Benjamin penetrates, dumps it off to Ramon.

Three ball in the air.

Yes!

Panthers win.

Most people know Bill Hillgrove as a sports broadcaster.

- Privileged to do the Pittsburgh Steelers for 30 years.

And in those 30 years broadcast four Super Bowls.

Good defense.

Here comes Miller off the lane.

Tomahawked it and he breaks the glass.

Steps it off to Ramon Three ball in the air.

Yeah.

And the Panthers win!

And for the University of Pittsburgh.

Well 56 years of basketball.

Break away Sam.

Sam jams it and gets the foul and this place is on fire.

That is made into the end zone 55 of football.

42 yard touchdown run.

It's been a good ride.

- Long before he shared the broadcast booth with beloved Pittsburgh sportscaster Myron Cope.

Give an ID announcer.

This is WQED channel 13, Pittsburgh.

Bill Hillgrove volunteered at WQED learning the ropes to the station itself.

Just a few years on, the air was beginning to define what public television could mean in Pittsburgh.

I learned that early that I had a gift on this side of the microphone.

My aunt was a sister of Charity, and she said, there's somebody who's a friend of mine in the order, has a radio, TV school, and why don't you go?

I learned the art of radio.

I learned how to perform.

I learned how to be an engineer.

I learned how to be a producer.

It was a great beginning, but I wanted to learn television so Q.E.D., I could volunteer.

They accepted me.

You know, the professional staff treated us amateurs with a lot of respect.

And I appreciated that.

They didn't look down at you, again, this was back in the day when everybody was kind of learning, you know, it was a new, a new thing.

But I'm very fond when I recall that, that's for sure.

In those early days, WQED wasn't just producing television shows, it was building a way for people to learn, experiment and find their place in a new communications medium.

I met Fred Rogers.

I mean, come on.

It doesn't get any better than that.

And that's when he was doing a show with Jose Carey.

In that environment, where peopl were learning by doing, opportunities came quickly.

Camera to give me a close up on the director.

And any will do.

Steady 2.

- I believe Sam Silberman called me and said would you like to do some on air stuff?

On camera stuff?

I said, sure.

Many listeners of jazz enjoy hearing the same tune played in various styles.

Who is that young person?

And tonight we featured Joe Negro's Quartet with Danny Kahn, the Bobby Jones Organ Trio, the Silhouettes, Harold Betters Quartet, and the Johnny Costa Trio, all playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and now to Jazz Beat.

Live TV, live radio.

You don't get a second chance.

It's got to be good.

Pittsburgh has a great jazz history.

I don't have to tell you that.

I had forgotten how good this was.

In 1964, WQED produced Jazz Beat, a series of in-studio recordings hosted by Bill Hillgrove that gave viewers front row seats to performances by some of the area's finest jazz musicians.

And in the case of Joe Negri, probably Harold Betters.

Probably Walt Harper.

Had they chosen to go national?

They probably could have.

They were that good.

But they decided to stay in Pittsburgh.

Do it Handyman.

How simple that set is.

It's very effective.

What a sound.

And they did that without a conductor.

I really think that the sound there that that could have been a record.

You couldn't get a better production in a in a sound studio.

Johnny Costa, one of the best pianists I'd ever heard.

A place for new voices and new ideas, a celebration of music and artistry, and a young man with a dream and the talent to make it come true.

I remember when I was a kid, I lived in Garfield, up on Fort Pitt Hill, and at night during the summer, you could see the Forbes Field light standards.

They were turned on and you could see them.

And I would say to myself, as a young man, I'd like to be part of that someday, thinking that I could become a major League Baseball player.

I wasn't the best kid in my neighborhood who's going to be a major League Baseball player, but I was able to, you know, experience that because of radio and because of QED.