Pitts has always wanted to be a journalist. It was his goal, since he was 18 years old, to be a correspondent on the CBS show "60 Minutes". He interned at WTVD in Durham, North Carolina. After graduation, he bounced around to various television stations on the East Coast. During 1983–84, he reported and served as weekend sports anchor at WNCT-TV in Greenville, N.C. He was a military reporter for WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Virginia (1984–86) and a reporter for WESH-TV Orlando (1986–88). He moved across the Florida peninsula to Tampa to be a reporter and substitute anchor for WFLA-TV (1988–89). After a brief stint there, he moved to Boston as a special assignment reporter for WCVB-TV (1989–94). His last local job was as a general assignment reporter for WSB-TV in Atlanta, Georgia (1994–96).