Beloved Pittsburgh Broadcaster Battling Cancer

PITTSBURGH, PA — Messages of support and encouragement are pouring in for Stan Savran after the veteran sportscaster revealed he is battling lung cancer.

Savran, 74, currently hosts a weekday talk show on 970 ESPN from noon to 2 p.m. He has been a fixture on the local sports scene since arriving in Pittsburgh in January 1976 as the Steelers were winning the first of their six Super Bowls.

Savran made the revelation on his talk show Monday, then followed that with a Facebook post.

"As I said on the air, I hadn't planned to make my lung cancer diagnosis public," he stated.

"But when it began to bubble under the surface, I thought it best to share. The road will be a tough one...it already has been after just a couple of chemotherapy treatments. But I'm tolerating it and dealing with it as best I can. Medical issues are nothing new to me, and I will fight this like I have all the others.with your support, I will beat this. And I will never ever slow down my work schedule during this, and promise I will be here to do our show each and every day. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. You are my family."

The Pittsburgh sports and broadcasting community immediately took to Twitter with supportive messages.

"Stan is one of the best people and an inspiration for so many in our business," KDKA-TV sports director Bob Pompeani wrote. "Sets the standards very high. He will win this battle!"

"No one I’ve met in my time in radio and I mean no one is tougher than Stan," WDVE's Bill Crawford tweeted. "His work ethic, genuine enthusiasm for sports talk is an inspiration. He’s gonna kick cancer’s (butt) while taking calls & doing shows."

Savran initially worked in Pittsburgh at WWSW-AM and then the former KQV. He then spent a decade at WTAE-TV and also hosted a talk show on the former WTAE-AM.

He then worked for KBL-Fox Sports Net and also was a sports anchor for WPGH-TV. He has hosted intermission segments for Pittsburgh Penguins broadcasts on AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh and also wrote a weekly sports column for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for several years.

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