PITTSBURGH — Shelby Cassesse was exposed to the news media at a young age.

Age 8, to be exact.

“I was on the cover of the Butler Eagle in 2000, going down a slide at Alameda Park,” the KDKA Radio personality said with a chuckle. “Hey, front-page stuff.”

Her career is becoming front-page worthy.

Now 28, the Butler native has embarked upon her own sports talk show on 93.7 The Fan. The show debuted May 30 and will air every other Sunday from 7 to 9 a.m.

Cassesse is one of a few women to be a solo host on a radio sports talk show in the Pittsburgh market.

“I absolutely appreciate the significance of that,” she said. “This is definitely a rarity in this market.

“But I don't want to be known for hosting a talk show because I'm a woman. I want to be known for hosting a good show, a quality product that can stand on its own.”

While Cassesse's family moved to Illinois when she was in fourth grade — her father being transferred there — her love for sports developed in Butler.

She recalls playing basketball at the Butler YMCA and playing T-ball as a youth.

“My parents saw my interest in sports at a young age. They encouraged it and supported it,” Cassesse said. “My dad took me to games at Three Rivers Stadium, Mellon Arena ... I never stopped being a Pittsburgh sports fan.”

While in high school in Illinois, she wrote for the school newspaper and covered football games on Friday nights.

Cassesse described her career goal as a no-brainer.

“I always had trouble with math and science. My skills were in writing,” she said. “Combine that with my love of sports, and sports journalism was a natural goal for me.”

She returned to the Pittsburgh area and attended Duquesne University, where she earned a degree in journalism. She then worked for a small radio station in Bridgeport, W.Va., for two years.

Covering high school and Division II college football — while doing community-minded sports reporting in Bridgeport — set the stage for the kind of sports talk show she wants to host on The Fan.

“You have to talk Steelers, Pirates and Penguins in this town, that just comes with the territory,” Cassesse said. “But I also want to report on and talk about more community-oriented stuff. Who's doing what out there?

“There's a lot of positive, inspiring accomplishments going on around our town that are rarely publicized. I want to shed some light on those things, showcase some of those people and teams.

“There are some outstanding college teams out there. Pitt volleyball made the Elite Eight. Other than a mention, not much was done on them. I feel like I have a platform to shed more light on those stories,” she added.

Cassesse broke in with The Fan by interning there. She got to know Jeff Hathhorn, the station's sports director, and befriended Josh Taylor, a part-time talk show host on the station and a fellow Duquesne alumnus.

“Both of those guys have helped me a great deal,” she said.

After a brief stint as a news reporter for KDKA-TV, Cassesse has settled into a daylight job with KDKA Radio as a news reporter. She works Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

She considers the Sunday morning sports gig icing on the cake — for now.

“My goal is to get back into sports full time in Pittsburgh,” Cassesse said. “Going back and forth between news and sports can be tricky.

“Andrew Stockey (WTAE TV) has been doing that for a long time now and is so smooth at it. I've picked his brain. I want to sharpen my skills.”

She is doing so by making history as a woman sports talk show host.

“Set a goal and go after it,” Cassesse declared. “Anybody can do anything.

“My show will be on sporadically at first as I do have some personal weekend commitments. But I'm going to settle in on Sunday mornings, enjoy that show, learn from it and grow from it.”

Cassesse is proud to call herself a Pittsburgh girl.

“This is where I want to stay,” she said.