Fred Honsberger (May 15, 1951 – December 16, 2009) was an American

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

personality for News Radio 1020 KDKA-AM in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. His show most recently aired from noon–3 pm weekdays, between Marty Griffin's ''The Inside Story'' and the KDKA Afternoon News.

Radio broadcasting career at KDKA

In 1979, Honsberger joined the KDKA team as a reporter. Honsberger was later promoted to News Director of the station in 1984 and remained in the role until 1989, when he began his career as a talk show host in the drive time slot of 3-5 PM weekdays.

The Fred Honsberger Program

Airing on

KDKA-AM KDKA () is a list of North American broadcast station classes, class A, clear channel, AM radio station, licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. Its radio studios are located at the combined Audacy Pittsburgh fac ...

Monday to Friday between 12 and 3 PM, Honsberger talked about local and national news and politics and opinion. He also took callers and conducted interviews during the show. The last segment of the show (usually around 2:50 PM) featured "The Honz Honk Off Line" which consisted of select listener voice mail messages that were called in from the day before or earlier and replayed over the air. Thursdays were "Honzman text it Thursdays" in which a yes or no question was posed to the audience. A number was given to send a text message to and the results are shared usually before the last segment of the show. Fridays were "Beatle Bumper Fridays" in which all of the

bumper music Bumper music, also known as a bump, is a radio broadcasting term for short clips of signature songs or theme music used to transition between different elements of a program. These clips typically last no longer than fifteen seconds. Bumper mus ...

consisted of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

or one of the members' solo works. In addition to the Beatle bumper music, Fred also was known to play " Thank God It's Friday (song)" by the disco group Love and Kisses as the bumper music at the top of each hour on Fridays. Every show ended with Honsberger signing off over

' " Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)" followed by

Pittsburgh Penguins The Pittsburgh Penguins (colloquially known as the Pens) are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), E ...

broadcaster

Mike Lange Mike Lange (March 3, 1948 – February 19, 2025) was an American sportscaster best known for his 46-year career as a play-by-play announcer for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Lange served as the team's play-by-play a ...

saying "Ladies and gentlemen, the Honz has just left the building!" The show was produced by a collection of producers including Greg Jena, Heather Richmond Zambito, Amy Muntean Mauk and "The Big Show Producer" Robert Suhr. Honsberger underwent

gastric bypass Gastric bypass surgery refers to a technique in which the stomach is divided into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch, where the small intestine is rearranged to connect to both. Surgeons have developed several differen ...

surgery in 2004 and during his rehab stint he broadcast from his home studio until he was able to return to the KDKA studios. He suffered a broken leg in 2007. While he was undergoing physical therapy, Kevin Miller filled in for him. Honsberger's final live show was on December 8, 2009.

Other work

Honsberger also appeared on the panel of

WQED-TV WQED (channel 13) is a PBS member television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned by WQED Multimedia, it is sister to public radio station WQED-FM (89.3). The two outlets share studios on Fifth Avenue near the Carnegie M ...

's "OnQ" and its Spin-Off "OffQ" programs since the show began in 2000. He also hosted

PCNC The Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC) is a cable news channel and digital subchannel of WPXI serving the Western Pennsylvania area. It is owned by Cox Media Group. PCNC simulcasts or replays much of WPXI's programming. It continues to produc ...

's "Honsberger Live", his own live TV call-in program, between 1999 and 2009. He was a supporter of the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

Awards and achievements

Along with a team of reporters, Honsberger was given the Dupont Award for his in-depth coverage of the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster in 1979. He was a two-time winner of the Radio and Television News Director Association's award for excellence in radio news; he has won a Golden Quill Award for his radio special about the Pittsburgh police under cover drug squad; he has been named Best Talk Show Host by the Achievement in Radio awards in 1997, 2003 and 2005; and the Associated Press named his show the Best Radio Talk Show in Pennsylvania in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Death

The station reported that Honsberger died at home following a lengthy battle with medical issues. He was survived by a wife and two sons. Following his death, the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'' described him as a "Pittsburgh icon" with "affectionate

yinzer Yinzer is a 20th-century term playing on the Pittsburghese second-person plural vernacular "yinz." The word is used among people who identify themselves with the city of Pittsburgh and its traditions. History "Yinzer" (or "Yunzer") was histo ...

spirit" on par with

Fred Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), better known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television s ...

and

Myron Cope Myron Sidney Kopelman (January 23, 1929 – February 27, 2008), known professionally as Myron Cope, was an American sports journalist, radio personality, and sportscaster. He is best known for being " the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers". Cop ...

. KDKA Radio named Mike Pintek as the new host of the 12-3PM weekday time slot on Thursday, January 28, 2010. After the announcement, Honsberger's longtime friend and coworker had this to say about being named the new host for the time slot, "A lot of people have asked me, 'Who's going to replace Fred? Who's going to fill his shoes?' I'm filling the slot. I'm not going to even try to fill his shoes. Nobody can."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honsberger, Fred 2009 deaths 1951 births American talk radio hosts Journalists from Pennsylvania Radio personalities from Pittsburgh American radio journalists KDKA people 20th-century American journalists American male journalists People from Monroeville, Pennsylvania