KDKA-TV adds promised anniversary special

January 17, 2024 Off By Eric O'Brien

It seems the 75th anniversary of the first TV station in Pittsburgh came upon everyone very suddenly. Last week – January 11 to be exact – KDKA-TV (2) celebrated 75 years since the day it signed on channel 3 as WDTV under the DuMont Network ownership.

But did this come as a surprise to the management at KDKA? Some people seem to think so, especially when there was little, if any, promotion leading up to it. The station did a 70th anniversary recognition in 2019. Before that, the station celebrated 50 years on the air in 1999 which came with the opportunity to purchase a VHS copy of that year’s hour-long special.

But it does seem as though somebody dropped the ball at the three-quarter of a century mark. Or somebody else lost track of the timing from the last major celebration. Or… well… who knows. Some people on social media have said they heard from the cousin of a woman whose husband’s son from his third marriage who has a friend who’s brother works with a woman whose husband’s father is about to retire from a television station in Paducah after 43 years had said, “Today’s news directors don’t care about the history of the stations.”

It’s hard to believe that is true. Most people who work in radio and TV had to pick up the “bug” somewhere and they certainly aren’t going to get it from the future! I would be more willing to bet a more accurate statement is: it’s not the priority of management to create a new special of the station’s history over the last however many years. It’s current news and events which take priority. And even if the 75th anniversary for KDKA-TV came up as an, “oh $&!#” moment a few weeks ago, I applaud their efforts to get SOMETHING on the air last week and more coming up this weekend.

KDKA-TV will celebrate it’s Diamond Anniversary this Saturday with a television special at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, January 20 with an hour-long special on Channel 2 (well “virtual Channel 2”). A 30-minute discussion between former long-time anchor team Stacy Smith and Patrice King Brown and current team Ken Rice and Kristine Sorensen will air ONLINE ONLY at 8:00 p.m. Then the hour long special will air again Sunday evening, January 21 at 8:00 on WPKD (19) otherwise known as “KDKA+”.

Though we have not been made aware of what the content will include, I’m sure it will satisfy the Pittsburgh history lovers out there… and you know they’re out there!