAD 1450 AM and 100.3 FM in Indiana.

"I was there for 20 years," Benedict said. "Then in May 1989, I went to WCCS 1160 AM because IUP went up for bid. There was never a contract with WDAD and IUP. At that time, 1160 was a relatively new station. They put in a bid for it and got it.

"(Broadcasters) Ray Goss, Mark Harley and Mark Bertig got me to go down there. Tony Renda took over the station in the early 2000s."

The Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters inducted Benedict into its hall of fame in 2017. He also was honored for calling his 500th IUP football game six years ago.

"Getting to the national championship games, the semifinal games in football," Benedict said of his most memorable calls. "Basketball, it's been the same deal with Elite Eights, Sweet 16s. I told people unfortunately in national championship games I'm 0-4. But I look back and say, 'Look at all the games to get me there.' That's the bottom line."

Benedict has a knack for making the best of a situation, just as he did by writing an autobiography during a pandemic-related layoff. He doesn't appear to be ready to drop the mic yet, either.

"Probably I can't do anything else," Benedict said, laughing. "We all have to be somewhere. I've found my spot here. The association with IUP has been a great relationship. I've been so fortunate. I've had so many great people to work with."