Behind the Mic: Pittsburgh's Greatest Broadcast Journalists

August 05, 2025
12:00pm - 1:00pm

Pittsburgh sports fans are lucky, proclaims author David Finoli. Our Mount Rushmore of sports broadcasters—Prince, Lange, Cope, and Hillgrove—rivals that of any metropolitan area in the country. Listening on the porch or in our living rooms as we grew up, hearing these masters of the mic paint their incredible stories of the games, was perhaps just as important as watching those who played on the fields. It wasn’t just the play-by-play broadcasters who enlightened us. The people by their sides—the color analysts who helped explain what we saw or heard—were certainly important, too. So were the talk show hosts who allowed us to vent and the anchors who brought us breaking stories. They were all pivotal to the experience. We believe it’s important to honor their efforts and accomplishments, which is why we’ve created this book—our own Pittsburgh Broadcast Journalist Hall of Fame, if you will. Hopefully, the memories you conjure up while reading these pages will bring you as much joy as we felt while telling these stories. David Finoli is Pittsburgh's premier sports historian, "Behind the Mic," a collaborative effort with writers Tom Rooney, Frank Garland and Thomas Leturgey, is his 45th book.

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"Lunch With Books" is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. These lunchtime programs feature authors, poets, musicians, historians, and more every Tuesday at noon. Bring lunch (to the Library Auditorium or your computer), feed your brain!