After 1943 Ken Hildebrand became one of the first if not the first free lance broadcaster
in the nation. From that year until approximately 1955 he worked exclusively for the
Duquesne Brewing Company of Pittsburgh, PA as their sole on air and on camera talent.
Whenever and whereever Duquesne had a show be it news, sports or variety or it they just
aired a commercial, dad was the announcer, broadcaster and/or host as the case
might be.
During those years he won many awards including numerous Golden Quill and The H.P.Davis
Memorial Announcers Award.
Ultimatley Ken Hildebrand became the most popular and widely listened to broadcaster
in the greater Pittsburgh area.
He was a founding member of the Pittsburgh Chapter of AFTRA.
In the early 50s Ken broadcast the first televised Pittsburgh area news
broadcast on WDTV Channel 3, the forerunner of today's KDKA-TV Channel 2.
Hildebrand continued his many firsts by broadcasting Pittsburgh's initial
UHF news broadcast over station WENS Channel 53.
At one time in his career, Hildebrand was appearing on 35 shows each week and
he broadcast an 11:00 PM radio news show for over 18 years and it is said he
never missed a show!
In 1958 Hildebrand severed his relationship with The Duquesne Brewing Company
and accepted the position of News Director of one of the nation's first Top 40
Radio Stations ... Pittsburgh's 1410 KQV.
In late 1962 Ken relocated to Cleveland, Ohio where he took the helm of the
News Department at radio station WERE.
After a long and successful tenure at that station Ken moved on to become News
Director of Cleveland's number one radio outlet WHK.
Eventually, Hildebrand retired from WHK and he and his wife of 45 years, Mardell,
relocated to their home town of Akron, Ohio. Ken spent most of his time taking
care of mom until she died which was not too long after they moved. Dad lived to be 77
and his life was rich and full but he never got over mom's death.
A quick story: They were high school sweethearts. When dad was 18 and mom 16, Akron held
it's annual Miss Akron Contest which was preliminary to Miss Ohio, and ultimately Miss
America. One of Dad's many broadcasting jobs at the time was as the M.C. at a beautiful
Dance Hall located at Summitt Beach Park, Akron's Amusement Park of the day. Mom was a
contestant in the contest and dad fell in love with her on the spot ... they were married
one year later. By the way Mom won the contest but was disqualified because she wasn't 18!
Ken Hildebrand was enshrined in The Broadcaster's Hall Of Fame in 1988.
This pioneer of radio and television broadcasting had a long and distinguished career
... he was simply one of the best!
As busy as Ken was he still had the time and energy to form and build The Mt. Lebanon
Baseball Association in the town where he and his family lived, which was a suburb of
Pittsburgh, PA. This Association remains to this day one of the most successful and largest
organizations of its kind in the nation. Ken started the program in April of 1951 to give
younger boys a chance to play organized baseball during the summer. The corner stone on
which Ken built the program remains ... anyone who executed a Signup Card was guaranteed
a spot on a team and was assured of playing a minimum of two innings in each game.
That's the kind of guy Ken Hildebrand was ... the old fashioned kind. I'm proud to be his son.