WCPE loses its opera lover

Veteran radio host Al Ruocchio dies

Al Ruocchio, the exuberant host of WCPE radio's opera program for the past 26 years, died Thursday after several years of declining health. He was 69.

Ruocchio's passion for opera was apparent from his Italian pronunciation, delivered with a flourish, and his command of each work's story. His infectious voice traveled far beyond the Wake Forest station's airwaves as opera lovers all over the world tuned in through satellite and the Internet. Tributes posted on the station's Web site map his reach from North Carolina to Alaska, from the Netherlands to Nova Scotia to Venezuela.

General Manager Deborah Proctor announced Ruocchio's death at the beginning of Thursday night's "Opera House" program. Because he had already taped a couple months' worth of programs, this week's show aired as scheduled. Between the new editions and about 100 others that have been archived, his voice will be heard for some time to come.

"Al's act is over, but he definitely would have wanted the show to go on," Proctor said Friday.

Family members traced Ruocchio's love of opera to his grandfather, an Italian immigrant who would take him to the Metropolitan Opera when he was growing up in New York City. Ruocchio became an electrical engineer for IBM, moved to Raleigh in 1966 and remained with the company until he retired in 1992.

He and his wife, Eleanor, raised three sons -- Paul, John and Peter Ruocchio, who still live in Raleigh. The boys were raised with opera as the soundtrack to their lives.

There were trains as well -- everywhere in the house. What started out as Christmas presents to his older sons in 1969 soon became his own obsession. He served as national president of a train collectors' club, and his collection was displayed at the Executive Mansion in Raleigh.

Ruocchio spent 25 years on the board of directors of the Frankie Lemon School and Developmental Center, and for 14 years he ran from his basement the local Knights of Columbus Tootsie Roll campaign for the mentally retarded.

In 1980, he offered to take his record collection and his enthusiasm to the fledgling WCPE, then operating out of a dilapidated house off Old Wake Forest Road. Proctor said everyone recognized that he was a master on the air, and so began a gig that lasted about as long as that of the station's other longest-serving volunteer, Forest P. "Frosty" Clark, who died in 2005.

Singer Marilyn Horne once called in a pledge to Ruocchio because she had been so moved by his voice, Proctor said. He remained calm and collected on the air, but when he went off-mike, he started running around the station like a boy with a new train set, beaming that the famous mezzo-soprano had called him.

After her solemn announcement Thursday night, Proctor cued up Rossini's "Semiramide," and Ruocchio's hearty voice filled the night.

"Someone listening for the first time next week, who today never thought about opera, will accidentally tune in, hear this guy talking, listen out of curiosity and say, 'Hey, I really like this,' " Proctor said. "And that will live on."

The family will receive friends at Brown-Wynne Funeral Home in Raleigh from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday. Visitation will be from noon to 1 p.m. Monday at St. Raphael in Raleigh, followed by a mass at 1 p.m. and burial in Historic Oakwood Cemetery in Raleigh.