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HUGH DANACEAU NAMED A CLEVELAND BROADCAST LEGATEE POSTHUMOUSLY
On April 7, 2010, The Cleveland Association of
Broadcasters named Hugh Danaceau,WCLV’s
late News Director, as one of twenty 20th Anniversary
Legacy Award inductees. The Award was presented
to WCLV at the CAB’s annual award luncheon held
at Windows on the River. Hugh died on October 25,
2003, at the age of 74, after serving WCLV and its
listeners for 23 years.
Others named to the Legacy Awards, a pantheon of
Cleveland broadcasting history, were Doug Adair,
Jimmy Dudley, Joe Finan, Len “Boom Boom”
Goldberg, Vivian Goodman, Bill “Smoochie” Gordon,
Jim Grainer, Johny Holiday, “Specs” Howard,
Jim LaBarbara, Phil McClain, Pete “Mad Daddy” Myers, Paige Palmer, Jack Paar, Ron “Captian Penny” Penfound, Mike Reineri, Jack Reynolds, Jim “Jay Lynn” Threat and Bob “Hoolihan” Wells.
Hugh was old school. He came from a era when radio stations were expected to do newscasts…and somewhere in the building, there was an AP or UPI teletype clattering away 24 hours a day.
For 45 years, Hugh was a Cleveland newscaster and news commentator on radio and
television news correspondent, program host, editorial write and newspaper columnist. He
worked for KYW radio and television during those heady Westinghouse days. He was heard
on WERE, WJW Radio, WKYC-TV and WEWS TV. He was employed three times at an AM
station at 1100 on the dial for a total of 13 years through three sets of call letters – KYW, WKYC
and WWWE - for six different owners. He was active at WVIZ over the years, hosting the North
Coast Report, The Danaceau Report and The Cleveland City Council Meetings, the latter the
first broadcast of its kind in the US. He was also the first regional correspondent for the Nightly
Business Report. He pioneered the first successful all-news radio format in Cleveland, at
WERE in 1969.
He was president of the Cleveland chapter of the Society of Professional Journalism, which
organization awarded him the Distinguished Service Award in 1992. In 1993, he was
installed in the Press Club Hall of Fame, the Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1990,
and posthumously in the Associated Press Hall of Fame.
He joined WCLV in 1980, immediately giving the station news credibility, and doing
a split shift – AM Drive and PM Drive - until his illness in 2003. His tenure at WCLV was
record setting..the longest for any newsperson at any Cleveland radio station.
He was an enthusiastic runner, for many years, running or bicycling the five miles from
the end of the Van Aken Rapid to our studios in Warrensville Heights And numerous times he
would run from his home in Lakewood to WCLV prior to going on the air at 6:00 AM. He was
a regular participant in runs and marathons around the country, priding himself in his attempts
always to be the last runner to cross the finish line.
He didn’t suffer fools gladly. When a listener called to object to a story he carried on the news,
wouldn’t take Hugh’s explanation and continued to argue, Hugh said, “Sir, you are no longer
allowed to listen to WCLV. Please turn off your radio."
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