John Fedko is an American sportscaster

Sportscaster

In sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...

. He is a sports director and anchor for Channel 11 Pittsburgh (WPXI

WPXI

WPXI, channel 11, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Western Pennsylvania that is licensed to Pittsburgh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 48 from a transmitter located on the north side of Pittsburgh. Owned by Cox Enterprises, the station has studios in the...

). Fedko reports for Channel 11 News at 6 and 11 PM, and hosts The Fedko Fone Zone, a local sports call-in show on Pittsburgh Cable News Channel

Pittsburgh Cable News Channel

The Pittsburgh Cable News Channel is a 24-hour regional cable news television channel serving the Pittsburgh area with re-telecasts of WPXI newscasts...

 (PCNC).

Fedko was voted "Pittsburgh's favorite sportscaster" by Pittsburgh magazine. He is especially popular during high school football season. In 1995, he was the second-most recognizable personality in Pittsburgh, two percentage points behind KDKA-TV

KDKA-TV

KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....

's Patti Burns

Patti Burns

Patricia Jeanne Burns was an American journalist and news anchor.Burns was a familiar face to television audiences in Pittsburgh, where she worked for many years for KDKA, a station that her father, Bill Burns, was also a journalist and anchor for...

. Fedko's popularity has also brought criticism; some within the broadcasting community find his "goofy, self-aggrandizing shtick" "annoying".

Biography

Fedko was born in Lawton

Lawton, Oklahoma

The city of Lawton is the county seat of Comanche County, in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Located in the southwestern region of Oklahoma approximately southwest of Oklahoma City, it is the principal city of the Lawton Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 to John and Catherine Fedko. He has three sisters. The family moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 in 1972, where he attended Trinity High School

Trinity High School (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania)

Trinity High School is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic high school of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, located in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, west of Harrisburg. The school has 55 faculty members and an enrollment of about 640 students in grades 9 through 12. The school was twice...

 in Camp Hill

Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

Camp Hill is a borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 2 miles southwest of Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,636 at the 2000 census...

. In 1977, Fedko's family moved to Orange County

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and Fedko entered the University of California, Irvine

University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...

, but later transferred to University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

.

Broadcasting career

Fedko began creating home skits at the age of nine. In his early twenties, Fedko sought to become a celebrity by moving into television. Fedko became a TV weatherman and sportscaster in the Midland–Odessa metropolitan area

Midland–Odessa metropolitan area

The Midland–Odessa Combined Statistical Area is a Combined Statistical Area located in West Texas. It has two component areas – the Midland Metropolitan Statistical Area and Odessa Metropolitan Statistical Area . As of the 2009 U.S...

. When the sports director died, Fedko was promoted to sports director at the age of 23. Fedko next moved to Amarillo

Amarillo, Texas

Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, then Milwaukee, then finally to Pittsburgh.

Fedko announced his retirement from broadcasting in December 2010. He named Kenneth Phillabaum as his successor as host of the Fedko Fone Zone, but the show was canceled before Phillabaum could take over.

President of Vincentian Academy

On July 21, 2011, it was announced that Fedko had been appointed as the new president of Vincentian Academy

Vincentian Academy

Vincentian Academy is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.-Campus:...

, a four-year Catholic college preparatory school in McCandless

McCandless, Pennsylvania

McCandless is a municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 28,457 at the 2010 census. It was originally incorporated as a township; however, on January 1, 1975, McCandless Township adopted a new charter designating it a Home Rule Charter Municipality with the...

. A press release by the school noted that Fedko would be operating in the role of "Chief Communist", and principal Sr. Camille Panich noted that he would be working to "help generate even greater awareness of our academy."