Applying the law of “things come in threes,” Tuesday’s announcement by longtime WTAE general assignment reporter Bob Mayo that he will retire Dec. 31 is appropriate as it’s the third significant on-air retirement from Pittsburgh TV stations this quarter, following the departures of KDKA-TV’s Jon Delano and WPXI’s David Johnson.
“I’m grateful for my years at WTAE, a station I’ve watched since I was a kid growing up in Carrick. I remember staying up to watch what was then called ‘4 Star News,’” Mayo wrote in social media posts, noting that though he’s a general assignment reporter, he most enjoyed covering government and politics.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Mayo said he didn’t start thinking about retirement until he turned 70 a few months ago.
“It’s like jumping off a moving train: You have to decide at some point to do it,” Mayo said.
In retirement he plans to reacquaint himself with his interest in computers, but Mayo expects he will miss the process of reporting.
“I’ve always joked that the skills you had when you were a student cramming for tests and having to be a quick study is something” reporters continue to use throughout their careers, Mayo said. “The adrenaline of taking a crash course, learning about something, processing that and communicating that to other people is a satisfying thing to do.”
Mayo got into broadcasting as a teen volunteer on WQED-TV’s “The Place.” He studied writing and speech/communications at the University of Pittsburgh, where Mayo wrote for the Pitt News and eventually became news director at the campus radio station and interned at KQV-AM.
He was a radio news reporter/coordinator for WWSW-AM/FM before jumping to WTAE-AM. Mayo joined WTAE’s TV station in 1994, retiring after 30 years that included covering Pittsburgh mayors Tom Murphy, Bob O’Connor, Luke Ravenstahl, Bill Peduto and Ed Gainey.
Mayo expressed thanks that his WTAE-AM news director, John Poister, “let me loose on Grant Street” to see what he could learn and to dig up stories.
Mayo recalled being a witness to Pittsburgh history when Sophie Masloff was sworn in as mayor on the fifth floor of the City County Building after the death of Richard Caligiuri and again when O’Connor died and Ravenstahl was sworn in as mayor.
“That room had historical portraits of Pittsburgh’s mayors and as we were standing by waiting for (Ravenstahl’s) swearing in, we were live (on WTAE), and I did a walking tour of the room, pointing out the portraits of past Pittsburgh mayors,” Mayo recalled. “I enjoyed learning and understanding how the [government] process works.”
More recently while covering the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting trial, Mayo was encouraged by then-WTAE news director Jim Parsons to tweet about the proceedings while watching a video feed from court in an overflow room.
“I’m taking notes on my laptop of the testimony, and during pauses and breaks I’d copy and paste into Twitter, condensing and conveying moment-to-moment what was happening in the testimony, arguments and evidence,” Mayo said. “That wasn’t just stenography, that was trying to give context.”
He learned relatives of the shooting victims were following his coverage on the social media platform.
“I felt a special responsibility or obligation knowing this event I was covering that was so important to all of Pittsburgh was also important to these individuals,” Mayo said, “so I wanted to do justice to the history of what was going on and the impact of what was going on.”
From 2006-13 Mayo regularly wrote a blog, The Busman’s Holiday, which he may revisit in retirement. He stopped writing it in part because of the way a TV reporter’s role expanded in the social media age.
“The constant news flow and the way you tell the story over the course of the day is very different” from when he started in TV, Mayo said. “I used to (write blog posts) on my own time at home at the end of the day. As TV reporting duties changed, part of the job was writing a web story at the end of the day. Having poured myself into the written version of the story, by the time I was to do the blogging approach, it was eclipsed by the obligation to get things onto social.”
He also notes how TV news has moved away from specialty beat reporting.
“While I was general assignment, I’ve always been the person that will most often wind up covering government and political stories,” Mayo said. “We used to have specialists, like medical editor Marilyn Brooks. We don’t have that now. I hope that other reporters, not just here in television but generally, get the opportunity to hone those special areas of expertise and skills. I think the viewers are served well by it and the experience of reporting is better for it.”
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Mayo will be on vacation next week, but he’ll return to work his last two shifts on Dec. 30 and 31.
“I’m not sure what my last story will be or what my last live shot will be, but that’s not different from the day-to-day life of any reporter,” Mayo said. “Yesterday my assignment changed three times based on breaking news and people being available to talk or not. It keeps you on your toes.”
Channel surfing
A new season of “The Joe Schmo Show” — past iterations featured Pittsburghers as the Schmo — will debut on TBS at 9 p.m. Jan. 21. This time Ben, an electrician from Baltimore, is the mark. … Hollywood-based filmmakers/TV producers are rejoicing this week with the news that in April American Airlines will resume a direct Pittsburgh-to-Los Angeles flight the airline dropped in 2017. … Daytime’s “Kelly Clarkson Show” (3 p.m. weekdays, WTAE) was renewed for a seventh season that will begin airing in September 2025. … A “Bluey” movie is in development for theatrical distribution in 2027.
You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow @RobOwenTV on Threads, X/Twitter, Instagram, Bluesky and Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.