On a crisp and sunny early fall afternoon, roving raconteur Neil Zurcher shared his thoughts about growing up as a “Depression” kid, exploring the highways and byways of Ohio, and how – thanks to his wife, Bonnie, and the unexpected celebrity status that's come with his “one tank” books – he's turned his retirement years into some of the busiest of his life. Shortly after this interview, Zurcher was honored as the 2007 Living Legend by the Radio/Television Broadcasters Hall of Fame of Ohio .

When and where were you born?

I was born on Nov. 12th, 1935, right in the middle of the Depression. My father was an insurance salesman and my mother was a housewife. During the Depression, we lived with my grandparents on a farm in Henrietta , Ohio [ a small farming community near Oberlin], where I went to high school. I graduated ninth in my graduating class, but there were only nine in the class….and about 100 in the entire school district. This was a very small community.

I flunked American History in my junior year in school and would probably have dropped out if the biology teacher – Lowell Gatts – hadn't spent the summer tutoring me in it. We spent the summer driving around Northern Ohio looking at the things he was teaching. That's when I started developing a thirst for history. [Laughs] But in general, I was a pretty bad student. Boredom was a lot of the reason for that.

You are a Depression/WWII kid. How do you think that shaped who you are today?

Our family didn't starve. We lived on a farm with my grandparents and my father had a job through the whole depression, so we were well-off compared to many people.

Still, I was taught: use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. I grew up – as many people born in the 1930s and 1940s did – with a great appreciation for the things that I had, and for family. Even though I was just a kid, like everyone else, I was very happy when the war ended.

Who were your mentors when you were growing up?

I mentioned one, my teacher Lowell Gatts, and my father and my grandfather. He had been president of the local school board, he was foreman of the Federal Grand Jury in Cleveland at one time, and he was a stern and strong and independent man. He wasn't rich, but he was very honest. His word was his bond.

….And my grandmother, too. She'd graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and for years she went around the community by horse and buggy giving piano lessons to bring money into the farm. With her, I was exposed to good music, good manners, good grammar.

You joined the Marines after high school. What did you do in the Marines?

I was 17 when I went in. The Korean War had just ended so I was stateside the whole time I was in the Marines. I was sent to PIO [Public Info rmation Officer] School, and most of the time I was working in public relations.

Is that what got you interested in journalism?

Yes. I started out as a photographer; later on I took writing classes.

When I got out of the Marines I was still in the reserves and was promoting the Marine's Toys for Tots Program and stopped at the office of the Oberlin News-Tribune to try to get some publicity for the program. When they heard I was from Henrietta, they asked if I'd interested in a full-time job as a reporter.

At the paper I was a reporter and photographer and had a column and helped put the paper to bed every Wednesday night and I swept up at the end of the day—all for $40 a week.

That's where I really learned about journalism. The owner of the paper was Ohio State Senator Charles Mosher. The editor was Brad Williams, who'd just been picked by Life Magazine as one of nation's top 10 young leaders. And the other reporter at the paper was Jim Fixx, who went on to write The Complete Book of Running .

All these guys critiqued and [laughs] criticized my work and they were great mentors.

How did you get from print media to broadcast media?

I went to work at WEOL in Elyria in 1960 thinking I wanted to be a disc jockey, 'til I found that they sit in a closet all day and play records….I was there seven years, the last year-and- a-half as the station's news director managing a four-man department.

You know, it's strange but it's then – when I was younger – that I did most of my public service work. I was chair of the committee to build a new children's home in Lorain County; I was on the committee to build the new county jail; I helped police officers start Operation Open Heart, to provide outings to orphaned children; in 1969, I was on the founding board of governors of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences here in Cleveland.

When did you go to Channel 8?

I started ‘stringing' [doing work on the side] for them in 1962 and in 1967 they offered me a full-time job as the station's first investigative reporter. But I didn't do much investigating because I was out on the street covering everything from fires to homicides.

But I didn't give up radio work because WJW-Channel 8 owned WJW radio. When we filmed a report, I'd also do a tape for the radio station. And I got paid for both items.

At Channel 8, what got you started doing the one-tank trip programs?

That started in the summer of 1980, when the there was another oil crisis. Virgil Dominic was the news director and wanted to do something to show people where they could go on just one tank of gasoline, so he assigned me a week-long series on places you could get to and from on one tank of gas. I didn't put a lot of thought into it.

I did places – Cedar Point, Marietta , the islands, Amish Country, and downtown Cleveland – I was familiar with.

The response was incredible. After each program, we got phone calls requesting more information. And we got mail requesting information, too.

Virgil said, ‘We've hit a nerve here. Let's do this program once a week for the rest of the summer.' Summer turned into fall and fall stretched into Christmas, and I was running out of ideas. That's when I started doing research on things. As the years went buy, people started calling or writing and offering suggestions and ideas for places. Of course, sometimes people would call and sell you a bill of goods that wasn't anywhere close to what they had described. [Laughs] You lie to a reporter at your own risk.

Your first book, Favorite One-Tank Trips , was published in 1995. What got you thinking about writing a book?

It wasn't my idea, it was David Gray's [president of Gray & Company, Publishers]. I'd thought about a book for several years, but didn't know how to do it. He called and suggested we meet at a restaurant. I got there early and was looking for an executive in a suit and tie. This young fellow came wandering in wearing a work shirt and jeans. We stood side by side for a while then I said “I think I'll take a chair. The guy I'm waiting for is late.”

Then he said: “The man I'm waiting for is late, too. He's Neil Zurcher.”

Later, when we were talking, he admitted he had no idea what I looked like because he'd never seen one of the shows.

The book we finally worked out, Favorite One-Tank Trips, set a record for David's publishing company and for the PD [ Plain Dealer ], too. It was 22 weeks on their bestseller list.

[Laughs] Now there are six books in the series. My next book will be a bit different. It's a historical book about Cleveland .

…Like everyone else, I had dreams of writing the great American novel, but I realized one day that I can put facts together and I'm accurate, and I can do things fairly quickly, but that I'm not a writer, I'm a storyteller. And there is a difference.

What are the personal characteristics you have that have contributed to your success.

I've always had a desire to ‘be' somebody. That's a characteristic of anyone who succeeds in what they do: They really want it.

Hard work has never bothered me because I'm disciplined.

If you want to have something in life, you have to work for it. When I get started on a writing project, I focus on it and I stay focused on it. I know how to put up with all the stuff that goes down while you are doing what you need to do to write. And I know how to walk away from a piece after it's done so that I can let my mind heal.

…I think I'd have to say the success in my life has come from the grounding that I got from my grandparents. They were beacons through the fog of life that I've always tried to follow.

You ‘retired' in 2004. Are you doing what you thought you'd be doing when you retired?

That's a yes and no question. I'd been working at a major market television station for almost 40 years and I thought I'd be doing some college or university speaking while everything was fresh and germane to what was going on in the broadcast industry. I didn't get one call.

But that's not to say I haven't gotten calls to do speaking, but it's been because of the books. And that's ironic because when I left Channel 8, I told everyone that within six weeks, no one would remember me. I'm busy traveling all over the state doing programs. [Laughs] I didn't expect that, it was a real surprise.

You've been honored with the Living Legacy Award from the Ohio Broadcaster's Hall of Fame in Akron . What's that mean to you?

I was inducted into the Hall in 1990; the Legacy Award is for people who are still making contributions to the media industry. It will be a ‘working' gala, though, because I'm taking my tape recorder with me that night because several of the people who are going to be there that night are people I definitely want to sit down with and get stories from.

You're constantly on the go. Where does the energy come from?

[Laughs] Hum…good question. And I'd have to answer that it's my wife Bonnie. You have to marry the right person.

She's a retired surgical nurse. Anything she gets interested in, I have to look out for because we'll end up doing it.

[Laughs] Once I get into the project I really enjoy it, but dragging myself away from one project to another and the refocusing that takes is hard.

In a nutshell, what's your definition of successful aging?

Probably the ability to stay busy and engaged with things that matter.

And you have to keep moving every day so you don't rust…For that I've got a great role model. His name's Harold Armstrong, he lives across the street from us. He's a retired Cleveland School teacher who taught for 50 years. He was the neighborhood handyman for years and a couple of years ago rebuilt a 1950 Crosley sports car. In December he's going to be 100.