WLOH co-owner has passion for radio and engineering
Mark Bohach and his wife, Arlene, bought the country station in 2005
“... you just have to be yourself and genuinely like to talk to people. Because that’s what you’re doing. And the other half of it is you need to be tech-savvy. You need to have strong computer skills and a good sense of timing and know the technical part of things.” Mark Bohach
LANCASTER - WLOH radio station co-owner Mark Bohach gets to enjoy his two favorite passions with the station he owns with his wife, Arlene.
Not only does he enjoy radio but he also holds a broadcast engineering degree from Hocking College and enjoys that discipline.
“My passion is in the design and construction and the building of radio stations,” Bohach said. “With engineering, I’ve always been good with electronics. I’ve always enjoyed knowing how things work. Even as a high school student I was tearing things apart to see how they worked.”
On the other side, Bohach said he loves the spoken word and communication, which he called “theater of the mind.”
“I did a lot of plays in high school, I was an actor,” he said. “So that translates very well into broadcasting. And radio, there’s something very personal about how it communicates. The best radio is local radio, so we’re able to communicate on a very personal level to people. I really like that.”
The Bohachs bought the country station in 2005. They have owned other radio stations in the past 25 years, though, including a station in Mansfield at one time. Bohach also worked at WHOK in Lancaster.
Besides playing country music, WLOH is also the voice of the Lancaster High School football team and broadcasts other sporting events and schools. Bohach does not announce games, however.
“A person’s got to know his limitation,” he said. “My limitation is I am terrible at play-by-play and terrible at sports. So I defer to the people that really love to do it and are really good at it. That’s just something I’ve never been able to do. I just leave that to the experts.”
Bohach has a variety of duties as coowner and operator. He is on the air daily from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., must oversee advertising sales and handles the engineering tasks. WLOH has four towers and two studios.
Bohach is also active in the community. He has been on the board of Meals on Wheels of Fairfield County and currently serves on the Fairfield County District Library Board of Trustees.
“That’s a very important one,” he said of the library position. “Especially when you look at the last year with COVID. The library served such a vital part of informing and giving kids that were at home the needed learning materials.”
The area’s radio stations also served a vital part during the pandemic and shutdowns.
“As the news became much more hour-by-hour and things were really happening fast we added additional newscasts,” Bohach said. “We made sure that our folks followed those strict protocols. We cleaned the studios between every show and we maintained our social distancing. And we just made sure the information we were putting out was factual.”
Bohach said putting out factual information is even more important with so many rumors and gossip thriving on social media.
He said a good radio personality must be friendly and like people. Bohach said a perfect voice is not necessary, despite what some may think.
“No, you just have to be yourself and genuinely like to talk to people,” he said. “Because that’s what you’re doing. And the other half of it is you need to be techsavvy. You need to have strong computer skills and a good sense of timing and know the technical part of things.”
Growing up, Bohach listened to nationally syndicated radio personality Paul Harvey, Cincinnati Reds radio broadcasters Marty Brennaman and Joe Nuxhall and local radio personalities.
Away from work, Bohach enjoys music and follows his daughter, Kalli’s, equestrian career.
“She’s also a broadcaster here at the radio station so I get the best of both worlds,” he said.
Bohach also enjoys watching trains and train videos. jbarron@gannett.com 740-304-9296
Twitter: @Jeffdbarron