We honor Trudy Haynes
Long-time television newswoman and personality, Trudy Haynes is the first person the SCOOP USA Medias Newspaper is paying tribute to as an “Unsung Sheroe” from our community. Because of this recognition, Ms. Haynes, the first African American woman to obtain an on-air job working in a television newsroom in Philadelphia, will be presented with a plaque by SCOOP Publisher Sherri Darden. The plaque reads as follows:
Appreciation Award: SCOOP USA Community Award presented to Trudy Haynes. You are an inspiration, and we thank you for your spirit, ambition, dedication, and loyalty to our community, September 2021.
For those of you too young to remember all the tremendous work Trudy Haynes did in Philadelphia, not only in front of the camera but behind the scenes to uplift people in our community, here’s an overview of her story.
In 1963 she became the first black woman in the United States to broadcast the weather on television when she was hired by WXYZ-TV, the ABC affiliate in Detroit. Two years later, she became the first African American to report the news on a television station: KYW-TV, the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, where she enjoyed a career that lasted 33 years.
Haynes started out in Philadelphia as a news reporter and weatherperson. Her beat was local politics, and she covered City Hall developments and school board meetings. Her interviewees ranged from national figures (Martin Luther King, Jr., Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Jimmy Hoffa) to Philadelphia mayors and Pennsylvania governors. Later on, she began interviewing show business personalities. She retired from KYW-TV in 1998.
Since her retirement, Haynes says she’s greeted fondly on the street or anyplace she goes. “People come over to me to say, you know, they miss me and wish I still was around and that they like what I did. And I think that’s important to a person.”
Retirement did not mean the end of a career for Trudy Haynes. After turning in her microphone over at CBS-3 TV, Haynes has remained active in the Philadelphia media world. Working on a freelance basis, she has appeared on various local television shows, including WPHL-TV’s Philly Connection, PAX-TV’s The Good News, and Comcast Cable’s Let’s Talk About It and Trudy Haynes Discovers Delaware. She established a production company, First Run Film/Video, which generates her show segments. Despite her status as a mainstream media personality, she became an active member of the Philadelphia Community Access Coalition, a lobbying group whose mission is to create public-access cable channels in the Philadelphia area. Currently, she still hosts a show on the local Philadelphia public access channel called, “Trudy and Friends.”
At the ripe age of 94, Trudy Haynes is still kicking. We salute Trudy Haynes, as the first in a series of Heroes and Sheroes we’ll be celebrating in the SCOOP USA Newspaper, monthly.
