Matt Tacka, longtime WYPR host and producer, dies at 55

Matthew “Matt” Tacka wanted three things in life: join a rock band, get on the radio and have a family.

He checked off the first box at age 9, playing bass guitar for his family band, KRAMM. Then he spent years perfecting his radio voice, so he was ready to go on air when he finished school. When his three daughters were born years later, that completed the list.

It’s a small solace in the days after Tacka’s death. Though his life was short, it was full — full of love, and music, and passion, and good conversation, loved ones said.

Tacka, known to many in Baltimore as a longtime WYPR host and producer, died July 25 of respiratory failure. He was 55.

He was born Oct. 17, 1970, the youngest of Thomas and Mary Walton Tacka’s five children. The tight-knit family lived in Catonsville, where each of the kids was constantly experimenting with new instruments and songs, said Tacka’s fiancée, Jennifer “Jenny” Johns-Gooding.

The family band’s name was a mashup of the children’s first initials: Kenny, Robert, Andy, Maribeth and Matt.

Tacka picked up the bass at age 7, and he also played guitar and piano by the time he entered middle school. He could easily learn just about any instrument he picked up, Johns-Gooding said.

In high school, he sang in a barbershop quartet and performed in musicals. He also participated in the school choir over the years. As he got older, he continued to play in local bands and compose his own music.

Tacka started his radio career in the Baltimore-D.C. region, racking up experience as a news director, anchor and traffic reporter for several local stations. He left the area briefly to be an on-air personality and music director at a Delaware station and a morning news anchor in Philadelphia before Baltimore called him home.

He spent a few years as a fill-in traffic reporter at WBAL and then joined WYPR in 2011. There, he flourished as an afternoon host, a breaking news reporter, a traffic broadcaster, a producer and an editor. He trained new hosts and created the station’s broadcast standards guidebook.

Upon hearing of his death, former colleagues came out in droves to share their memories of Tacka. They gave similar descriptions of him: a friendly, cheery man, usually laughing or making coffee, with a baritone voice perfect for radio.

He was “a talented, nice guy off the air and a warm presence on the air,” said former colleague P. Kenneth Burns. Tacka was usually one of the few laid-back people in the room, Burns said.

He also had a sense of humor and little ego. When reviewing a story one day involving the rapper Wale, Tacka called Burns and said, “Look, dude, I’m a 44-year-old white guy. How do you pronounce the rapper’s name?”

Lawrence Lanahan, another former colleague, said Tacka was known for his “unflagging competence.”

“You have to be super reliable to do live on-air every day, and they had to rely on us unreliable producers to get taped stuff on time and mistake-free,” Lanahan said. “It’s a frantic job sometimes, and Matt’s coolheadedness always impressed me.”

Outside of work, Tacka cherished family time, especially if the activity involved his daughters, Madison, Morgan and Mackenzie, and his grandson, Luca. He picked out toys for Luca that reminded him of his childhood, Johns-Gooding said.

He looked forward to annual holiday gatherings, where he’d jam with his brothers and cook all day, she added.

Tacka savored any chance to get creative in the kitchen or make something on the grill. He put thyme in everything. He also made the best chocolate chip cookies and blueberry muffins, his fiancée said.

“It was always full of yumminess because he put a lot of effort into it,” she said.

The couple met a little over three years ago. They had been longtime friends on social media and chatted about their music tastes. One day, Tacka decided to, in his words, “break the fourth wall” and call Johns-Gooding.

Those conversations grew longer and more frequent, until finally she said, “I’m making meatloaf. Do you want to come over?”

She loved his relentless curiosity, the way he watched “Jeopardy!” every night and how he would stay up for hours reading Wikipedia pages. She liked the way he smiled at everyone he saw. The couple filled their days with movie and music marathons.

Johns-Gooding became Tacka’s full-time caregiver in April 2024 after a fall at home left him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

Even after the accident, Tacka never complained or felt sorry for himself, she said. When he was in the hospital for about a year, he smiled at everyone who entered his room and made sure to thank them for their help.

“Matt’s principle in life was to put out into the world the energy that you wanted to receive,” Johns-Gooding said. “He wanted to influence the world positively.”

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