Schano to be feted at regional Emmys

Veteran local broadcaster Eleanor Schano will receive the Board of Governors' Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her lifetime achievements. The Emmy ceremony will be held on Sept. 26 in Philadelphia.

Past recipients include Fred Rogers,  Joe DeNardo and Myron Cope.

Here's the release:

Pittsburgh TV Trailblazer Eleanor Schano to Receive NATAS Board of Governors’ Award

During 27^th Annual Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards:   

Prestigious NATAS Award Honors Career Achievements

PHILADELPHIA (May 27, 2009) – Pittsburgh’s “woman of firsts” Eleanor Schano, a trailblazing broadcaster and beloved news personality whose career spans over five decades work at four Pittsburgh television stations,  will receive the prestigious Board of Governors’ Award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS).  She will be honored by industry peers for her lifetime achievements during the 27th Annual Mid-Atlantic Emmy® Awards at the Loew’s Hotel in Philadelphia on Saturday, September 26, 2009.  The award is bestowed by NATAS to recognize career longevity, achievements and significant contributions to the television industry. 

"I am very humbled and honored by this prestigious award,” comments Schano. “There is no greater compliment than to be recognized by your peers. My pride is measured by the fact that I still have the opportunity to follow my passion as a TV broadcast journalist, and I salute the hard working TV news reporters and anchors today who continue to preserve, with integrity, the power of the written and spoken word."

Schano embarked on a remarkable broadcasting career defined by many “firsts” in 1951 when, as an undergraduate at Duquesne University, she became the first female commercial television announcer and first female weathercaster at WDTV (now KDKA-TV).  She performed a variety of duties at KDKA, including hosting a daily talk show.  By 1958, she was on the move to WTAE-TV, where she served as the city’s first female general assignment news reporter.  From 1969 - 1974, she made news as well as reported it at WIIC-TV (now WPXI-TV), as the first solo prime-time anchor woman in Pittsburgh history and hosted the weekly half-hour public affairs program Face to Face at WIIC. 

Making a transition to radio in 1974, Schano joined KDKA Radio’s morning team as the newscaster on the Jack Bogut Show and also was general assignment reporter for an afternoon drive news program.  In 1975, she returned to KDKA-TV to work as a news anchor, consumer reporter, general assignment reporter and public affairs host for the next four years.  From 1978-1982, she was both host and executive producer of WPGH-TV’s daily program Good Day Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Women ’79, a weekly half-hour program focusing on local women achievers.  In 1982, she left Pittsburgh briefly to serve as solo anchor on the 6 pm newscast at WPEC-TV in Palm Beach, FL.   While there, she established and staffed a South Palm Beach County News Bureau and was named Outstanding Anchor in South Florida.  She returned to Pittsburgh in 1982 to assume her post at KQV-News Radio.

For almost two decades, Schano continued to break new ground as the host of LifeQuest (formerly AgeWise), the nation’s first television program for older adults. In the half-hour talk show airing on WQED-TV, she explored the many health, financial, social and political issues that impact the lives of senior citizens. In 2008, she launched her new brand “Live Well/Live Long with Eleanor Schano,” a series of mini-programs airing on WTAE-TV.  In addition to her current role at WTAE, she is Special Projects Director at KQV-NewsRadio, where she has been on staff since 1982, and is responsible for numerous series on culture, entertainment, health, and education.

“We are delighted to pay tribute to a true TV “woman of firsts” Eleanor Schano during the 27^th Annual Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards Gala September 26 in Philadelphia,“ said Susan Buehler, President of the NATAS Mid-Atlantic Chapter and Sr. Vice President of Bellevue Communications. “Eleanor has consistently worked to blaze new trails and pave the way for future generations of television news professionals during a career that spans more than five decades.  At every turn and in every role, she has dedicated herself to setting high standards of excellence for our industry and has served as an inspiration to numerous others to follow in her footsteps.”

Schano has garnered some of the industry’s most prestigious honors – including five Golden Quills and a 1989 Matrix Award for outstanding investigative news coverage. She was honored by the South Florida Broadcasters Association as Outstanding TV News Anchor in 1981 and received the President’s Award from the American Women in Radio and Television, the City of Pittsburgh’s Love Award for humanitarian service to the community, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Pittsburgh Press Club. Among many   career highlights, she wrote and produced the syndicated series Gateway to Glamour, telecast in 286 markets around the country – marking the first nationally syndicated series ever to be produced in Pittsburgh.  Her book, "Riding the (air) Waves - the Life and Televised Times of Eleanor Schano,"  was published in 2006 and became a best seller in the Pittsburgh region.

A dedicated and involved member of the Pittsburgh community, Schano has served as a commissioner for the Great Pittsburgh Commission for Women, and holds positions on the Board of Directors for both the Civic Light Opera and the Carnegie Science Center.  She was previously on the Boards of the Pittsburgh Radio and Television Club and the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.  Schano resides in Shadyside, PA with her husband, prominent Pittsburgh Attorney and former Common Please Judge John Feeney.  Their family includes six children and 16 grandchildren.

Past recipients of the NATAS Board of Governors’ Award are: children’s television icon Fred Rogers; Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown; legendary anchor John Facenda; TV Guide founder and philanthropist Walter Annenberg; sports broadcasting innovators NFL Films; Former WHYY president Frederick “Rick” Breitenfeld, Jr.; regional TV pioneer Lewis Klein; CBS3 veteran reporter Trudy Haynes; Phillies announcer and Baseball Hall of Famer Harry Kalas; local broadcasting  legend Gene Crane;  Joe DeNardo, the Dean  of  Pittsburgh  Weather;  and  veteran Philadelphia  newsman  Larry Kane;  Pittsburgh Steelers’ broadcasting  legend Myron Cope;  WCAU news veteran Herb Clarke and trailblazing anchor/reporter Edie Huggins.

The 2009 Emmy® Nominees will be revealed August 11 in simultaneous festivities held in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.