Sandra Hughes
On July 24, 1972, 47 Years Ago, Sandra Hughes Was Hired And Began Working At WFMY, Helping Pave the Way For Black Women in Journalism
Sandra Hughes Made Local TV History When She Was Hired And Became the First African American Woman To Host A Program On WFMY News 2.
GREENSBORO, N.C-.Published: 11:26 PM EDT July 24, 2019 — There's a lot of rich history to celebrate over the last 70 years of WFMY News 2.
One special date is the day Sandra Hughes started working here. The date was July 24, 1972. That's 47 years ago, on Wednesday. Just two years later in 1974, Sandra made local TV history when she became the first African American woman to host a program here on WFMY News 2.
Sandra remembers it as a trying time, but she stayed persistent.
"I felt this overwhelming responsibility to do something that I wasn't sure what it was I was supposed to be doing. I had people on one side of the city in the black community saying, 'Okay, since you're black this should be a black show, isn't that what this is going to be?' And then I had people on another side of the community saying you are black, you're going to make this a show for everyone, aren't you?"
"People didn't think that the time had come for a black woman to be doing a show by herself on television," Hughes recalled.
"We got bomb threats quite often. The show was on live every day at one o'clock and for weeks and weeks we would have someone call and say there was a bomb somewhere on the set. Now, what that would mean is that all the guests would have to be taken out of the studio, but I was determined to make this show work. I wanted to make sure I was doing a good job and people out there would eventually see that, so I would stay. That's where I learned to talk without stopping. Because the guests would all leave and I would have 30 minutes of show to fill so I would sit there and talk and talk and talk and talk to make sure that show stayed on the air. And after a while, I think our viewers decided well, this person is really trying to be a person for all people and they gave me a chance."
Her determination paid off as Sandra became one of the most recognizable and beloved journalists in the Triad. She earned the coveted Edward R. Murrow award for news reporting. In 2002, she was honored with the North Carolina Governor's Order of the Long Leaf Pine, which is the state's top civilian honor.
The was also inducted into the North Carolina Broadcaster's Hall of Fame.
Sandra Hughes will also be inducted in the Black College Alumni Hall of Fame this year. The inductees were announced today. Sandra is one of 14 people headed to the Hall in September
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Biography
Journalist Sandra Hughes was born on October 18, 1946 in Durham, North Carolina. While her biological father was Alexander Cotton, she was raised by her mother Alice Marie Amis Daye, a housekeeper, and her stepfather Charlie Alfred Daye, an auto mechanic. Hughes graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1964 and went on to attend North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she earned her B.S. degree in English education in 1969.
Hughes worked briefly as a technical publications editor for Western Electric upon graduating, but was hired in 1972 as a general assignment reporter by WFMY-TV in 1972. She became the first African American woman to host her own daily talk show in the Piedmont, in 1974, with Sandra and Friends. In 1976, she was the first female broadcaster invited to participate in the European Communities’ Visitors Program. Hughes was the first African American woman in the Southeast to host the nationally syndicated PM Magazine, in 1978.
She joined Lee Kinard in hosting the Good Morning Show in 1985. That same year, Hughes was appointed manager of WFMY-TV’s community affairs department, where she started the “2 Those Who Care” initiative in 1989. In 1990, Hughes returned to the newsroom as the 6 p.m. evening news anchor. She spearheaded the Minority Broadcast Development Program in 1992. Hughes retired from WFMY-TV in 2010, and began teaching at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University the following year as an adjunct professor of journalism.
Hughes received the Edward R. Murrow award for news reporting from the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce in 1981, and was the first African American in the Piedmont to receive the award. She was recognized by North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1995 as a Distinguished Alumnus.
In 2002, she received the North Carolina Governor’s Order of the Long Leaf Pine, and July 24th of that year was proclaimed “Sandra Daye Hughes” Day by the Guilford County Commissioners. She has won multiple “Best of Gannett” awards for news anchoring and specific programs, and was named an “Unsung Hero” by the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in 2006. Hughes was given the Sojourner Truth Award by the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc.
in 2009, and the newsroom at WFMY-TV was renamed “The Sandra Daye Hughes Information Center” the following year. Also, in 2010, The National Academy of Television Art & Sciences inducted Hughes into the Silver Circle, the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters inducted her into the Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame, and she received an honorary doctorate of humanities from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, her alma mater. Hughes received the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2014.
Hughes lives in Greensboro, North Carolina with her husband. She has two children and two grandchildren. Hughes had a third child who passed away in 1984.
Sandra Hughes was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 13, 2014.
Source:https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/sandra-hughes
Source:https://www.wfmynews2.com/.../83-31b72582-8a5b-4d30-9c20...