Cardille: “It’s been a great journey. I have no complaints.”

Bill Cardille is celebrating 50 years in Pittsburgh broadcasting. It was he who signed WIIC-TV (now WPXI) on the air September 1, 1957. But the man whom Pittsburghers love keeps himself very humble. “I like to keep it short and to the point,” Cardille said in a Tribune-Review interview adding that his father told him that people on stage should “get on and get off!” The Sharon PA native was raised by parents who believed in hard work and helping those less fortunate.

Cardille’s first venture on the air was as a jock on Indiana PA’s WDAD-AM while a student at IUP in 1951. Then, against his parents’ advice, Cardille chose a career in television over college and in 1952 became an announcer and director at WICU in Erie. While there, he met his wife, Louise to whom he will be married 53 years in October. The couple have three children and four grandchildren.

In 1957, Cardille moved to Pittsburgh as one of the original staff members at WIIC-TV. In the years since, he has served as host to several programs, most notably “Studio Wresling” and “Chiller Theatre.” Later he would go on to be the morning weather man since 1984 and host of the annual Jerry Lewis/MDA Labor Day Telethon since 1970.