(mellow music) - [King Friday] Of course I'm very busy, Josephine.

- You made your point sufficiently clear.

- [Ricki] And I started "Ricki & Copper."

- And I guess what I'm measuring my life by are the women that have followed me.

- Did you have any idea what you were starting that afternoon when you said you were too tired to move to another seat on the bus?

- [Narrator] From groundbreaking interviews to a long awaited seat at the anchor desk, from the early days of educational TV to those first steps in children's entertainment.

- Hi, how are you today?

It was a great time to be in television.

- [Narrator] These women open doors in Pittsburgh and across the country, but it wasn't easy in an industry run by men.

- They said, you know, "We are really hesitating because women are not dependable."

- [Narrator] From the WQED archives, profiles of four women in broadcasting who made a difference.

- Is that worth getting out of bed in the morning?

Absolutely.

- [Narrator] Lynne Hayes-Freeland, Eleanor Schano, Ricki Wertz.

- Television was so wonderful.

- [Narrator] And Josie Carey.

- People still remember me.

It makes me wanna cry.

(mellow music) - [Narrator] Once upon a time, a young woman with a lot of big dreams met a young public television station with a lot of big dreams.

♪ Why, hi, how do you do ♪ ♪ Why hi, I'm Josie ♪ ♪ Why hi, how do you do ♪ - [Narrator] The young woman was Josie Carey.

The young public television station was WQED and the result of this happy union was "The Children's Corner," one of the very first programs on our air.

- Who are you?

- [Ticker] I'm Ticker, the magic elf.

- Oh, hello.

How are you?

- You'd be surprised how many letters I've gotten over the years from people who said they became what they are because of "Children's Corner."

One man is a French professor because he liked listening to Grandpere.

Some people went into music, many, many became teachers.

How often do you get to see a horse drawn hay wagon?

- Very rare, so if you believe in that, you don't get many wishes.

- No, I guess not.

- [Interviewer] Each person was doing a million things.

- There were two of us doing it all actually, Fred and I.

- [Narrator] That's Fred, as in Fred Rogers.

Josie struck up a conversation with Fred when she arrived at WQED and says the two of them clicked.

Josie says, some of her favorite parts of "The Children's Corner" were the skits she and Fred improvised.

- [King Friday] Please, Josie, this bothers me.

Thank you.

- You don't like to do this?

- [King Friday] Me?

No, no, thank you very much.

- We talk.

He would try to make me laugh.

One time, King Friday came up with a dictionary and he said, "All right, Josephine, if you are really royal, you will tell me," and he set the dictionary down, which was hard for him to do because he was a puppet, you know, "And you will tell me what word I am thinking of this minute."

- (indistinct) - [Narrator] Josie loved the freedom she had creating educational content for "The Children's Corner," from cooking to Morse Code to music and French, Josie, along with Fred's band of puppets, virtually invented the template for high quality children's programming.

- I'm very busy.

Of course, I'm very busy, Josephine.

- You made your point sufficiently clear.

- [Narrator] They also catered to kids' sweet and silly sides with features like "The Attic," a twice weekly soap opera where furniture talked and lampposts married light fixtures.

- Already connect something but I thought... - This was the first time Fred used some of his inspirational talent.

He was the minister and he married Lawrence Light and Lydia Lamps, so it was a big day.

We made the papers and oh, the children came and we served cucumber sandwiches.

You know, we just could do almost anything we wanted.

It was a wonderful show.

It was an hour a day, and I think the children felt that if they didn't like what they were seeing, wait, five minutes and you'll see something else.

- Jo, what do you wish on?

- Oh, my favorite to wish on is a star - [Narrator] For a woman who admits that she always wanted to be Judy Garland growing up, Josie Carey simply loved the joy of performing on "Children's Corner."

Some of Josie's magic was described by Fred Rogers in this interview taped more than a decade ago, back in 1993.

- [Fred] Josie would look into those puppet's eyes, believe that they were real, and just talk with them from her heart.

♪ And when the rain is over ♪ ♪ Find a rainbow ♪ - I think it was the whimsy that there are certain things that you learn in collaboration with somebody else that you learn can be really fun.

I mean we must have been like two kids playing in the studio.. - Daniel, you know Daniel, don't you?

Daniel the striped tiger who lives in a clock in a tree.

(knuckles rapping) - [Interviewer] It sounded like you two had a lot of fun.

Did you know you were on the brink of something really, really important?

- Yes, we did.

We had a feeling that we used to think we were going to the network and we used to sing a little song in the office.

♪ ABC, CBS, NBC and DuMont ♪ We were calling to the networks.

- [Announcer] National Educational Television presents "The Children's Corner" with Josie Carey produced by the... - [Narrator] In fact, the Network did call.

NBC aired 26 Saturday morning episodes of "The Children's Corner."

- It was probably the best use of television.

The way television we thought was supposed to be.

Everything was good, wholesome, fun, and what we did was open windows.

You know, like the song from Mame.

We introduced the child to what could be.

- [Narrator] After "The Children's Corner," Josie moved to South Carolina to work on a children's program called "Wheee!"

It was in South Carolina that she met another hometown boy, Pittsburgh's history series producer, Rick Sebak.

Rick was just starting his career at the time and he asked Josie to hire him as an intern.

- She's such a master of live television and she doesn't want you to tell things in advance because she wants her reaction on camera to be real.

And I love that.

- When you consider, I haven't been on the air for 35 years and people still remember me, it makes me wanna cry.

♪ How do you do ♪ ♪ Why hi, I'm Josie ♪ ♪ Why hi, how do you do?

♪ - [Narrator] Actually, Josie Carey was on WQED again back on October 12th, 1993 when former mayor Sophie Masloff made a very special proclamation.

- And today it is my pleasure to salute her for her outstanding contributions to public television and to our community by proclaiming this day as Josie Carey Day in the city of Pittsburgh.

And so, thanks Josie.

(knocker thudding) - [Narrator] And as part of that special celebration, WQED reunited Josie with a very special friend and the magical puppeteer behind him.

- [Daniel] Oh, Josie.

- [Josie] Hi Daniel, how are you?

- I really admire her, her love of acting and talking with puppets, being herself.

♪ I like you as you are ♪ ♪ I like you ♪ ♪ I L-I-K-E Y-O-U ♪ ♪ I like you, yes I do ♪ ♪ I like you Y-O-U ♪ ♪ I like you, like you as you are ♪ (mellow music) - Hi everyone, I'm Eleanor Schano.

- [Narrator 2] It's a name Pittsburgh has heard for more than five decades.

- I was born here.

I have lived here my whole life.

And yet studies show Americans get... - [Narrator 2] And Eleanor Schano is one of the few people still on Pittsburgh television who actually remembers when it first came to town.

- Everybody went out to the hardware store and we were watching test patterns but it was something on a screen.

You could feel that this was something that was really going to be big.

- [Narrator 2] Little did Eleanor know of the big role she would eventually play, but first she paid her dues and then some.

Eleanor's TV debut came in 1951 as a model in commercials on WDTV, which later became KDKA.

Commercials led to doing the weather.

At one point, she had to wear a negligee while giving the bedtime forecast.

Then came "Gateway to Glamour."

- [Announcer 2] A lovelier face, a more attractive figure, an insight to fashion, only yours for the asking, as is... - I literally ad-libbed a 15 minute show.

Very few women have perfect legs.

Most women complain that their legs are too heavy, that they're too thin.

- [Narrator 2] The show was sold for syndication and seen in more than 250 television markets.

Then in 1959, Eleanor left KDKA for a new station in town, WTAE.

She still remembers the job interview.

- They said, you know, "We are really hesitating because women are not dependable.

And furthermore, they're sometimes not as responsible as men and they get pregnant."

- [Narrator 2] But Eleanor's career took off at WTAE where she became the first female general assignment reporter in Pittsburgh.

Her first assignments features her personal goal, "Hard News," showing the all male newsroom she could cover it just like they could.

- You had to come back with a better story than anybody else.

If they were doing two stories, you had to do three.

And that was that way for many, many years.

- [Narrator 2] Eleanor proved herself not only in the field, but later behind the anchor desk at WIIC, now WPXI.

There she became the first solo female anchor in Pittsburgh.

- Wild Police chase in East Liberty Bay.

- [Narrator] Her career continued through the years.

Back at KDKA, again, as an anchor and reporter, the host of "Good Day Pittsburgh" on WPGH, host and Reporter at KQV Radio.

In the nineties, she started a long run at WQED TV hosting a show called "AgeWise."

- It really reminded seniors about the relevance in our community and it encouraged them to embrace growing older.

- [Narrator 2] As Eleanor has said, it's to grow up in front of a TV camera, but it's even tougher to grow old in front of it.

- We talk sometimes about the battle now that occurs for women who are over 45, over 50 in this business.

It's not that I'm that much younger than she is, that I don't hear what she's saying and didn't experience some of what she did, but she truly was a pioneer, truly.

- [Eleanor] And I guess what I'm measuring my life by are the women that have followed me.

- What she did was important to her, but more importantly was important to us.

- [Narrator 2] In 2006, Eleanor branched out again writing an autobiography called "Riding the Airwaves."

The book recalled more than 50 years in front of the camera.

- [Eleanor] I can't believe this.

- [Narrator 2] But that life story didn't mark the end of her career, only another page.

- [Announcer 3] Up now, "Live Well/Live Long" with Eleanor Schano presented by... - [Narrator] In 2008, she launched "Live Well/Live Long" with Eleanor Schano on WTAE-TV, serving as host and executive producer.

- Okay, here's the trout.

What do I do when I get it out?

- It wasn't just a job, it's a passion.

And that's the way she really deals with everything in life.

- And here was the genie everyone dreamed of, well actually her name, Eleanor Schano.

- [Narrator 2] Eleanor Schano, a woman whose career helped to shape Pittsburgh broadcasting, paving the way for women while humbly changing history.

- My whole career was kind of serendipitous.

I'm terribly blessed to have been in this broadcast industry for so long and don't ever ask me if I'm going to retire.

(mellow music) (upbeat music) - [Narrator 3] She is one of Pittsburgh's pioneer TV broadcasters.

♪ Hey, look me over ♪ ♪ Lend me an ear ♪ ♪ Fresh out of clover, mortgage up to here ♪ ♪ But don't pass ♪ - [Narrator 3] During television's Golden Age, Ricki Wertz sang and danced her 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 & 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.

- [Narrator 3] 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 prized specimens.

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

- [Narrator 3] 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.

- [Interviewer 2] The Sleepy Time Weather Girl.

How did you get into that?

Do you remember that?

- [Interviewer 2] No, but I read a lot.

(Ricki laughs) - [Announcer 4] Lingerie and be the sexy silly Weather Girl by night.

- I became the Sleepy 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.

(mellow music) - [Narrator 3] But it wasn't long before Ricki, the silly 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 and the 11 o'clock news and I started "Ricki & 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 very... - [Narrator 3] "Ricki & Copper" led children over the bridge for nine years.

During which time, Ricki 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.

- [Ricki] Patrick O'Donnell, are you Irish?

Oh, I never would've guessed that, old Patrick O'Donnell.

And how old are you?

- [Narrator 3] 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.

- [Narrator 3] And Ricki does feel blessed in so many ways.

Blessed to have had so many fruitful years in television.

And blessed to 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.

- [Interviewer 2] Did you ever know that so many individuals could meet, come up with those task force, all with different ideas 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, - [Narrator 3] Exciting times, times all shared with her husband Tom and their two children, Kristen and Thomas.

- [Interviewer 2] 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 him until one Easter, 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 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.

- When I retired, Tom said, "What are we gonna do now?"

Because he suddenly had me home (laughs) 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 dragged 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 all.

- And it's just like... - [Narrator 3] 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 situp on - A situp on, is that what you call it?

- 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.

- [Narrator 3] 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.

(laughs) (mellow music) - So welcome to Thursday.

Have you ever had one of those weeks that you just, it's only Thursday, but it just feels like a Friday.

I am Lynne Hayes-Freeland.

I am a radio talk show host, a television talk show host, a mother, a grandmother, a daughter, a community activist, a public figure, an active member of my church.

I am a cancer survivor, a concerned citizen.

I'm at a point in life where I feel like I am a variety of people all rolled into one.

Professionally, I am a radio talk show host.

We've got three hours to do today.

Welcome to "Lunchtime with Lynne."

I got into this profession by accident to be honest.

My first two years in college, I was an accounting major and I struggled, numbers were not my strong suit.

I spent one afternoon actually chasing after a boy at a college radio station.

And I literally fell in love with the microphone, with the music, with the news.

And I knew right then and there that this was the business for me, this was the profession for me.

When you find the thing that you are passionate about, you need to follow it.

I really feel like I happened into this business.

In fact, for the record, that boy that I was following never did get a job in this business because it ended up being my passion, not his.

And let me ask you this.

Can I introduce them over there?

The time I got into this business, yes, there were not many women in the business and there were even fewer African American women in the business.

But interestingly enough, I don't even know if I noticed that at the time.

I know that most of my family members, even my friends would say to me, "Maybe you should get your teacher certificate just in case this doesn't work out."

There were a lot of situations that I would look around and I found myself as the only female, the only African American woman in a room with white men.

That happened all the time.

Sadly, in 2020, sometimes you still find yourself as one of few in the room.

I don't think it's changed that much.

Absolutely, so what happens from now?

What happens from here?

I think that Pittsburgh is a very unique city.

I don't think it's been the best city necessarily for African Americans or for women, but it is my home.

And so as a result, I feel very vested in making a difference in my hometown.

I talk about this, my own breast cancer experience.

Actually.

We'll make sure that women who need additional services or diagnoses can get 'em covered by their insurance.

Back in October, we were talking about, on the radio the need for self-breast exams.

And a woman called in and she said, "I need to have a mammogram.

I've been putting it off and I've been listening to the show today and I'm going to have my mammogram.

I called since you've been on the air.

I'm gonna schedule my mammogram and I'm gonna call and let you know what happened."

That moment, that instant, what we did on a radio may have saved her life.

That makes it all worth it.

Is that worth getting out of bed in the morning?

Absolutely.

Sitting anywhere you choose on a bus is a choice most of us take for granted.

However, for Black Americans, it is more than a choice.

It is a right our forefathers fought long and hard to achieve.

Good evening and welcome to a very special edition of "Vibrations."

I am Lynne Hayes-Freeland.

My dear friend, Chris Moore calls me The Last Man Standing because television stations don't do shows anymore that are geared specifically to the African American community.

- Did you have any idea what you were starting that afternoon when you said you were too tired to move to another seat on the bus?

- Not that day, of course.

I was only concerned with getting home.

- I think whenever you meet someone who has changed the course of history, it is intimidating.

It makes you nervous and there is that moment in time where you realize that you are in the presence of greatness.

And you always have this vision that the person is going to be larger than life and in actuality, they aren't.

They are humble.

They are, in her case, very soft spoken.

I felt that way about Nelson Mandela.

Sometimes it was the greatest people that were the quietest, softest, most gentle people.

650 miles away sits Mother Emanuel AME church, a congregation that knows firsthand how it feels to have hate enter a religious space.

The South Carolina trip actually just kind of came about because a friend of a friend called me and said, "Hey, I'm involved with this group.

We're gonna go to Charleston with some from Tree of Life.

Are you interested in going?"

These Pittsburghers found their way through Charleston in search of answers and in hopes of finding some form of peace.

The stories that we did down there, probably among the most emotional stories that I've ever been a part of.

The first thing I noticed about Ian when we were out for an afternoon of fun at Main Event Entertainment, he showed up in a collared shirt and tie.

The "Waiting Child" series is one that has always been close to my heart.

When I look at the fact that more than 70% of the kids that we've ever featured on that segment have actually been adopted and they find homes, I know that that was a calling.

When you think about these are kids that through no fault of their own, have been in a system, sometimes languishing within a system, and all they want is someone to love them.

- I want a family who'll take me in and get to know me and eventually love me.

- I think it's easy to feel as if your life has been blessed, but I know that the blessings that have been poured into my life are way beyond anything that I ever deserved.

So do I feel an obligation to give something back?

Every day, every day.

(mellow music)