Beloved Pittsburgh TV, radio personality Bill Cardille dies
Jim Rogal grew up watching “Chilly Billy” Cardille every week on television, long before he met and married the man's daughter, Lori Cardille.
But it wasn't until joining the Cardille family that Rogal truly understood why Mr. Cardille was so popular with so many fans.
“I came to learn that Bill was loved for a reason,” Rogal said. “He was an incredibly kind, sweet, genuine man, and he had this remarkable enthusiasm for life. People felt it. They even felt it through the screen.”
William Robert Cardille of McCandless died Thursday morning at 87 after a lifetime spent as an iconic Pittsburgh television and radio show host adored by family, friends, colleagues and fans.
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, where he played basketball and tennis. 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 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.
From there, he did everything at the station, both in front of and behind the camera, all while demonstrating an incredible ability to harness the new medium in inventive and effective ways.
“He was a terrific mind that was ahead of his time,” Carter said. “He took advantage of this intimate piece of technology that was in our homes and brought us together and connected us.
“He figured out that he could use that technology to create something special, and what was special was his 50-year bond with the population. How extraordinary.”
Mr. Cardille hosted the popular live “Studio Wrestling” Saturday nights on Channel 11 starting in 1961.
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.
Mr. Cardille was also involved with cult-classic film director George Romero's Pittsburgh movies. He portrayed a newsman in the original “Night of the Living Dead,” as well as in the 1990 remake.
Lori Cardille starred in Romero's “Day of the Dead,” and son Billy Cardille was a zombie roaming the Monroeville Mall in “Dawn of the Dead.”
Following his 2015 retirement, Mr. Cardille was diagnosed with liver cancer.
He received a fresh reminder of the love and respect he earned in his career when his daughter posted a Facebook message June 25 telling fans about his cancer diagnosis and asking them to send him cards.
By July 6, several thousand cards, two sacks of mail a day, were arriving from around the world.
“They were all variations on the same theme, that he had enhanced their lives by his presence on television,” Rogal said.
Lori Cardille said her father died about 1:15 a.m. in his home, surrounded by family.
“He felt at peace and that he had a great life,” she said. “He was very content.”
A public Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Monday at 10 a.m. at Saint Paul Cathedral in Oakland. Donations in lieu of flowers should be made to the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Pittsburgh office at 400 Penn Center Boulevard.
Michael Walton is a Tribune-Review staff writer. He can be reached at 412-380-5627 or mwalton@tribweb.com.
