Local News

Friends, Colleagues Remember Porky Chedwick

March 3, 2014 / 6:45 PM EST / CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One of the greatest local disc jockeys of all time has signed off for the final time.

Porky Chedwick has died at the age of 96.

He did more than spin records. He changed a culture.

"My name's not John Wayne, it's Porky the insane, and I'm here to fry your brain!"

It was a January night in 1992. Porky Chedwick was back, and so were the teenagers of the past. It was a celebration. Pittsburgh's legendary DJ recovered from a life threatening brain tumor.

He would live 22 more years -- long enough to celebrate his 96th birthday.

"Brother Matt" Ledbetter, a former DJ himself, was a high school kid when the Boss Man lent him his convertible for the prom.

"And I couldn't drive that well," he recalls. "I was taking the big corners. But I was taking it in Pork the Torque's car."

Porky Chedwick got his start in Homestead, at a tiny station called WHOD. When WAMO came on the air, Brother Matt joined him, working the night shift.

"He had the best heart in the world," Matt says. "Porky paid me more than the radio station paid me, so he could leave early, and go to his teenage dances on the weekend. I would take his show."

Porky was a disc jockey before there were disc jockeys. He played the music parents were afraid of.

"He was a jewel," says his friend and colleague. "He was a gentleman, and a great heart."