Radovanic

A respected, longtime broadcaster is returning to the airwaves.

Marty Radovanic, who retired from WJAC-TV in 2017 after 43 years, will join WTAJ-TV as evening anchor and managing editor.

Radovanic will begin his new job — a three-year deal — on March 20 and will go on the air later this month.

Radovanic, 71, admits he hated retirement. He had a part-time job and did some volunteer work, but that wasn’t enough.

“I am not the kind of person to do nothing. I was tired of staring at the walls at home,” Radovanic said.

He wasn’t actively looking for a job but saw an ad on LinkedIn that WTAJ was looking for an anchor. He talked to several friends who had worked in the field and he was encouraged to apply for the job.

“It was like a bolt out of the blue. I said ‘OK what the heck.’ There were parts of the business I really missed,” Radovanic said.

He met with WTAJ General Manager Phil Dubrow and went over “things and expectations” and was offered the job.

“First of all, I talked to my wife, Joyce. If she didn’t approve, that would have ended it. My kids said ‘go for it. You loved what you were doing,'” Radovanic said.

Dubrow is excited to have Radovanic, who was inducted in 2022 into the Silver Circle Society — an honor for television professionals — join the team at WTAJ.

“He is someone who knows the market. His knowledge is invaluable. He has a great sense for news and things that are important to the community. He has a lot of contacts and will provide our folks with good knowledge, and help us with things we didn’t know as well,” Dubrow said.

“We were happy when he retired and are more excited that he still wants to work and bring news to the people.”

Radovanic is excited to rejoin the industry, which he loves.

“I get to go back and do something that is part of me. The other part is I get to mentor and teach young people. That was the best part of the job, it is like being a parent and watching them grow. … There are people I have mentored all over the country,” Radovanic said.

“I have always welcomed a challenge and this is a wonderful opportunity that fell my way, it is amazing that has happened to me.”

Radovanic said he is not concerned about joining WTAJ, which is in the same market with his former longtime employer WJAC.

“WJAC was very good to me, they gave me an opportunity to build a wonderful career. This is not competition, I never thought of Channel 10 as the enemy. We understand we work at different places but we are doing the same thing,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 84-946-7467.