Rick Sebak has explored many of the customs and traditions of the Pittsburgh region on his WQED-TV programs, including its food and drink.<\/p>\n
It took moving away for Rick Sebak to see Pittsburgh with fresh eyes.<\/p>\n
After graduating from Bethel Park High School in 1971, Sebak did what many other people did in those days \u2013 he shook off the soot and grime of what was then the still-industrial Steel City and lighted out to the Sun Belt. He attended college at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, then moved even further south for a job in public television in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t necessarily looking to make his way back to Pittsburgh, but a job opening came up at WQED-TV, the region\u2019s public television station, and he applied.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you least need the job, something comes up,\u201d Sebak explained in a recent interview. \u201cI didn\u2019t have any great desire to come back to Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sebak\u2019s dad drove him from South Carolina back to Pittsburgh in his van around the Fourth of July in 1987 for the interview. In the course of the journey, \u201cI could see fireworks going off all around me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fireworks now seem like a pretty auspicious omen. In the almost 40 years since Sebak has returned to Pittsburgh, he has become tightly bound to the region\u2019s history and quirks. In his role as a producer at WQED, he has written and narrated a bumper crop of programs that highlight landmarks and illuminate off-the-beaten track attractions. There have been shows on Kennywood, the North Side, the South Side, the Strip District, Pittsburgh\u2019s bridges and many more. Sebak has also served as a gregarious guide on programs about cemeteries, bakeries, breakfast, hot dogs and flea markets.<\/p>\n
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of Sebak beginning his career in public television, and WQED-TV is marking the occasion with rebroadcasts of some of Sebak\u2019s evergreen shows in prime time on July 30, and on Aug. 13, 20 and 27. They include \u201cNorth Park vs. South Park,\u201d \u201cThe Joys of Millvale,\u201d \u201cSquirrel Hill Tunnels\u201d and \u201cDowntown Pittsburgh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O\u2019Connor also proclaimed July 14 \u201cRick Sebak Day,\u201d and Sebak had the opportunity to briefly sit behind the mayor\u2019s desk. In a social media post, O\u2019Connor said Sebak has told stories \u201cthat celebrate the people, places, food, traditions and memories that define Pittsburgh.\u201d O\u2019Connor praised Sebak for \u201creminding the world what makes the city so special.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was when he came back to Pittsburgh that Sebak, who turned 73 in June, truly came to appreciate that \u201cthis place is really interesting and unusual. Every time I turn around I learn something new. \u2026 As you get older, you have more interest in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cMost of my programs are celebrations, as opposed to news or muckraking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sebak\u2019s programs have long been favorites on WQED-TV pledge drives, and that fundraising has become more and more crucial as federal funding for public media has been slashed. During his 50 years in public television \u2013 or \u201ceducational television,\u201d as it was once called \u2013 Sebak has seen it evolve from one of only four or five options on the television dial to one of an avalanche of options that can be viewed on TV or online. Nevertheless, Sebak believes WQED and its public television counterparts in other cities are still vital and relevant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no ads and we are educational to our core,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we are fun and informative. On public television, there\u2019s still a lot of things worth watching.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Sebak wants to remain part of it, even though he is at an age where many of his peers have comfortably settled into retirement. He still makes his way from his Regent Square home to WQED\u2019s offices on Fifth Avenue on most weekdays, and insists \u201cI haven\u2019t yet run out of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI still love what I get to do,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rick Sebak has explored many of the customs and traditions of the Pittsburgh region on his WQED-TV programs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[13501,15363,182,47163,73,75,74,15364],"class_list":["post-251677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-almanac","tag-bethel-park","tag-local-news","tag-main-menu","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-south-hills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}