Leaving WPXI in the Burgh
Mark Barash is retiring as director of programming after 31 years on the job at WPXI, but he wants everyone to know he isn’t leaving the workforce.
Barash has been at the station over 3 decades and was also the station manager for Pittsburgh Cable News Channel.
But his biggest claim to fame is that he hired Scott Jones back in the mid 90's. The hiring of Jones had to be the highlight of his career and let's be honest, he never hired a better person before or since.
“I have this yearning to go out and trust my entrepreneurial spirit and my work ethic,” Barash says.
“When you’re at the same place for 31 years, you’re going to repeat some things you’ve been doing over and over and over again, hopefully, because you’re doing them right, and they work,” he said.
“But after a while, some of those things can become a little tedious.”
Plus after Jones left, the Cox station just wasn't as fun as it used to be.
Barash says that after his final day at the end of this month, his next venture is likely to involve digital media: “The distribution of product, however it gets into your home, or into your phone or tablet, is here, and it is big. And it’s going to get bigger. There will be not only eyeballs tied to that, but also money.”
Take it from us Mark, we went digital 15 years ago and never looked back.