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.

Why haven’t I seen Jeff Verszyla on WTAE-TV lately? How come?

— John, via email

Rob: I reported on May 16 that Verszyla would be off the air for a few weeks while recovering from surgery to repair a tear to his right hamstring.

But then on May 18, Verszyla suffered a medical emergency that he recorded a video about and posted to his Facebook page on May 24.

After experiencing pain in his back that grew in intensity throughout the day on May 18, he was transported by ambulance from his home to a hospital, but the doctors there did not take his concerns seriously, declined to run tests (Verszyla wondered if it was a blood clot) and deemed his pain the result of a back spasm.

Verszyla returned home, slept upright on the couch and woke Sunday morning with the same pain in the same area. His wife drove him to a different medical facility May 19 and this time a new set of doctors ordered a battery of tests. The results: A pulmonary embolism — or blood clot — in his right lung.

Verszyla came home from the hospital May 20 and his situation slowly improved, though he acknowledged some anger toward the first medical facility.

“If I had not returned to the hospital on Sunday, things could have ended up much worse,” says an emotional Verszyla in the video he posted. “You are your best health advocate. You know your body. You know how you feel. You know what isn’t right so you need to pursue the answers that you feel are in your best interest.”

Q: Who are the new anchor/reporter Barry Pintar and meteorologist Carl Lam on KDKA-TV?

— Mark, via Facebook

Rob: I reported on May 16 that Pintar is a new freelancer working at KDKA-TV.

Turns out Lam is also a new freelancer, writing on X/Twitter on May 23, “Super excited to join @KDKA as a freelancer to help cover some vacations in the coming months!”

It’s not unusual these days for stations to hire freelancers to fill in during the summer and holidays, although it seems like KDKA does it more than others. The station remains down a meteorologist since the departure of Falicia Woody earlier this year.

Q: Why does “Nightly Sports Call” on KDKA+ have live readings from KDKA news anchors as a preview for the 11 p.m. news? The hosts on “Nightly Sports Call” always remind us that the 11 p.m. news follows. They don’t need to take away more time from a show that is only 25 minutes long to begin with.

— Nate, via email

Rob: That’s a news tease. It’s pretty standard in television that when going from one live show to another the show that’s ending will tease the upcoming show as a way to get viewers to stay tuned or, in this case, change the channel from KDKA+ to KDKA.

Q: Have you noticed on KDKA-TV that the voice of the person speaking is not in sync with the person’s lips? I’m watching over the air. It’s on the news, the “Pittsburgh Today Live” show and “Talk Pittsburgh.”

— Annemarie, via email

Rob: I also heard from someone in April who complained about issues with the WPKD-TV signal. I reached out to KDKA/WPKD and they checked on their end and the signal was going out clean. The best guess is that this is digital TV issue. The issues started in April just as there were new leaves on trees, which means there are now more obstacles to interfere with the TV signal before it reaches Annemarie’s home. That’s what likely caused the issue. You can always try re-scanning for channels but some channels may not show up again until leaves drop in the fall. This has been an issue in some locations since the transition from analog to digital TV in 2009.

Q: We live in the country and believe it or not still don’t have access to cable. We had DirecTV for many years but the cost was consistently going up. We decided in March to get Starlink Internet and drop both DirecTV and our HughesNet. When we recently found out that SNP now offers live streaming of the Pirates and Pens games — it was a no-brainer to get it. I feel like we’ve gotten the bait and switch. When registering, you must enter your zip code. They then tell you that you are eligible and charge you the monthly fee. However, when I tried to log in, it states I am out of the area. Come to find out that Starlink shows the location as New York although I’m only 20 miles west of Pittsburgh. I’ve been fighting with SNP because I’m sure I am not the only person who has Starlink subscribing to their service. I’ve provided SNP and their IP verifier (MaxMind) with information from Starlink stating where we live and that the location shown in the IP address is not always correct. But SNP hasn’t been helpful so far. I’m hoping it gets sorted out soon.

— John, Imperial

Rob: This is a Starlink error, not a SNP error, so there’s nothing SNP can do about it. SNP is bound by MLB rights restrictions and only able to provide SNP 360 to subscribers who have IP addresses within the SportsNet Pittsburgh territory. If an internet provider puts a viewer’s IP address outside of the territory, SNP 360 is unavailable.

The good news for John is that Starlink updated John’s IP address so he is now able to access SNP 360.

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