Huggins Dies at 72

Pioneering African-American journalist Edie Huggins, an anchor and reporter for WCAU TV Philadelphia for more than 40 years, died July 29 at age 72 after a battle with lung cancer.

She joined WCAU in 1966 as a feature reporter and became an anchor and co-anchor while continuing to do feature and investigative reporting. She also hosted a mid-1970s midday show, What's Happening, and a magazine show, Morningside.

She was a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and a member of the Philadelphia Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame.

Huggins had movie-star looks and an easy on-camera manner, graduated from the State University of New York and worked as a nurse while moonlighting as an actress on soap operas including, appropriately enough, The Doctors, Love of Life and The Edge of Night.

She is survived by two children.

WCAU posted this tribute on its Web site.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.