Television Hill comes down

No, not the hill itself, but the former WPXI-TV (11) studios atop Television Hill in Pittsburgh’s Fineview neighborhood are coming down. The station moved from its original location in the fall of 2007 after 50 years in one place. Take a look at the Chopper 11 Video. WPXI’s original moving plans included moving the transmitter tower but Summer Hill residents weren’t interested in another broadcast tower in their midst. Cox Enterprises opted to keep the 800 foot tower atop the old location. The tower also holds antennae for WWSW-FM (94.5) and WSHH-FM (99.7) and is on perhaps the highest point within city limits.

The portions of the building being torn down are one-time additions to the original building which became too small for comfort for the station as it grew in its first 50 years. PBRTV understands (but does not have confirmation) that the original structure will remain as a service building for the engineering staff.

In lieu of posting a 1991 tour of the old studios by a certain 14-year-old (we don’t have the video changing technology anyway), we supply this video taken by a YouTuber (embedding disabled) during the Winter of 2008. You’ll see that the station looked a lot like a ghost town. Freaky huh?