Ahead of retirement, KDKA-TV's Jon Delano looks back at his career reporting on money and politics
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The year was 1994: Jon Delano had spent 14 years on Capitol Hill and suddenly found himself out of work.
"I was chief of staff to a Pennsylvania congressman who lost an election," said Delano.
So he decided to take his political knowledge and reinvent himself back home in Pittsburgh as a TV political analyst.
"I went to all three stations, and they all said 'no,'" he said.
But just a few weeks later, KDKA-TV acquired "The Pennsylvania Poll."
"And they needed someone who could go on air and talk about it," said Delano.
He agreed, and his political analyst career was born.
He said, "When I think back and see some of the stuff I did back then, I was not that great. But they saw something in me, the management did."
Delano appeared frequently on the news, and even traveled to national political conventions as part of KDKA's on-air coverage.
"It was a lot of fun, and there's nothing like being at a convention," said Delano.
In 2001, after seven years as KDKA's political analyst, Delano was offered a full-time job as KDKA-TV's money and politics editor.
"I had no familiarity with doing the television stories that a journalist would be trained in doing. So, I had to be trained," he said.
Delano quickly learned the ropes and found himself interviewing politicians and newsmakers from all over the region and across the country.
He's interviewed mayors, governors, state lawmakers, U.S. congressional leaders, U.S. presidents and countless political candidates. But don't forget, Delano was also KDKA's "money" guy all these years.
"I've been doing Money Minutes for some time. We took a break, and then we brought them back last year. They're 60 seconds of financial advice," he said.
And for nearly 20 years, he's hosted "The Sunday Business Page."
"'The Sunday Business Page' was a full-fledged half-hour show that we ran for a number of years, and frankly it was a lot of fun. We would bring business leaders from the community onto the show and talk to them about issues that are important to Pittsburgh," said Delano.
Eventually, the show morphed into a shorter segment that's aired for the last few years on KDKA's Sunday morning news.
Delano's also been front and center at nearly all of KDKA's political debates over the past 20 years. Debates for mayor of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County chief executive, governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. Congressional seats.
But there's one debate, in particular, that sticks out to Delano above the rest as the most contentious: the debate between Rick Santorum and Bob Casey for U.S Senate in 2006.
"For some reason, the podiums were right at each other and that allowed the candidates to really point and really get in the face of the other," Delano said.
He added, "I don't think we design these debates in order to get the candidates to fight each other, but you really want it to be entertaining because nobody, most people anyway, won't watch debates unless they think something's coming out of it."
When it comes to U.S. presidential politics, Delano always seemed to score hard-to-get one-on-one interviews with both presidential candidates and sitting presidents.
"We had the very first Pennsylvania interview with Barack Obama for TV in 2008, in March of 2008, when he was running for president for the first time," he said.
In all, Delano did eight one-on-one interviews with Barack Obama, which Obama noted during their final interview together at the White House.
"He said, 'Jon, you have the record for a local journalist in interviewing me,'" Delano said.
Delano also had several interviews with Donald Trump and Joe Biden. This year alone, Delano was one of only a few local journalists to get one-on-one interviews with both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
"This has been an incredible year for me, 2024. I've had incredible opportunities," Delano said.
He added, "But the real reason we get these interviews, I think, is because KDKA and this region is really important politically. We get these interviews because Pennsylvania counts. And it's because the viewers, they know KDKA is the number one station particularly politically for voters and secondly they know that this region is really important to winning Pennsylvania."
In 30 years, Delano says he's seen quite a change in the political climate across the country.
"There's no doubt it's changed. People are so much more partisan now and so much more invested in their political positions in a way that makes them, I think, angrier, frankly, when things don't go their way or with people who disagree with them. People react in ways that I just don't recall 30 years ago when we were in this business, and I really regret that that's the tenor. I hope that we can get beyond that. I'm very much an optimist. I still think there's possibilities for decency and for us to get together regardless of our political opinions," said Delano.
And now, as he closes this chapter, Delano reflects on all the people who've helped him along the way.
"None of us who appear on the air, that is who are on camera, could do this work without the tremendous support of everyone behind us. We are so dependent in this business on others that whatever I've achieved on my own over the last 30 years, I know there's so many others who are responsible," said Delano.
