I’m retiring.
My last day will be December 31st. I’m grateful for my years at WTAE, a station I’ve watched since I was a kid growing up in Carrick. I remember staying up to watch what was then called “4 Star News.” I’ve spent my entire life in Pittsburgh, getting to work side-by-side with colleagues I respect, including my coworkers and friendly competitors. I love journalism and reporting on deadlines. Now it’s time to close this chapter and start a new one.
As a government beat reporter, I covered Mayors Richard Caliguiri, Sophie Masloff, Tom Murphy, Bob O’Connor, Luke Ravenstahl, Bill Peduto, and Ed Gainey. I was there when Masloff was sworn in hours after Caliguiri’s death and there again when Ravenstahl was sworn in hours after the death of O’Connor.
Covering the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting trial was a solemn, sobering experience. I live-tweeted the proceedings daily and felt a responsibility to accurately and sensitively convey what was happening in court, as I understood that relatives of victims were following those moment-to-moment tweets when they couldn’t be present.
I felt prepared for the immediacy of this sort of reporting because, years before, I live-blogged the federal trial of former coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht. In those days, I was bringing my own MacBook to cover stories – during courtroom breaks, I had to sync what I’d written to a Blackberry before I could email my updates back to the station.
I started in journalism as a writer and producer at Pittsburgh’s all-news radio station, KQV, then worked as a radio news reporter for more than a decade at WWSW before moving to what was then WTAE Radio. I ultimately joined WTAE-TV in late 1994.
My first involvement in broadcasting was as a teenager in the late 60s and early 70s on a talk show at WQED-TV called “The Place”. I was one of the student volunteers who got to help produce the show and be part of a teen audience asking questions of guests.
The host was Dennis Benson, who also produced local public affairs radio programs, including a radio version of The Place. When the TV show ended, I was fortunate to learn radio production and editing from Dennis and worked on other projects with him. He had a creative energy and enthusiasm that inspired creative thinking in others and was a big influence on me.
I went on to get degrees in Writing and Speech/Communications from the University of Pittsburgh, where I was involved in the campus radio station and wrote for the Pitt News. Lee Gutkind, the non-fiction author who taught journalism there at the time, taught me news writing and supervised my internship at KQV. When the news staff of KQV went on strike, I wouldn’t cross their picket line, and Lee allowed me to complete my internship by interviewing the striking reporters and anchors and writing profiles about their experiences in journalism.
In 2006, I started a personal blog called “The Busman’s Holiday” in which I shared backstories and additional details of what I was covering on TV. It was during a flourishing of Pittsburgh-area blogging that I enjoyed being a part of. Perhaps at some point, when I start going through old notes and tapes and files (I’ve saved a lot – ask my wife!), I’ll revive The Busman’s Holiday with posts about things I’ve covered over the years.
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