A new member has joined the list of Pittsburgh TV reporters who have worked for more than one of the area’s big three news stations.
Shelley Bortz, a WPXI-TV freelancer since 2015, recently confirmed to the Post-Gazette that she will start in a full-time reporter role at rival KDKA-TV in the first week of October.
“I’m extremely excited for this opportunity and proud to be on KDKA’s outstanding team of journalists,” Bortz said.
She is the second local broadcast reporter this month to switch to another local television station after Nicole Ford recently left her part-time position at KDKA to take a full-time reporter gig at WPXI.
Adding Bortz is a big win for KDKA, who over the last year have lost multiple veteran newspeople to retirement, including anchor Stacy Smith, reporter and anchor Paul Martino, and medical correspondent Maria Simbra. KDKA Radio also has experienced changes due to the retirement of 45-year newscaster Rose Ryan Douglas in February and host Lynne Hayes-Freeland choosing to end her daily radio show in November.
Bortz is a Uniontown native who attended Gannon University in Erie on a full basketball scholarship. She once served as the public-address announcer for the University of Pittsburgh’s women’s basketball team and was recently inducted into the Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame.
She gained experience as a reporter and anchor at stations in Scottsbluff, Neb.; Parkersburg, W.Va.; Steubenville, Ohio; Jacksonville, Fla.; and St. Louis. Bortz also earned the titles of Mrs. Pennsylvania America 2008 and Mrs. Ohio United States 2010.
Joshua Axelrod: jaxelrod@post-gazette.com and Twitter @jaxelburgh.
First Published: September 21, 2021, 3:33 p.m.