Tribune-Review sports columnist Tim Benz is joining the regular lineup of WPXI-TV’s social media-driven Sunday night sports show “The Final Word.”
Benz will become a regular panelist on the 11:30 p.m. program on an every-other-week basis. He joins Trib columnist Mark Madden among others. His first show is Sunday.
The program is hosted by WPXI sports director Alby Oxenreiter and sports reporter/anchor Jenna Harner.
Benz had previously been a regular commentator on KDKA-TV’s “Sports Showdown,” another 11:30 Sunday night sports talk show. As part of that deal, he appeared regularly on the “Nightly Sports Call” on Pittsburgh’s CW, which is also owned by ViacomCBS. That association was essentially ended last spring due to logistical concerns created by the covid-19 crisis.
“The thing that means the most to me is getting back and doing TV work for the first time since covid hit,” said Benz. “I missed it a ton. I loved it. Between the ‘Nightly Sports Call’ and the ‘Showdown,’ I was doing a ton of TV, and then covid hit. I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I didn’t have it, and now is a chance to get back into the flow again, and it’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
It speaks to the rabid nature of Steel City sports fans that there are two successful half-hour Sunday night sports talk shows on network affiliated television stations in Pittsburgh, rare for a market of this size.
Ratings from January-August in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age range for the 11:30 p.m. Sunday time period show “The Final Word” leading with a 1.1 rating, followed by the “Sports Showdown” at 0.9 and WTAE-TV’s extended news with a 0.7.
WPXI-TV news director Scott Trabandt said the addition of Benz will only strengthen ratings for the “The Final Word.”
“We are evolving the panel to include more of the most-respected members of the daily sports conversation in Western Pennsylvania. Tim Benz is certainly among them,” said Trabandt. “The sports world is about more than scores and highlights now more than ever, and we are excited to have Tim help us move the conversation forward.”
Benz said joining WPXI creates a better situation for him because there is more clarity as to when he is going to be on “The Final Word.”
“They want me to be on more often so it gives me a chance to branch out and further my brand and the Trib’s brand of coverage,” said Benz. “Also, there’s more audience interaction on ‘The Final Word’ in the sense that tweets are running the whole time and Alby or Jenna will engage us by what the viewers are saying. It’s a slick way of getting audience interaction into the show.”
In addition to his work for the Trib, Benz hosts the pregame coverage on the Steelers radio network and two shows per week as part of ESPN Pittsburgh’s Steelers coverage. He fills in on other iHeartRadio stations WDVE and 105.9 The X.
