PITTSTON TOWNSHIP -- Louis Alfred Tarone, WILK radio talk show host and former news director at WYLN-TV, passed away Sunday evening after a courageous battle with cancer.
L.A. Tarone was also a well-known television personality on WYLN-TV hosting numerous segments.
He was a writer for the Standard Speaker newspaper in Hazleton and was the author of the book, "We Were Here Once."
It is an unmistakable voice you will no longer hear, a voice silenced by lung cancer.
L.A. Tarone has died. Tarone worked at radio and television stations in Hazleton. He wrote for the Standard Speaker, but Tarone spent the last several years at WILK radio with studios in Pittston Township.
WILK's morning broadcast was dedicated to memories of Tarone. Some came from listeners, some came from morning co-hosts Nancy Kman and John Webster.
"He thought of his show as his home, and he battled through when many other people would not," Kman said.
Even though lung cancer kept Tarone off the air since April, he kept fighting, kept hoping for a return to the microphone.
Tarone could be abrasive at times, but that was also part of what kept him on radio and television for decades.
"He would tell you what he thought all the time, every time," said Webster. Either you liked it or you didn't, but in the end, he was always likable, so he could get away with that and that was part of L.A.'s charm, I think."
Coworkers say Tarone knew it all -- news, politics, cars, sports, and music but he also knew the importance of communicating all that knowledge, all that experience.
"He never, ever, ever gave up letting you know how much he appreciated being on this radio station," said WILK radio's "Fast Freddie."
WILK' s mid-day host Sue Henry was a friend and fan since her King's College days. Tarone is also a King's graduate. Henry was with her friend when he died last night.
"He held the opinions he wanted to hold. That's what I'm always going to take with me, as a colleague, as a professional, a friend, I'll always carry L.A. Tarone in my heart, absolutely," Henry said.
A visitation for Tarone will be held on Thursday, June 29, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Joseph A. Moran Funeral Home, 229 West 12th Street, Hazleton.
His funeral mass will be Friday, June 30, at 9:30 a.m. at Queen of Heaven Parish at Our Lady of Grace Church, 750 North Vine Street, Hazleton.
L.A. Tarone was 58 years old.
