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Pittsburgh Penguins Confidential, sometimes called Pens Confidential, was a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania based half-hour TV sports series that aired on various local stations throughout Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, and Northern West Virginia. Its main subject was the Pittsburgh Penguins, the National Hockey League franchise in Pittsburgh. The show ran from 1996 until 1999 and was hosted by Jake Ploeger and Jeanne Blackburn.
The first segment was always called the Starter Rewind, which showed highlights of the previous week's games.
Segment number two was known as Inside Hockey, and was always sponsored by Giant Eagle. This segment took viewers inside the game itself.
Another segment was called the BP Flashback, which took viewers on a time machine ride into the team's history.
Segments during the last part of each episode included Hockey Tips, where Penguins players and on-ice personnel taught some of the basics of the game to the viewers. The final segment was Viewer email, where Jake and Jeanne read emails sent by viewers to the players.
The show aired on various local stations around the tri-state area, and were aired on either a Saturday or a Sunday. The shows were even shown on the jumbotron at the Civic Arena before pre-game warmups at Penguins games.
A sampling of the stations that aired the show included WPXI in Pittsburgh, WYTV in Youngstown, Ohio, and WTOV in Steubenville, Ohio.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh. The Penguins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference, and have played their home games at PPG Paints Arena, originally known as Consol Energy Center, since 2010. The team previously played at the Civic Arena, which was also known as Mellon Arena from 1999 to 2010, and by its nickname "the Igloo". The Penguins are affiliated with two minor league teams – the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL.
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the Hockey Night in Canada brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its history in various platforms.
New England Sports Network, popularly known as NESN, is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by a joint venture of Fenway Sports Group and Delaware North. Headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, the network is primarily carried on cable providers throughout New England. NESN is also distributed nationally on satellite providers DirecTV and as NESN National via select cable providers.
NHL Network was a Canadian English language Category B specialty television channel broadcasting ice hockey programming. The channel's primary focus was on the National Hockey League (NHL), although it occasionally aired games from other leagues, such as minor league and international circuits, to fill its schedule.
WPNT is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with The CW and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Fox affiliate WPGH-TV. The two stations share studios on Ivory Avenue in the city's Summer Hill section, where WPNT's transmitter is also located.
KDKA-TV, also known as CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Jeannette-licensed WPKD-TV, an independent station. The two stations share studios at the Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh; KDKA-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Perry North neighborhood. KDKA-TV, along with sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia, are the only CBS-affiliated television stations east of the Mississippi River with "K" call signs.
WTAE-TV is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by Hearst Television since the station's inception, making this one of two stations that have been built and signed on by Hearst. WTAE-TV's studios are located on Ardmore Boulevard in the suburb of Wilkinsburg, and its transmitter is located in Buena Vista, Pennsylvania.
WPXI is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Cox Media Group. The station's offices and studios are located on Evergreen Road in the Summer Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Its transmitter is on Television Hill in the Fineview section of the city, at the site of the station's original studio location.
Dialing for Dollars was a franchised format local television program in the United States and Canada, popular from the 1950s to the early 1990s.
WXDX-FM is a commercial radio station that is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Known as 105.9 The X, it airs an alternative rock radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia. Its studios and offices are located on Abele Road in Bridgeville next to I-79. WXDX is the flagship radio station of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team.
WBGG is a commercial AM radio station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It carries a sports radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia Inc. Local sports hosts are heard weekdays from noon to 7 p.m. Other times, Fox Sports Radio programming is heard. The studios and offices are located in Green Tree. On January 3, 2024, it was announced the station will switch back to Fox Sports Radio with content contributed by the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The NHL on NBC is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States.
WLLF is a commercial radio station in Mercer, Pennsylvania, and serving the Youngstown metropolitan area. It has a sports radio format, much of it simulcast with co-owned WBBW 1240 AM, from the Infinity Sports Network. It is one of seven radio stations in the Youngstown market owned by Cumulus Media.
SportsNet Pittsburgh is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is operated by sister network NESN through common ownership with Fenway Sports Group. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the channel broadcasts local coverage of sports events throughout Greater Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania. It is the exclusive home of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The 2009 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2008–09 season, and the culmination of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested between the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins and the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings. It was Detroit's 24th appearance in the Finals and Pittsburgh's fourth appearance in the Finals. This was a rematch of the previous year's Stanley Cup Finals where Detroit had defeated Pittsburgh in six games. This time, Pittsburgh defeated Detroit in seven games to win their third Stanley Cup in franchise history. Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin would win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2009 playoffs, becoming the first Russian-born player to win the trophy. Until 2021, this was the last time the finals were played entirely in the Eastern Time Zone.
The National Hockey League has never fared as well on American television in comparison to the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, or the National Football League, although that has begun to change, with NBC's broadcasts of the final games of the 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013 Stanley Cup Finals scoring some of the best ratings ever enjoyed by the sport on American television.
Hockey Weekend Across America is an annual event devised by USA Hockey to promote the game of ice hockey in the United States. The weekend is capped by "Hockey Day in America", with broadcasts of National Hockey League games on the national networks of NBC (2011–2021) and TNT (2024–present).
The 2014 NHL Stadium Series was a series of four outdoor regular season National Hockey League (NHL) games played during the 2013–14 season. It was the inaugural season of the NHL Stadium Series and these events are distinct from the NHL Winter Classic and NHL Heritage Classic outdoor games. The Stadium Series games consisted of: the Los Angeles Kings against the Anaheim Ducks at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on January 25, 2014; the New Jersey Devils against the New York Rangers at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx of New York City on January 26; the New York Islanders against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium on January 29; and the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Chicago Blackhawks at Soldier Field in Chicago on March 1, 2014.
From 1965 through 1975, in addition to the Saturday night game on CBC, Hockey Night in Canada also produced and broadcast a Wednesday night game on CTV, CBC's privately owned competitor; beginning in the 1975–76 NHL season, these midweek games began to broadcast by local stations. In 1970–71, the Vancouver Canucks joined the NHL, meaning that there were now three possible venues for an HNIC telecast.
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