TV Talk: WTAE’s ‘Project Bundle-Up’ holiday tradition turns 40

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers local viewing tips for the coming holiday season.

Since it began in 1986, Channel 4’s “Project Bundle-Up Telethon” (7-8 p.m. Dec. 5, WTAE) and the Salvation Army of Western Pa. have raised a cumulative $17.5 million over 40 years and served 310,000 children and senior citizens who’ve received winter outerwear.

WTAE chief meteorologist Mike Harvey, chairman of Project Bundle-Up, will host the evening telethon with morning news anchor Michelle Wright. To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the hour will include clips from past telethons, including segments featuring current and former WTAE staff.

Harvey said what makes Project Bundle-Up unique is the interaction with those who benefit from this charitable endeavor.

“A lot of times you raise the money and that’s it,” Harvey said. “But with this, the people who raise the money actually also get to go shopping with the kids and see the smiles on their faces when they get to pick out a brand-new, warm coat. I like to say, they’re going to stay warm all winter and they’re going to feel warm on the inside.”

The kids and seniors are not picking from a selection of donated coats. They go shopping at stores (Dick’s, Target, Walmart) for their winter gear.

“They pick out what they want, so they’ll actually wear it,” Harvey said. “It’s a wonderful thing to see how excited they are to get to pick out the coat. Sometimes it’s the first time they’ve gotten something new.”

The telethon originally came about when Pat Rooney, wife of then-Steelers owner Dan Rooney, approached the station about a coat collection drive for those in need. Former WTAE chief Meteorologist Joe DeNardo became the station’s face of the charitable campaign.

For Harvey, hosting the telethon is not that different from offering a weather forecast. While the telethon has a framework and an outline, Harvey’s role is mostly ad-libbed.

The live evening telethon disappeared for a few years during the covid pandemic – cut-ins throughout the day’s newscasts continued to air annually — and Harvey credited WTAE general manager Chuck Wolfertz with bringing the evening telethon back in 2024.

“A lot of things didn’t come back from covid,” Harvey noted, “and that telethon did.”

Harvey said now-retired WTAE program director Dan Henninger and current news producer Connie Stewart, a 32-year station veteran, were and are the muscle behind the annual campaign.

“There’s a lot of people who work much harder than me,” Harvey said.

An award named after Henninger goes to a local school that demonstrates “the core values” of Project Bundle-Up. Central Elementary in the Elizabeth Forward School District earned this year’s honors.

Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth is the Project Bundle-Up ambassador and one of a number of local sports figures who get involved annually.

“They take the kids on shopping trips as well,” Harvey said. “They come in during the season, and [Pat will] bring a couple other players with him [at a time] when they have limited days off, limited hours off, and he chooses to spend it with kids at Project Bundle-Up and raising money.”

Along with the evening telecast on Dec. 5, viewers can make donations throughout the day by calling 412-243-6000, texting “BUNDLEUP” to 31333, or visiting WTAE.com or WTAE’s mobile app to make secure donations.

In addition to the annual telethon, sometime in December Channel 4 will present a new installment of its occasional “Chronicle” magazine series, “A Cookie Town,” offering a look at Pittsburgh’s cookie traditions, including the Pittsburgh Wedding Cookie Table, the Eat’n Park Smiley Cookie and Nancy B’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. Michelle Wright and Janelle Hall will host the program, which did not have an air date or time as of this writing.

Syndicated holiday programs on WTAE this season include “America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration” (5:30 p.m. Nov. 23), “America’s Thanksgiving Parade” (10 a.m. Nov. 27), “Magnificent Mile Lights Festival” (5 p.m. Dec. 7) and “Christmas Across America” (7 p.m. Dec. 20).

KDKA-TV

Channel 2 will air the “72nd Annual KDKA Free Care Fund Telethon” 7-8 p.m. Dec. 18, raising money for the Free Care Fund at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, an effort to ensure no child is denied medical care regardless of their family’s ability to pay for their treatment.

Ken Rice and Kristine Sorensen will host the telethon with participation from fellow station talent, including Heather Abraham, Boaz Frankel, Jessica Guay, Ross Guidotti, David Highfield, Chris Hoffman, Mikey Hood, Daisy Jade, Erica Mokay, Ray Petelin, Bob Pompeani, John Shumway, Ron Smiley and Erika Stanish.

KDKA is also developing year-end specials on news, sports and weather but those programs had not been scheduled as of this writing.

WQED-TV

Pittsburgh’s PBS station offers a new Rick Sebak compilation of previously released shorts, “Lucky to Live in Pittsburgh” (8 p.m. Dec. 11), with visits to three local chocolatiers.

This week WQED debuts PBS SoCal’s “We ❤ Public Television” (8 p.m. Nov. 27), a three-hour fundraising broadcast with appearances by Josh Groban, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ken Burns, Lily Tomlin, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Marlee Matlin, Rick Steves, Courtney B. Vance, Martha Plimpton, Bill Nye and Judy Blume.

Channel 13 will rebroadcast the 2018 Michael Keaton-hosted retrospective, “Mister Rogers: It’s You I Like” (9 p.m. Nov. 28).

Holiday encore telecasts include “Memories From the Table” (7:30 p.m. Nov. 24), “B.E. Taylor Christmas Concert” (4 p.m. Nov. 28), “It’s Pittsburgh & a Lot of Other Stuff: I Think Santa Will Like the Sleigh” (7:30 p.m. Dec. 1), “It’s Pittsburgh & a Lot of Other Stuff: Gingerbread Lane” (7:30 p.m. Dec. 8), “A Christmas Cookie Story” (8:30 p.m. Dec. 11), “WQED Holiday Sessions 2020” (7:30 p.m. Dec. 15), “Happy Holidays in Pittsburgh” (8 p.m. Dec. 18), “WQED Holiday Sessions 2022” (7:30 p.m. Dec. 22) and “WQED Presents: Live from Studio A: A Holiday Jam 2007” (4 p.m. Dec. 26).

WPGH/WPNT

In addition to a roster of previously aired holiday movies scheduled for weekend afternoons in late November and December on Channel 53 and Channel 22, Channel 22 will offer the syndicated special “2025 Holiday River Parade” (noon, Dec. 6 and 13), coverage of 29 barge floats decorated for the holidays as they glide along the San Antonio River in San Antonio, Texas.

WPXI has no local holiday programs scheduled.