TV Q&A: Alby Oxenreiter looks back while looking ahead

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Does Alby Oxenreiter have any plans of returning to Channel 11? We have not seen him in almost two years.

— Jon, via email

Rob: By now, it’s clear that WPXI sports director Alby Oxenreiter has moved on. He’s been on medical leave from Channel 11 since June 2023 after a blood infection led to the replacement of two heart valves.

“My surgery was successful, and I want everyone to know I’m getting better,” Oxenreiter said in a phone interview. “I’m keeping my focus on my recovery. I’m not able to return to the rigorous schedule and the demands of the job.

“I’ve had a chance to reflect and obviously I want to thank everybody for their support, from my family to co-workers to management at WPXI and friends in the media and the viewers who have offered support and prayers,” Oxenreiter continued. “Their encouragement has meant a whole lot to me. I’ve also had time to reflect on how blessed and lucky I am to be able to work in television in my hometown for nearly four decades.”

A Pittsburgh native and Mt. Lebanon High School grad, Oxenreiter joined WPXI in January 2006 after working as sports director at WPGH when that station produced its own newscast from 1997 to 2006. Prior to WPGH, Oxenreiter worked at WTAE-TV from 1988-97, first as weekend sports anchor and later as sports anchor/reporter for the 5 p.m. weekday newscast.

His first aspirations to cover sports on TV in Pittsburgh came much earlier.

“A while back, I came across a letter I wrote to Channel 11 way, way long ago, maybe in 1980,” Oxenreiter recalled. “They had a contest where they wanted you to write in with your dream job and I wrote Jack Etzel a letter and the letter said, ‘My dream job is to anchor the 6 and 11 p.m. sports (segments) on WPXI.’ And it all came true.”

While his work at WTAE marked his first full-time job on a Pittsburgh TV station, Oxenreiter had his first Pittsburgh broadcast experience a few years earlier when KDKA-AM had a contest that he won.

“Jim Rooker’s daughter was getting married and they needed someone to sit with Lanny Frattare for a July 1982 (Pirates game) broadcast,” Oxenreiter said. “So at 21 years old, fresh out of college, I’m sitting beside Lanny Fratarre for a Pirates-Braves game on America’s first radio station. For someone who, as a kid, listened to (broadcaster) Bob Prince from a transistor radio hidden under my pillow for West Coast games, that was pretty special.”

After college at Villanova University, Oxenreiter got his start in TV news at stations in Grand Junction, Colo., Harrisburg and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton before he was hired at Pittsburgh’s Channel 4, where he had the opportunity to work with legendary Pittsburgh broadcasters Myron Cope, Bill Hillgrove, Stan Savran and Guy Junker.

“The legendary Joe Rovitto was news director at WTAE when I was hired — anyone who knows Joe has nothing but great love for him — and they did this promotional campaign, ‘What’s an Alby Oxenreiter?’ ” Oxenreiter said. “It’s something I still get asked about regularly.”

Over the years, Oxenreiter covered four Steelers Super Bowls and five Penguins Stanley Cups, March Madness, the Rose Bowl and Pirates spring training. His most memorable moments, in no particular order, include:

• The Steelers’ win in Super Bowl XLIII: Oxenreiter recalls grabbing Ben Roethlisberger by the shoulder and, with Roethlisberger’s permission, leading him 60 yards across the field to an interview location after the team’s win. That same night, Oxenreiter commandeered a golf cart to carry Art Rooney II, Omar Khan, a Steelers photographer and the Vince Lombardi trophy to an interview spot.

• The Stanley Cup wins, particularly the time Mario Lemieux dumped champagne on Oxenreiter’s head, and standing elbow-to-elbow with Sidney Crosby.

• Playing golf with Arnold Palmer. “He was a sports idol of mine growing up,” Oxenreiter said. “Talk about royalty. That was it.”

• Putting on a Pirates uniform to try out at Pirates spring training twice.

• Hosting sports shows headlined by Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward, Bill Cowher, Charlie Batch; riding horses with Mel Blount on his ranch; spending time with Bill Mazeroski and interviewing sports superstars beyond Pittsburgh including Joe DiMaggio, Wayne Gretzky, Magic Johnson, Tiger Woods, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Muhammad Ali and Pete Rose, who Oxenreiter once chauffeured from an autograph show in Monroeville to Pittsburgh International Airport.

After an interview, Oxenreiter asked Rose, jokingly, if Rose needed a lift to the airport. Twenty minutes later, as Oxenreiter was getting ready to leave the venue, Rose caught up with him and asked, “Is that offer still available to drive me to the airport?”

Oxenreiter was surprised by the request, since he’d been joking, but he gave Rose a lift anyway.

“As I pulled up to the curb at the airport, I got multiple comments from people at curbside check-in, saying, ‘Hey, Alby, you have a new job driving Pete Rose around?’ ”

Oxenreiter said he wishes the best for his Channel 11 sports department colleagues going forward, including Jenna Harner and Shelby Cassesse.

Oxenreiter recalled a saying he read: Take stock in your memories, friends and 8-by-10s.

“I think about that often,” he said. “I’m happy to say after four decades in Pittsburgh, I have special memories, great friends and many 8-by-10s.”

Channel 11 news director Scott Trabandt did not respond to a question about who will take Oxenreiter’s place as sports director, although presumably Harner, who joined Channel 11 in 2020, will step into the role.

Q: I’ve been waiting for the season premiere of “Sullivan’s Crossing” on The CW. I saw articles saying it would start May 7 on the CW, but it has not been advertised and is not listed in the cable guides. For the past couple of weeks, they had it listed on Monday nights, but the program on at that time was “Trivial Pursuit.” Is local CW not airing it, or is it scheduled for a later start date?

— Claire, Jefferson Hills

Rob: Per The CW, “Sullivan’s Crossing” got pushed a week and will now premiere at 8 tonight on Pittsburgh’s WPNT.