Porky Was The Platter Pushin' Papamonium

During the 1960s Porky Chedwick hosted concerts at Homestead's Leona Theatre and DJ'd dances at the Savoy Ballroom in the Hill, the Linden Groove, and at other venues around Western, Pa. Since the late 1940s Porky hosted over 7,000 sock hops and dances.

"The Porky Chedwick Groove Spectacular" was held on May 11, 1962, at the brand new  Pittsburgh Civic Arena.  More than 13,000 turned out to see headliner Jackie Wilson and 21 other acts in the day long show including Bo Diddley, The Flamingos, The Marvellettes, The Five Satins, Jerry Butler, Ketty Lester, Johnny Jack, The Skyliners, Patti LaBelle and the BlueBelles, The Castells, Bobby Vinton, The Drifters, and The Debonaires.

Porky was also known for his raps such as:

"I'm not a Spaniard. I'm not from Spain. I'm Pork the Tork and I'll fry your brain. I've got more lines than Bell telephone. I've got more jams than Smuckers. I've got more moves than Allied Vans.'' 

To promote the movie “Birdman of Alctraz” the Stanley invited popular radio DJ Porky Chedwick to do a live broadcast outside under the marquee of the Stanley on a summer day in 1961. Within an hour from the start of the broadcast 10,000 people were tightly crowded in front of the Stanley on Seventh and Penn Avenues. More and more people were streaming into town to see Porky. The parkway and downtown streets turned into a parking lot with bumper to bumper traffic. Hundreds of kids stuck on buses on the North side got off to walk to down. . The bridges from the North side to downtown were clogged with Porky’s fans. Pittsburgh was frozen in “Porky-mania” grid-lock. Pittsburgh Mayor Joe Bar came down from his office on Grant Street to personally ask Porky to stop the broadcast so that the police could unclog the massive traffic jam. The police estimated that they directed 50,000 people away from the Stanley to clear the Porky clogged arteries of Pittsburgh.



Porky was on the air at WAMO for 24 years until 1972 when he moved to KQV for a weekend show.  He returned to WAMO staying there until 1984.  He was on the air at WNRZ from 1985 to 1986. Porky returned to WAMO in 1996 after a 10 year retirement. Porky worked on WWSW in 1998 and moved to WLSW in 2000. At the age of 88 in 2006 he appeared on WFKB. After retiring to Sarasota Florida area in 2008, Porky returned to Pittsburgh in 2011. He launched another show on Sept. 2, 2011 airing from 11 a.m. to noon on Fridays on WEDO. He most recently heard on internet radio.