KDKA’s Fred Honsberger is dead, probably from heart disease. He was 58….
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977950487&grpId=3659174697244816&nav=Groupspace
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Gotta say, sort of like losing a friend. My wife & I heard the news in the car after a meeting with a client this morning…and the only word we could employ was stunned.
I must take exception with the referenced article’s description of his style…did he hold strong opinions? Yes. Could he defend them? Yes. Did it make good radio..of course. But, he was a polite gentleman to those callers who extended him the same courtesy.
I kind of wonder if Fred had prepared an audio goodbye to his audience. He had been working from home for a long time – several years – and had to have an idea that this day was coming sooner than later. I would like that, and, based on what his peers said about him today “consumate showman” ,”skilled entertainer” and “center of attention” – I hope he thought to do it. Pittsburhgh would welcome it.
During his show today, it was unnerving to hear his voice in various clips and then get jarred back into the realization that he had passed away.
The bigger question looming for KDKA is: how to fill the noon-3 void. Marty Griffin is a whiny lightweight, Mike Pintek would be a good noon to 3 man – I always enjoyed his morning show and he’s in a bit of a graveyard at 6 – 10 PM – but that kills their strength in the evening.
They need to avoid another failed experiment like Kevin Miller. With the AM audience on the decline, and competition creeping up from every possible direction, the mighty KDKA is in for a big challenge, I think.
I grew up in Pittsburgh listening to KDKA back when they had 90 minutes of local newscast… and Ed and Wendy King…. and Bob Prince doing the Pirate baseball games (met him as a kid at a small personal appearance)…. my family moved out in 1970…. just one of many… I think Hansburger may have done the news back then… his is a familiar voice, but not the main talent on the air during my era…. some guy who lived over in the brand new Allegheny Center… Merl? Mel?…. and the talk about when the Bridge To Nowhere would be finished…. Pete Flaherty was mayor… Skybus out at South Park and the fight to keep at least some of the streetcars…. Bill Burns reading TV news with merely a clock on the wall behind him…. That weird channel 16 that you needed a UHF converter box to get and mostly just had a test pattern…