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 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 consisted of The Beatles 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 groupOther work
Honsberger also appeared on the panel ofAwards 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'' described him as a "Pittsburgh icon" with "affectionate yinzer spirit" on par with Fred Rogers and Myron Cope. 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