Hello, he must be going

Does he miss being on the radio? “I’m going to miss it terribly,” Hoerth says. “Geez, there’s so much great material, and we’ve got this presidential thing going on. I’m a total political junkie and it’s the greatest political campaign I’ve ever seen in my life.

“It’s frustrating on that level. On the other hand, I’ve done everything I wanted to do in radio.”

Though he’s left the “biz,” Hoerth has no plans to leave Pittsburgh. “There are other things that tie me here besides radio,” he says, and those include friends and his work as part of a mobile DJ service operated by longtime local broadcast engineer Phil Lenz.

About the book he’s working on: It’s speculative, meaning it doesn’t have a publisher yet, but Hoerth says the early feedback he’s received was encouraging.

It’s a lightly fictionalized autobiographical series of short stories about Hoerth’s romantic entanglements. The centerpiece of the collection is the mostly true tale of his relationship of a few years ago with a woman who convinced him that she was speaking to Hoerth’s deceased mother from beyond the grave.

The working title? “I Fell in Love With a Lunatic.”

Some people say that’s what Doug’s fans did, 27 years ago.

Stop emailing. Stop posting comments on message boards. Sorry, but all the pleading in the world ain’t gonna bring him back.

So says Doug Hoerth. When he says he’s done with radio, he means it, and after working at some of Pittsburgh’s biggest stations, getting a job on some suburban signal holds absolutely no allure.

“Add to that the fact that I’m 61 years old and no one here in Pittsburgh wants me,” Hoerth told PBRTV recently, “and you say ‘thank you, God bless you,’ and go off stage.'”

After 27 years in the market, including at KDKA (1020), KQV (1410), the former WTKN (970), and a lengthy stint at the former WTAE (1250), Hoerth was given what O’Brien and Garry used to call “the cruel shoe” by WPTT (1360) in December.

But he does have a sincere message for his listeners, including those clamoring for his return.

“Thank you for listening, number one, and for those who enjoyed what I did — an extra thank you,” Hoerth says. “For those who hated what I did: Thank you for your masochism. It really doesn’t matter, as long as you listened.”