TV Q&A: Did KDKA-TV's Royce Jones play for the Steelers?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: Someone told me Royce Jones on KDKA-TV once played for the Steelers. I don’t believe them. Is this a fact?

— Ralph, Greenburg

Rob: I was 99.999% sure Jones never played for the Steelers, but I sent him Ralph’s question, received by voicemail, so I could call Ralph to confirm his question was sincere, just to close the loop. And Jones responded in good humor.

“LOL this was quite the unexpected inquiry,” Jones wrote. “I have not heard this one yet. I can confirm that I have 110% NEVER played for the Steelers. But I am a quick learner and should the opportunity ever come knocking, I would be more than happy to give it my best effort. Perhaps mascot? Ha ha!”

Q: On Sept. 29, over-the-air Channel 61 seemed to have ceased transmitting program guide information, which was not complete for all sub-channels anyway. Will it return and will Channels 61 and 69 ever get their stuff together and transmit complete program guide information for all of their sub-channels?

— John, West View

Rob: My understanding is that low-power station WOSC pays a service to send program guide information that is embedded in its signal. According to station manager Ron Bruno, that company “apparently got beat pretty hard by the hurricane (Ian) and are scrambling for servers, connectivity, etc. It was up and working for a while (Oct. 3) and then went down again. Now it’s back up. So I think I just have to be patient and see if it stays working. All of our equipment is working just fine.”

Bruno notes programming guide information is a courtesy to viewers and is not required by the FCC rules governing low-power stations that include Channels 61 and 69.

Q: Is Missy Peregrym coming back to CBS’s “FBI”?

— Beth, McCandless

Rob: She is. Peregrym posted about her return from maternity leave earlier this year, stating that she would start filming new episodes in September. Her first episode back will air sometime in November.

Q: Do you know if they plan to repeat the “Party at the Palace,” a celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s birthday, anytime soon? Or where I can get a copy? Friends raved about it, and I forgot to watch it.

— Richard, Irwin

Rob: It appears this special aired on ABC earlier this year. One-off specials almost never repeat on broadcast networks, so a rebroadcast seems unlikely to happen; however, the special is still streaming on Hulu.

Q: I am a huge fan of true crime. I am baffled as to why the HLN channel continually runs repeats of the program “Forensic Files” throughout the day and night. Some of the episodes are 20 years old or more. Any ideas as to why?

— Sue, Greensburg

Rob: Because even though the episodes are old, true crime is such a popular genre right now (see: the success of that “Dahmer” series on Netflix) that people still watch, and “Forensic Files” draws a decent enough rating that HLN hasn’t found anything better to put in its place.