While my memories of him are somewhat vague when he was on WTAE, I do remember my mother and grandmother listening to him everyday. In fact when I was about 3, he would have a caller that would call in who was good at making animal noises. And as a small child, my mother said I would get a kick out of them. As I got older and he eventually came back to Pittsburgh and was on WPTT, I too began to listen to Doug Hoerth with my mother and grandmother in the car or in the kitchen before dinner. The one thing I admired about Doug was that who he was on air was who he was off the air. Sometimes a bit of a smart aleck, had a little bit of a big ego, and sometimes a little edgy, Doug had a passion for radio and was one of the best interviewers out there. He also was a great story teller and communicator and had a natural talent at communicating with people on the air. He never really focused on politics or anything like that today which everyone else does, but he wanted to learn about people and what made them tick.
I only met him once in 2006 when I was on his show during one of those round table discussions he had back in the day. One of the funny things I remember about Doug is him only being able to hear us in the studio only when he had his headphones on. But when he was in a commercial break and had them off, we had to speak loudly since he had problems with his hearing later in life.
I was saddened to hear that he was let go in 2007 from WPTT and that he never was on the radio again (aside from being on an Internet radio show once). While I think a lot of people considered him to be outdated towards his last few years, I thought his career should have ended on a higher note. Since then, I have always wanted to know more about him, his personal life, and what he did since then. I remember reading somewhere either on this board or on another of someone running into him sitting by himself at Eat N Park late one night and they sat down with him and he shared his love for music. It would have been awesome to learn more about him other than what he talked about himself on the radio, especially since he left the radio business. But I am sure he was pretty hurt about being let go from WPTT. And it also breaks my heart he died alone in his apartment. Though, these are things we can't change I suppose. Regardless, he not only entertained me all those years, but all those who listened to him and he is going to be someone who I will always think of when I am back home listening to Pittsburgh radio.
