- She is one of Pittsburgh's pioneer TV broadcasters.

- Hey look me over, lend me an ear.

Fresh out of clover up, mortgage up to here.

- But don't pass... During television's Golden Age Ricki Wertz sang and danced our way into the hearts of thousands of Western Pennsylvanians.

In the 1950s and sixties, she hosted and starred in dozens of TV commercials and programs, including Ricki and Copper and Junior High quiz.

- Good evening, I'm Ricki Wertz.

And tonight we go back to earlier days in Pittsburgh television.

Back when KDKA and WTAE had slightly different logos, - Ricki spent more than 40 years in tv, not just as an on air talent, but also behind the scenes creating groundbreaking documentaries like the Chemical People, which explored the ever-growing problem of drug and alcohol abuse among teenagers.

- This is one of our prize specimens.

We lost one limb from the snow and ice, but it's called a cyadopidus.

And, - But these days, Ricki's life is far away from the world of cameras and hard hitting documentaries.

A few years ago, she retired from WQED and now she spends most of her time with husband Tom Borden, another veteran of Golden Era tv.

The silly Time weather girl.

How did you get into there?

Remember that?

No, but I read a lot - And, and Be the Sexy Sealy Weather girl.

By night - I became the Sealy time girl and I just sang the weather and I'd sing whether it was Stormy weather or the snow outside.

I'd sing about tulips in the springtime, - But it wasn't long before Ricki, the Sealy weather girl was hosting an entirely different kind of program.

- Hi, how are you today?

- It was a great time to be in television.

And then I was doing that on the 11 o'clock news and I started Ricki and Copper.

So I was two different people.

I was for daddy and mommy at night and then I was for the kids in the morning with my dog, - I'm sorry, Copper.

But he does have grittier hair than you.

Copper gets - Ricki and Copper led children over the bridge for nine years.

During which time Ricky interviewed some 14,000 children.

- Yeah.

And boy, you look so sharp with your sport coat and all.

Tell everybody your name.

Patrick O'Donnell.

Are you Irish?

Woo.

I never would've guessed at Old Patrick O'Donnell.

And how - Old are you?

In the 1970s, Ricki moved from children's programming to programming for older kids.

She and director husband Tom Borden put together one of the longest running programs ever on local tv, junior high quiz.

- We signed it on as a public service show and the first show we did, Pittsburgh National Bank called up and said we wanna underwrite it.

And I suddenly became underwritten for 17 years with the bank.

It was the most wonderful.

And you talk about being blessed - And Ricki does feel blessed in so many ways.

Blessed to have had so many fruitful years in television.

And blessed have been able to create documentaries like The Chemical People, which grew out of her graduate thesis paper.

And which resulted in the formation of dozens of special task forces.

Did you ever know that so many individuals could meet, come up with those task force, all with different ideas of, of how to deal with the problem of adolescent teen drug abuse.

And then when the first lady got involved with it, Mrs. Reagan, it exploded and went nationwide.

- Well, that's because people are altruistic.

They will work on something when given the specific task within their timeframe and their ability to do it.

They will, they want to, they get great satisfaction from it.

But our society doesn't encourage that.

And that's where the television was so wonderful.

And that was public television.

That's where it belonged.

And so we began outreach in public television and it was wonderful.

- Exciting times.

Times all shared with her husband Tom and their two children, Kristen and Thomas Glen.

How did this thing with Tom come about?

You must have been attractive to a whole lot of people out there.

- I kind of didn't really do anything with 'em until one Easter.

I, I could never go home.

I had to stay here at school and stuff.

I was still in school and he picked me up to take me to a party.

And when he brought me home, he kissed me and I went up to my roommate and said, I met the man I'm gonna marry.

- I had to, you know, get her permission from her mother because like she was 19 years old, which I tended to forget because she was very mature for her age.

She was very talented.

- And I retired.

Tom said, what are we gonna do now?

Because he suddenly had me home and he was home five years without me home.

I said, we are going to take oil painting lessons.

I've always wanted to do oil painting and you're gonna come with me.

So I drag him.

He said, okay, I'll give you four lessons and that's it.

He was hooked after the second lesson.

He loves like you airplanes and he just does all the airplanes from his past.

I like to do animals and some landscapes and I've just started portraits.

So we have a great joy painting together.

Evergreen, you - Think would be more prickly?

- Prickly?

Yes.

And it's not at all.

And it's just like - During the warm days of spring and summer, you'll also find the couple in the garden of their home in north Huntington, Westmoreland County.

That's your property all the way down past the tree line.

Looks like you got places to sit all along here too.

- Gotta have a sit up on - A, sit up, a situp upon, is that what you call - It?

My wife.

My wife has to have a situp on in every location.

- Well, if I'm going to work at every level, I have to rest.

- And as summer approaches, Ricki and Tom prepare for another growing season.

Planting they say makes them happy.

- I'm not letting a day pass that I don't enjoy every minute of every day 'cause I may not get another one.

And you begin to realize that you're at that point in your life.

So don't put off tomorrow what you would like to do today.

Do it.

Have fun, laugh, embrace people.

He does hug.

Good.