KDKA-TV adds promised anniversary special
January 17, 2024It 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!
I guess some people are dumb enough not to realize that during the 50th anniversary, there were still people there at the station that had been there when the station transitioned from WDTV to KDKA.
It”s those people that remembers the past.
In today’s generation – no one cares – since ” Traditions are learned, they are not inherited!”
The people that were around in the 1950’s are probably all dead, drank themselves to death and smoked until their lungs fell out.
IN today’s world, no one goes to college saying – when I get out, I hope to get a job working in broadcasting.
All they really care about is how much money am I going to make and where will I have to live to make the big bucks!
This is why we no longer have any schools teaching wireless communications and engineering beyond electronic circuits and the reason why most stations cannot find a resident engineer to be on the premises.
The contract engineer – that services multiple stations has killed the job of engineer and no one cares, just get it on the air as cheaply as possible!
Well… this is a cheerful read on a Friday morning. Honestly I have no idea how to respond to it. But I am going to make every attempt.
First of all… nobody ever said anything about anyone being “dumb”. There is plenty of intelligence here. Secondly, I’ve heard from other vintage “Boomers” who have said, “Traditions are nothing more than peer pressure from dead people.” So yes, they’re learned. (And this is something I’ve learned having tried to keep traditions alive… eventually they lose their luster!)
Businesses and technologies change all the time. And as people retire/die the people who come after them only have to continue to meet the requirements, but eventually adapt and develop new ways of going about it. That should be celebrated; not shunned. Sure, the old methods were likely more fun and yes, likely worked better than some technology today. I, for one hated to part with my land line a year or so ago, (I ported that number and made it my mobile) but the land line technology has gotten pretty bad over the last few years. I also hated to see the KQV towers come down a few years back, but the amount of money it would have taken to upgrade it would have been astronomical.
My point is, things change in some way or another and especially in a business where technology is the biggest part of it.
As for the people who made KDKA-TV what it is. Yes, it’s likely a safe bet that a good number of those around in the 1950s and stuck around for the 50th anniversary are likely not with us today. But some who are there now worked with some of those no longer with us, and are there to work with those who have come to the business since. I think “today’s generation” has fooled everyone into thinking they are naive and don’t care when really what they are is grateful to everyone who came before them, but busy keeping that legacy going – just in newer, sometimes simpler, sometimes easier methods.
Ha! I’m a student in college right now hoping to get a job working in small-market broadcasting. Call me crazy but that’s what I’d like to do. Making a living is a priority. Selling my soul for major-market ratings? Not interested.
I do a weekly show on a local AM station spinning 45s that’s had some decent success. If it was all about “easy as possible” I’d just voicetrack the shift. Instead, I spin actual 45s on the air live, taking call-in requests, playing jingles, etc. There are still some people in the biz who care about doing a good job and creating good product.
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Did anyone else notice that the audio leverls on the 75 years special seemed to be all over the place?. Some segments were at normal levels while others were much higher and others were lower in apparent volume. I was constantly either raising or lowering the volume level on the remote for my TV. By the way, I am a retired radio and TV broadcast engineer.
Were you watching on the stream (CBS News Pittsburgh) or television (cable / satellite / OTA KDKA-TV 2)?
I was watching OTA—KDKA TV 2