Hanging it Up in The Burgh

Longtime WPXI Anchor David Johnson says that he is leaving the Cox station next month. He will be just shy of 40 years with the Pittsburgh station.

“As I neared 40 years, I started to think, do I want to work past 40 years (at the station)?” Johnson told the Tribune Review’s Rob Owen. “It was not clear for a while — maybe I’d work part-time, maybe I’d just work one or two more years.”

“Even if I work part-time, there’s the restrictions of the TV news schedule,” he said. “I can’t just work Monday and Tuesday and have the rest of the week off. Even if I work four or five hours a day, I have to be in every day and on time for the newscast.”

Johnson, 67, says that the death of his older sister at age 74 solidified his plans to call it quits,

“My parents didn’t live past 75 … and we don’t know how much time we’re given on this Earth,” Johnson said. “That really, really pushed me to make this call.”

On a side note, I worked with David Johnson for nearly 5 years at WPXI. In the Summer, we would spend our dinner break playing a nasty game of whiffle ball out the station's back door.

If I remember right, I beat him in the World Series 18-12. Not a single game was posted to TikTok.

Lastly, David deserves recognition for his years of service and great run. But I’m absolutely sure that his leaving in a few weeks is not “breaking news.” No matter if the station says so on their website. I think David, the newsman that he is, would agree.