Jon Delano
Jon Delano is a familiar face on KDKA, having been the station's political analyst for 30 years since 1994.
In September 2001, Jon joined KDKA full-time as the Money & Politics Editor and this region's only political analyst who covers national and local issues that affect hometown residents.
Jon also produces the Sunday Business Page segments for KDKA's weekend news and was co-host of the KD/PG Sunday Edition, a weekly public affairs program. In 2024, Jon is hosting a new program called "Inside PA Politics" which features a rotation of four young political activists with Jon to discuss political issues.
Jon is recognized for his ability to analyze complex issues and make them understandable to any audience. He has worked in both government and the private business world, practiced law, reported on both radio and television, and has taught at the graduate level.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Jon is the only local television reporter who has had one-on-one interviews with both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. He has also interviewed a number of senior campaign officials in both parties.
During the 2020 presidential campaign, Jon had four one-on-one interviews with President Joe Biden and was the first local TV reporter to interview former President Donald Trump one-on-one. He also interviewed former Vice President Pence, members of the Trump family, and many other Democratic and Republican officials including most of the Democratic presidential candidates.
More recently, Jon has had one-on-one interviews with former President Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris and members of the President's Cabinet, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Jon's on-air work began in 1991 after fourteen years working in the US Congress as chief of staff to a Pennsylvania congressman. In 1994, he became the political analyst for KDKA-TV and reported from both the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions in 1996, 2000, 2004, and 2016. In 2008, he was the first TV reporter in the state to interview Barack Obama and had six interviews with him that year, along with John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Sarah Palin.
In 2011, Jon became the first Pennsylvania television reporter to interview President Obama in the White House, which he did a second time in 2012. During the 2012 campaign, he also interviewed First Lady Michelle Obama, Gov. Mitt Romney, Ann Romney, Cong. Paul Ryan and Dr. Jill Biden.
During the 2016 campaign, Jon was the first local TV reporter to interview Hillary Clinton after she won the Democratic nomination and had several interviews with Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence. After the election, Jon interviewed President Trump during one of his visits to Pittsburgh. He was also invited to the White House to interview members of President Trump's Cabinet and senior staff, and he was the only local TV journalist invited to join the President's motorcade to cover his visit to the Tree of Life Synagogue.
Jon has won numerous awards for his work.
Jon has won the Edward R. Murrow Award for the best "hard news" story in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. He also won the Small Business Journalist Champion of the Year award from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the "Good Government Award" from the Greater Pittsburgh League of Women Voters, two Golden Quill Awards, two Robert Vann awards from the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation, and the Clarity Award for the Pennsylvania Bar Association for being a lawyer who can write in plain English.
After 25 years of teaching graduate students, Jon recently retired as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz College of Information Systems & Public Policy where he taught courses on media and public policy, money and politics, and public policy implementation.
Active in his church, Jon also volunteers for several community organizations. He often moderates and facilitates seminars, candidate debates and programs and speaks on governmental and political issues to civic, business and labor groups.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Haverford College and University of Pennsylvania Law School, Jon and his wife Jane live in Mt. Lebanon two blocks from where Jon grew up. They have two grown children.
