Akron Radio: Former WNIR Newsman Gets New Heart

Jim Midock, wife

Former Akron radio newsman Jim Midock received a heart transplant at the Cleveland Clinic on Saturday. He had been waiting for a transplant since the summer of 2016 and has been dealing with a heart condition for the past 18 years.

Details of his post-surgery condition are still to come. His wife, Jennifer, messaged me to say that “it’s still early but the surgeons were happy.”

According To ohio.com, Midock had been living with implants that included an ICD (Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator), a device that acts as a mini-defibrillator, and an LVAD. The LVAD is a Left Ventricular Assist Device that acts as a mechanical heart pump. His heart was pumping at 8 percent capacity when doctors decided to implant the LVAD in 2016.

Midock, who has had multiple operations and hospital stays, was on the heart transplant waiting lists at both the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland and the Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, near Fort Lauderdale.

Midock, 53, was the news director for 20 years on WNIR 100.1-FM, where he was a longtime fixture on the Stan Piatt morning show.