For what it’s worth, Google’s AI assistant thinks it’s highly unlikely Pittsburgh classic rock station WDVE has ever played “The Sign.”
The earworm from Ace of Base, the Swedish pop group that invaded American airwaves as an antidote for grunge in 1993, would have been a fitting electric lunch request Thursday for anyone driving the Parkway West past what drive time personality Chad Tyson calls “the gold flash cube” — the former Green Tree homebase of the radio station that provides the soundtrack for yinzers of a certain age.
Perhaps the workers played Black Sabbath’s “Sign of the Southern Cross” as they removed the sign. Or “Signs” by the Five Man Electrical Band.
End of an era in #Pittsburgh! The ride on the Parkway will never be the same (unless the sun is setting). @DVERADIO pic.twitter.com/rVPVpELYs8
— Chad Tyson (@chadtyson) September 4, 2025
WDVE’s studios moved to South Fayette in 2021, but the sign remained until this week.
(Full disclosure, I thought the sign was missing last week when I drove by, but my eyes deceived me.)
Those waiting on Green Tree hill on the inbound Parkway could study the building, a landmark of the city’s border with the South Hills.
It’s part of the Jacob Center office complex at 200 Fleet Street. The gold clad high rise glows in the sun and the WDVE sign had been part of the viewing experience during waits that can seem to take forever as people check their brakes before tunnelling beneath Mt. Washington.
Sean McDowell, another of the WDVE stalwarts, mentioned in an older post the evolutions of another Pittsburgh landmark — the billboard on the north face of the mount.
I "seen" where they took dahn the
Iron City Beer sign on
Mt. Warshington.The big condo tower on Grandview Ave/The Trimont,
That's where the 97 Rock Studios were.
I worked there before WDVE,
1988-'93.If you're my age (OLD),
You remember the Alcoa & Bayer signs on Grandview! pic.twitter.com/ULROo1VRnS— Sean Mcdowell (@dvesean) January 15, 2025
As with anything that changes in Pittsburgh (or anywhere else, really), we’ll always have the memories.
