KDKA radio's Cigna dies at 75

John Cigna loved having fun and, as he often put it, "yanking people's chains."

C. John Cigna, a Shaler resident and longtime KDKA radio host whose spaghetti breakfasts became as much a Pittsburgh legend as his April Fool's Day broadcasts about spaceships landing in North Park and alligators roaming the city sewers, died on Friday. He was 75.

Cigna had been suffering from emphysema and the effects of a stroke. His four sons were at his bedside when he died at the Vincentian Home in McCandless.

"What I remember most about John is that he was full of life. He loved to be on the air, he loved to entertain, he loved to have fun and, as he put it, 'yank people's chains,' " said Michael Young, CBS Radio senior vice president and Pittsburgh Market manager. "For three decades on the air, people laughed at him, probably yelled at him, and appreciated the information he gave them."

Both Young and KDKA radio talk show host Mike Pintek called Cigna "an icon. A Pittsburgh icon."

"John was a legend. It's kinda like the end of an era of broadcasting in Pittsburgh," Pintek said.

Cigna's son Tony said simply: "Dad really loves Pittsburgh. We came here in '69 and found a home. It's been a wonderful ride."

Pintek called Cigna a "master" of the airwaves.

"Radio's an intimate medium. When you are on the radio, it's one person talking to you personally in your living room or your car. That was what John mastered. He was able to communicate and connect with you as an individual. He was a genuine human being and a nice guy at heart, an entertainer and a listener's friend," Pintek said.

Longtime Pittsburgh broadcaster Bill Cardille agreed, saying, "John was always very personable, very friendly and down to earth, an easygoing guy."

Those who knew him best said that Cigna died of a broken heart.

"My mom (Patricia) passed away in January. They were married for 53 years and lived their lives for each other. He wanted to be with her," Tony Cigna said.

Cigna was a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., who worked at a number of radio stations before moving to Pittsburgh.

"It was kinda funny. Each time they moved, my mom was pregnant. I was born in Marietta, Ohio, and then we moved to Ashland, Ohio, where my brother John was born," Tony Cigna said.

"Dad worked for seven years as a disc jockey on WOWO in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he did the 'Johnny Cigna Show' and had a thing called the 'Cigna Six Pack' where they would make the noise of an opening can and play the top six songs of the night."

Cigna came to Pittsburgh to work at WJAS and moved to KDKA on March 11, 1973, as the 9 p.m.-to-midnight talk show host.

"He got fed up with politicians and their cluelessness and deception and got the idea of a Tea Party thing he called the Red Ribbon Campaign," Pintek said. "Everywhere you went, people had red ribbons tied to their doors and car antennas."

The "Cigna and the K-Team" morning show was started in July 1983 and remained popular in that time slot until his retirement in December 2001, Young said.

Cigna remained active at the station, doing promotional work and what Young calls "the infamous" free spaghetti breakfasts that are open to the public.

"He had this silly idea 25, 26 years ago: 'Let's do remote broadcasts.' It was a silly idea from a man full of life, full of silly ideas," Young said. "It was just an event to have fun. It serves five or six thousand people every year."

Cigna, a longtime motorcycle enthusiast and rider, survived a serious crash in 1999 and served as honorary chairman of the March of Dimes Ride America motorcycle event for several years. He was an avid supporter of the Little Sisters of the Poor.

He is survived by two other sons, Mike and Chris, and several grandchildren.