Richert marked 20 years at the Big K
September 21, 2021While I took a couple of days away from my computer last week (and believe me, it was well-earned), Larry Richert marked 20 years as the morning host at KDKA-AM (1020). Twenty years ago, Richert rolled into Gateway Center (where the station was located and still co-owned with KDKA-TV (2) at the time, on a motorcycle where his predecessor, John Cigna was waiting for his arrival to make the big announcement.
Then, one week after the terrorist attacks on our country, Richert took over the show on September 17, 2001 and didn’t take a day off for six months in order to be a source of comfort and stability for his listeners as we worked our way through the tragedy.
Some years later, Richert’s former TV co-host, John Shumway joined him on the radio program as did Shelley Duffy with feature reports. Shumway stepped back to focus on his TV work and Richert has been joined by Kevin Battle. Duffy would eventually co-host the afternoon drive briefly before leaving the station.
These 20 years as the morning host is not the only thing for which Larry is remembered. Before that he was doing weather and feature reports on KDKA-TV and had worked at WTAE-AM (1250) and WHTX (96.1) when they were owned by Hearst. He was also the last personality to play music on KDKA radio when it was still playing music for at least part of the day in the early 1990s.
The station recognized Richert’s 20 years last Friday.
I was station manager at WTAE/WHTX in 1985-87 and Larry was one of the highlights of the airstaff. Funny, reliable -and of course, the voice of God. He was a star back then on both stations. Glad to see that he’s continuing to thrive in one of the greatest cities in the world..on “The Big K”. Congrats on 20, Larry -here’s to 20 more!