Philadelphia loses one of its great on-air personalities and trusted reporters. Local news isn't the same without talent such as Edie Huggins, and others of her generation who represented the best of what broadcast journalism has to offer. Seeing familiar faces such as hers is what kept me checking in on the news, even if it was for the small segments she would do on various local and national events and interests, such as this http://video.aol.com/video-detail/th...ers/3090698728.
I also remember NBC-10 airing a show in the morning a couple of years ago, "Out Of The Vault", which showcased many of their flashbacks and beloved local specials. One that stuck out was a segment from the early '70's showing Edie modeling formal evening ball gowns, and indeed she was " devastatingly beautiful" as Bill Baldini expressed in the article below. She also had a wonderful speaking voice. Edie will be surely missed.


Edie Huggins, beloved WCAU broadcaster, dies

By Sam Wood and Michael Klein
INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
Edie Huggins, a trailblazing reporter who became one of Philadelphia's most beloved broadcasters, died this morning after a lengthy illness. Huggins, 72, was the first African-American woman to report on television in Philadelphia. She began her career as a broadcaster in 1966 as a features reporter on The Big News Team with John Facenda on WCAU-TV.
Her 42-year career at the station, now known as NBC10, included stints as anchor and presenter of numerous investigative series, said station spokeswoman Eva Blackwell.
"I remember being a communications student at Temple and watching Channel 10 when John Facenda brought her on. He always called her Edith," said Gerry Wilkinson, who heads the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia.
Younger reporters at the station called her "Miss Edie."
"I remember thinking this lady really has class. She's going to make it in this town," Wilkinson said. "Some people in this business are fake. Edie was real."
In the early 1970s Huggins co-hosted "What's Happening," a midday news program with Herb Clark.
Most recently, she created "Huggins' Hero," a weekly segment that profiled ordinary people who had done extraordinary deeds.
"She was an icon," said Beverly Williams, the former KYW news anchor. "Edie was the nicest person. She was genuine. I'm devastated. I really am."
Bill Baldini, who retired last year from NBC10, remembered her not only as a "great lady" but as a "groundbreaker, as an African American woman in television."
"She was devastatingly beautiful with a sense of fairness," Baldini said. "She had that Midwestern value system that was really delightful."
A native of St. Joseph, Mo., Huggins worked as a registered nurse before launching her broadcast career.
She was hired as a consultant for the NBC soap opera "The Doctors" which led to acting parts on the daytime drama.
She is survived by two adult children, Hastings Edward and Laurie Linn.
A memorial service is scheduled for next Wednesday at the Bright Hope Baptist Church.

View a stunning slideshow: http://www.nbc10.com/slideshow/stati...05/detail.html

__________________

This was a Tomorrow vs. Yesterday election, and in America,
Tomorrow usually wins such contests.
m.s.e.


what I read a female would do to any trollop if they try to carouse with our new President:
"Proverbs 26:3
A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools!"
ouch.

A great lady and I mean that in every sense of the word. She will be missed.

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"My concern has been the atrocities there in Darfur and the relevance to me with that issue as we spoke about Africa and some of the countries there that were kind of the people succumbing to the dictators and the corruption of some collapsed governments on the continent, the relevance was Alaska’s investment in Darfur with some of our permanent fund dollars."

Sarah Palin

I think Trudy Haines was the first black woman on TV in Philadelphia, starting about a year before Edie, but I could be wrong.
Edie was a "lady" in the true sense of the word, very gracious and classy.

The real tragedy just another person dying before they should. She didn't have enough time in her final years to enjoy her retirement and time she should have left. Just one person after another I claim is because coal pollution and other pollution killing people much sooner at least health wise and I think it can be proven. But hey if people want to get sick and count the corpses and don't want to compare illness or chances for illness then so be it.

So sad...she was truly a history maker. I grew up with her daughter Laurie and I knew "Ms. Edie" in her heyday...She used to take Laurie and I on news shoots. She was glamorous, stylish and intelligent & and an excellent journalist. She paved the road for many women of all nationalities to follow in the news business.

One of the most fun visits I had was when she took Laurie and I to Channel 10 to meet Gene London (remember him?)...I got to see the magical Golden Fleece in person...how wild is that? Those were the days when there was real creative programming in the local market.

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Go Green!...support handmade artisans!
http://www.pinkcloud.etsy.com

I actually saw her once not long ago shopping at Costco and when some people stopped to say they liked her work, she took the time to talk to all of them. Seemed like a very nice lady.

Also the birthplace of Walter Cronkite. It's 50 miles NW of Kansas City.

Seems the best ones all come from the Heartland.

She will be missed greatly.

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Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia
"Jazz and blogging are both intimate, improvisational, and individual -- but also inherently collective. And the audience talks over both." --Andrew Sullivan, "Why I Blog," The Atlantic, November 2008

A very respected lady. A good reporter, she will be sorely missed.
I propose Council rename Broad St....... Edie Huggins Highway.

I think that I recall Huggins.

I do recall Orien Reid.