R.I.P.: Ed Kasuba, Longtime Newsradio KYW Phily Radio Reporter

74-year-old Ed Kasuba a longtime reporter and South Jersey bureau chief at Newsradio KYW, died Sunday, Aug. 1, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

He had a heart procedure in 2019 and entered the hospital two weeks ago after feeling ill.

Kasuba spent 33 years on the airwaves at KYW 1060 AM and reported on 11 New Jersey governors, sports, and other big stories from Atlantic City to Cherry Hill.

Ed Kasuba

He served as a shop steward and president of the local chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and left the radio station voluntarily in 2008 so others would not be laid off during company cutbacks.

David Madden, a longtime KYW colleague, said Mr. Kasuba was the “most giving person I ever met.”

As a reporter, “he knew how to work a source, which buttons to push,” Madden said. “He could tell a hard story but not hurt people who did not hurt themselves. He had a lot of empathy.”

Kasuba also worked from 2008 to 2012 as communications director for the Delaware River Port Authority, and taught journalism at Rowan University. He demanded accuracy and punctuality in students’ assignments.

Greg Orlandini, an editor at KYW and South Jersey native, said he grew up listening to Mr. Kasuba on the radio and valued his mentorship when Orlandini was hired by the station in 2007.

“If it happened in South Jersey, Ed knew about it,” said Mark Abrams, a retired KYW reporter, editor, and anchor.

Mike DeNardo, a reporter at KYW, said Kasuba was adept at putting interview subjects at ease and describing live events. “He could paint a picture with words for his listeners,” DeNardo said.

Kasuba left KYW in 2008 when it was apparent that others might lose their jobs if he did not retire. Even then, he saw both sides of the situation and voiced appreciation for CBS Radio in giving him a chance to act.

“Management did not have to do this,” Mr. Kasuba told The Inquirer in 2008. “They just as easily could have lopped off two people. By asking for volunteers, they did it as humanely as it could have been done.”

Born in Berwyn, Ill., 11 miles west of Chicago, on Nov. 20, 1946, Kasuba graduated from the University of Illinois-Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in communications, and married Donna Lee Brown in 1967. He worked at WOWO news/talk radio in Fort Wayne, Ind., before joining KYW in 1975.