served as Willie's comedy foil) in between the cartoons. The show had been previously hosted by a character called "Captain Jim", who had hosted one of WIIC's best-remembered children's programs: Cap'n Jim's Popeye Club, built around Popeye cartoons. The Captain was briefly played at the beginning by the little-known Jim Saunders, and from 1959 on by Ted Eckman. The station also aired a local version of The Mickey Mouse Club during the 1960s, which was hosted by By Williams. Current A Star Spangled Salute - Annual coverage of Pittsburgh's 4th of July fireworks ceremony launched to the west from Ohio River barges, sponsored by the City of Pittsburgh, with a soundtrack compiled by KDKA (AM). The Black and Gold Zone - extended Steelers coverage during NFL season The Jerome Bettis Show (July 25, 2006–present) The Final Word - sports talk show (2018–present) Past/former WPXI Holiday Parade (1980–2019) Chiller Theater (1963–1983) Studio Wrestling (1959–1973) Pittsburgh Pirates baseball (1995–1996) MDA Labor Day Telethon 11 on the Ice – Pittsburgh Penguins extended coverage Sports programming In 1970, when the Pittsburgh Steelers moved to the American Football Conference after the AFL-NFL merger, channel 11 became the station of record for the team (as NBC held the broadcast rights to AFC games then); this partnership continued through 1997 (after that season, CBS took over the AFC broadcast rights, and most games moved to CBS O&O KDKA-TV; channel 2 had previously served as the default home station from 1962 to 1969). Even though it aired most of the games from the Steelers' glory years of the 1970s—typically the highest-rated television programs in the market during that time—channel 11 stayed in the ratings basement. Today, Steelers games are shown on WPXI when they are featured on NBC's Sunday Night Football; in addition, the station has aired three of its Super Bowl victories (IX, XIII and XLIII) and its appearance in Super Bowl XXX. Channel 11 also aired most Pittsburgh Pirates games that were part of NBC's Major League Baseball broadcast contract from its sign-on until 1989; this included the team's 1960 and 1971 World Series victories. In addition, WPXI served as the secondary station for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they had carried games that were part of NBC's National Hockey League broadcast contract from the 2005–06 NHL season to the 2020–21 season; this included the team's 2009, 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup championship victories. Syndicated programming Since