Former Pittsburgh Broadcaster Has Suspected Brain Disorder

PITTSBURGH, PA — A former Pittsburgh broadcaster has been diagnosed with presumed chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Jon Burnett, a TV reporter and weatherman at KDKA-TV for more than three decades who retired in 2019, disclosed to the station Monday that he has been diagnosed with suspected CTE, which cannot be confirmed until brain samples are taken after death.

According to the Boston University CTE Center, chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive head impacts (RHI) often incurred during contact sport play, military service, employment as a first responder and other activities that involve repeated blows to the head.

The symptoms of CTE include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, and, eventually, progressive dementia.

CTE diagnoses are common among football players, and Burnett was on the University of Tennessee football team in the early 1970s.