R.I.P.: Pittsburgh Radio-TV Personality Bill Cardille

Bill Cardille

William Robert Cardille odied Thursday morning at 87 after a lifetime spent as an iconic Pittsburgh television and radio show host adored by family, friends, colleagues and fans.

The Tribune-Review reports while hosting the hugely popular and long-running “Chiller Theater” on WIIC-Channel 11 (now WPXI), Mr. Cardille embraced the “Chilly Billy” moniker.

But the nickname was misleading in a way, said Rogal, who described his father-in-law as the “warmest guy” he'd ever met.

“I think of him more as just a humanist than an entertainer,” he said. “He liked people. He liked being around them and making them feel good.”

Mr. Cardille grew up in Sharon and hosted his first live radio show while a student at what is now Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The lure of the new field of television led him to quit school in 1952 against his parents' advice and begin working at WICU in Erie, as an announcer-director. He later returned to radio as a DJ on Pittsburgh stations, while doing television, concluding his career with WJAS 1320 AM in 2015 when the station was sold.

Mr. Cardille's voice was the first people heard on air when WIIC-Channel 11 signed on in September 1957, WPXI general manager Ray Carter said.

On “Chiller Theater,” which aired Saturdays from 1964 to 1983, he won the collective hearts of Pittsburghers with the tongue-in-cheek manner in which he surrounded himself with fictitious monsters, beasts and other oddities.

Carter said Mr. Cardille's transition from “Studio Wrestling” to “Chiller Theater” underscored his ability to reinvent himself with great success throughout his career. The show was so popular that Channel 11 became one of the last NBC affiliates to air “Saturday Night Live” live. For years, the station delayed the comedy show until 1 a.m., after “Chiller Theater” ended, Carter said.