ON THE AIR, ON THE ROAD AND ALMOST FAMOUS: The Life and Times of Gary Zweizinski
Q: What do Country Music stars Reba McIntire, Charlie Daniels, Glen Campbell, Martina McBride, Rock Music icon Ozzy Osborne, PGA golfing legend Lee Trevino, Baseball Hall-of-Famers Bob Feller and Jim Thome have in common?
A: They have all “rubbed elbows” with Carlisle Township resident, on-air radio personality, former professional PBA touring bowler and author Gary Zweizinski.
Gary has packed a lot of life’s experiences into his 67 years.
As a teenager he became a star bowler and led the county for his age in average, and usually high game and series each year. By the time he was 15 he was hustling on the bowling lanes for money. However, due to circumstances including injury, it would take almost 30 years before Gary would fulfill his dream of being a touring professional in the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA). At the age of forty-four he finally earned his first payday as a professional bowler. He ended his PBA career and running pro tournaments across the central US before finally calling it quits on a full-time basis.
In his 20s Gary owned a small t-shirt shop when one day a salesperson from a local radio station came into the shop hoping to sell him advertising on the station. Although he didn’t have the money to spend on advertising, they struck up a conversation about high school sports. Soon he was “on the air” on WOBL announcing high school football games. Bigger things were on the horizon. There would be stops at WOBL (Oberlin), WSLR and WQMX (both in Akron) and KKOB (Alburquerque, NM).
Gary soon found his way onto working at one of the biggest stations in Country Music radio WGAR in Cleveland and producing broadcasts of the Cleveland Force pro-soccer team where he used the “on air name” Gary Joseph, favoring his middle name over his longer last name. As a radio powerhouse, WGAR was a regular stop for Country Music stars promoting their records. In addition to those already mentioned, he has met and interviewed the likes of Anne Murray, Vince Gill, Alabama, Ronnie Milsap, JoDee Messina and Lorrie Morgan. Additional interviews would include Baseball Hall-of-Famers Jim Thome and Bob Feller, Dukes of Hazzard star Tom Wopat, NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip and ABC newsman Tom Jarriel.
The computer has now replaced the microphone. From his home office on the township’s eastern side Gary now spends his time writing and self-publishing children’s books and romance novels with titles that include “Autumn Romance”, “Sunset Dreams” and “Tranquility Bay”. At present he has written and self-published over 70 titles, including his autobiography “I’m Feeling Almost Famous”, that are available at his website zmanalmostfamous.com.