What a week!
December 18, 2017
Broadcasting Magazine, June 6, 1947 (h/t: Clarke Ingram)
I was tipped that something was happening with KQV (1410) the day before the staff heard the news. In other words, it was one of the worst kept secrets in Pittsburgh radio. Since the announcement on Friday, radio enthusiasts have been posting their memories of the station on their Facebook pages… and guess what? Not one of these memories is from the last 42 years! It’s “Audio 14” this, and “14K” that. THAT is what people remember! Although it had listeners in the last 42 years with the all-news format, people remember the jocks and jingles that really made up a brief part of the station’s history.
The five hometown Blaw-Knox radiators have stood on a hill in Ross Township for 70 years directing the signal in a southeast bubble pattern. Neighborhoods have been developed around the towers. North Hills Village was built on the McKnight Road side in the 50s. But those towers have stood there through it all, providing KQV with the best possible pattern with the best possible output. Admittedly, that signal is not as good these days with a bungle of other signals throughout the landscape. Still though, there are those who are hoping to save the station… and for all I know that could happen if the pockets are deep enough… and one can convince Calvary Inc. that you can have/rent the tower site. (If you get the license and have to move the transmitter, have you really saved the station?) I really hope that it happens given the station’s longevity of 98 years. (For what it’s worth, the North Hills site is not the original transmission site. KQV and WJAS shared a site in Banksville Park just off Crane Avenue prior to 1947 and originally downtown. See page 2.)
Another translator has officially made it to the air. W266CV Braddock was boosted to its full power after several weeks of low-power testing. The new 101.1 FM carries WZUM-AM (1550 Braddock) and its jazz programming to the downtown area. The translator is on the Crown Tower on the North Side.
And finally tonight, it’s a case of body shaming. Now, we think that WTAE’s weekend anchor Jackie Cain is attractive and also a darned good anchor/reporter. But Sunday night, Cain took to her Instagram page to show a couple of emails she had received from a person she described as a “highly educated woman.” The viewer said Cain looks “pasty white and fat, fat, fat” and suggested a couple of surgical procedures. Cain posted, “Can we stop tearing each other down? This came from a highly educated woman. Let’s stop this🤚🏼” Most of her followers came to her support and suggested that she share who the highly educated individual was. But I’m sure Ms. Cain will take the higher road and not stoop to the level this person did.
So, at this moment, PBRTV offers Jackie Cain the first-ever PBRTV Seal of Approval (it’s virtual because the PBRTV Art Department hasn’t been alerted yet) for being a great anchor and handling a negative situation with professionalism and finesse.
