Sample Broadcast & Digital Content for Essential Pittsburgh
Award Winning Broadcasts
Popular Call-in Conversations
 Sister Helen Prejean1st place in the broadcast/radio/public affairs category PAPBA -- Since 1984, Sister Prejean has advocated for the abolishment of the death penalty & counseled death row prisoners. |
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 Aging Out of Foster Care3rd place in the broadcast/radio/public affairs category PAPBA - The support of a steady home is something most 18 year olds take for granted, the sort of security a steady home provides is missing from the lives of kids in foster care. |
 The Black Middle Class in Pittsburgh1st place in the broadcast/radio/public affairs category for the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation Robert L. Vann Awards - A forum devoted to the history & current experiences of the Black middle class in Pittsburgh |
 On Topic with Mayor PedutoMayor Bill Peduto has been a monthly guest on Essential Pittsburgh since he was sworn in at the beginning of 2014. |
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 Pittsburgh's Nonsensical RoadsA lively convesation about the history of Pittsburgh's bizarre traffic behaviors and road layouts. |
 Heroin Addiction: A Complex EpidemicHow heroin addiction & overdoses touch all communities. And the statewide efforts of journalists to cover the complexities of this epidemic. |
 The Future of Restaurant TippingWhen Bar Marco announced plans for a no-tipping policy we talked with servers, the owner and discussed the pros & cons of doing away with the tipping wage. |
Features & Interviews in the Field
 Summertime in the Steel CityFrom yoga in Market Square, to giant rubber duckies and furries, hear an ode to summer in Pittsburgh from Betsy Benson, publisher of Pittsburgh Magazine. Then, explore 80 years of the Gershwins' frequently covered tune, "Summertime," narrated by 91.3 WYEP host Brian Siewiorek. |  A Flock of Seagulls in the BurghThousands of seagulls roost at the Great Lakes this time of year, but because of the polar vortex, the lakes are totally frozen. in 2014 they made a rare migration to the North Shore. |
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 Like Black Friday For VinylWhat started eight years ago as a gathering of store owners and employees celebrating the culture of independent record stores has evolved to include major industry events, limited edition albums and people camped out in front of record stores. |
To Market!
An Essential Pittsburgh Series Voiced by Heather
Environmental Justice Organizing & Storytelling
Part of a One PA and Mothers Out Front storytelling project featuring mothers in Southwest PA and the day to day impact of fracking and the petrochemical buildout.
Megan McDonough, the PA State Director of Food & Water Watch lives in Elizabeth, PA. She fights local oil and gas companies who try to buy mineral rights from rural land owners with the promise of big yearly payoffs. When I worked with Megan in East Pittsburgh she used municipal zoning laws to stop Merrion Oil and Gas from building a fracking well pad at the Edgar Thomson Steel Mill in Braddock, PA.
Jona Reyes is an herbalist, a Sunday school teacher and the mother of 5 kids. In 2019 her husband ran for borough council in East Pittsburgh primarily because the two of them wanted to stop Merrion and other oil and gas companies from encroaching on their town. As someone who grew up in Washington County, one of the most heavily fracked counties in PA, Jona had seen what fracking can do to the water, the air, and the overall morale of a town.
Lois Bower-Bjornson is a dance teacher and mother of 4 whose rural home is surrounded by fracking wells. There is no zoning in her area to limit where oil and gas companies operate in the community. Lois leads guided tours of fracking wells in her community in order to help people from all over the world see and understand the realities of fracking for themselves.