The first thing I noticed about Sue Serio was her ability to be in the moment, not only while doing her weathercasts on Channel 29’s “Good Day Philadelphia,” but in her segues and byplay with anchors ranging from “Good Day’s” original hosts, Don Tollefsen and Tracey Matisak to the current Mike Jerrick and Alex Holley.
Serio’s responses and comments told me she was a listener and someone who looked at “Good Day” as a whole.
She was not going to simply wait for her cue and begin her report. She would play off of segment before her forecast and make an apt remark that tied her spot to everything else that was happening on the “Good Day” set.
That type of attention and that talent of staying attuned to all around her rather than confining herself to her designated role certified Serio as a total broadcaster, someone comfortable and adept enough on camera to comment on a previous story than launch into her work.
Channel 29 audiences have been marking Serio’s skill as a television personality for more than 30 years. Before that, it was viewers at Channel 12 who benefited from Serio’s quickness and good nature.
The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia have recognized Serio’s abilities as well.
In 2017, the organization devoted to celebrating the local broadcast industry and preserving its history, elected Sue to its Hall of Fame.
On Nov. 21, the Pioneers will bestow one more honor: It has named Serio its Person of the Year, an accolade for someone who has demonstrated consistent excellence in broadcast while also being active in the broadcast community and the community at large.
Serio receives her Person of the Year award at ceremonies in which nine fellow broadcasters will be inducted in the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame.
The event takes place at Live! Casino and Hotel and will have two members of the Hall of Fame as its hosts, Channel 3 morning anchor Jim Donovan, inducted in 2015, and Phillies representative and former Channel 6 sportscaster Scott Palmer, inducted in 2005.
Time has only sharpened Serio’s ability to entertain while informing a TV audience. To this day, her segments continue to the overall tenor of a day’s show.
She has become more than the meteorologist at the weather map or decider on what kinds of clothes “Bus Stop Buddy,” a child on his way to school or play, should wear in relation to that morning’s weather.
In recent years, maybe 15 as I think about it, Serio has left the map and joined Jerrick, Holley, Karen Hepp, Thomas Drayton and others at the “Good Day” desk to discuss topics, some serious, related to the news or just living.
Sue frequently appears with Drayton and others on the 10 a.m. weekday “Aftershow,” when subjects may be examined in depth.
She is always ready to show her wisdom and insight and has the humility to make light of both while exhibiting them to an impressive degree.
Just as Sue’s segues show she is a listener, her comments during 9 a.m. roundtables with Hepp, etc., or conversations with Drayton show she has a life outside of the television studio and that life includes experiences that are germane to topics of the day, especially lifestyle topics.
Sue will tell you her system for juggling laundry — sitting and folding it while she watches television — and sharing her life with her husband, sportscaster and actor Bill Vargus, and their daughter, Nia, who I tend to envision as a little girl even though I know she is a woman in her 20s.
Sue has made each of the almost 30 years she graced “Good Day Philadelphia” happy and chocked with optimism and liveliness.
She has dealt and contends with some serious matters in her life, but on “Good Day,” she is always cheery, a kind of Earth mother who can forecast the weather, offer good advice and anecdote, and bake goodies she usually gives to traffic maven, Bob Kelly, who — darn him — never seems to gain an ounce from them.
The nine 2025 inductees to the Broadcast Pioneers Hall of Fame should consider themselves lucky as well as honored they are sharing the limelight with a Person of the Year of Sue’s caliber.
They are Monica Avery from KYW-TV (Channel 3); Lady ‘B,” Bahiyyah Clark from WPPZ (107.9 FM); George Cummings, who had an illustrious career at Channel 29 before going into education at Temple University Television; Jacqueline London, steady as they come as a Channel 10 evening anchor; Mike Monsell, the highly regarded head of Channel 6’s marketing department; Mike Quick, color analyst and Merrill Reese’s sidekick for Eagles radio broadcasts; Dave Skalish, a radio executive extraordinaire, now at Audacy; Andie Summers, a morning personality on WXTU (92.5 FM), and David Yagdaroff, currently the head of communications for Audacy.
It is telling that Broadcast Pioneers cites people from all walks of broadcasting, from front offices, editing booths, and engineering to on-air personalities and techs who gather stories from the various locales their television and radio stations cover.
Avery is a Delaware County native, a Delco resident, and a graduate of Cardinal O’Hara High. She has earned 14 Emmys for her work as a producer at Channel 3’s “Eyewitness News.” One of her annual productions in the telethon to raise awareness and funds for Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Clark is a rapper who was a pioneer in bringing hip-hop to radio. The Overbook High grad has performed with major stars such as Queen Latifah and classmate Will Smith. She is the host of an afternoon show at WPPZ (107.9 FM).
As an executive at Channel 29 and a professor at Temple, Cummings moved broadcasting forward and taught generations the art and business of the industry.
London has helmed several newscasts since coming government to Channel 10 more than a decade ago. She is currently the tireless co-anchor of the station’s 4, 5, 6 and 11 p.m. reports.
Monsell is unique in today’s television. As vice president of marketing for Channel 6, he follows time-honored traditions while breaking new ground. As one who covers local television, I can attest Mike is the only person in the market — well, except for Xfinity’s Alex Wachman — who I know I can call with a question or check a fact and trust will get back to me ASAP with an answer.
Quick has a quiet way of being brilliant. While Merrill Reese may gush and cheer, Mike calmly breaks down a situation in simple terms that show his knowledge of football, a game he played professional and skill as a communicator.
Skalish, now the director of technical operations for Audacy radio stations, has always been the name mentioned when you want to know the go-to guy in his field. His work behind the scenes keep listeners listening.
Summers was a groundbreaker among women in radio. She has been the morning host at WXTU (92.5 FM) since 1999, quite a feat considering all the upheavals affecting local talent in recent years. Andie keeps things light, playing country music and earning awards for her show’s combination of music and patter.
Yagdaroff, the senior vice president for marketing at Audacy is the one I should of thought to call when I was trying to get information about Jack Fritz and Joe DeCamara’s postponed tennis match.
Instead, I used an online form for press questions and received the same response every one reading this column did.
I have known Dave to be reliable and am aware of the contribution he’s made to Philadelphia radio over the past few decades.
There’s this year’s Hall of Fame class. It’s eclectic in scope and in each case, the inductee’s place in a Hall of Fame cannot be questioned.
New Channel 10 reporter
Channel 10 welcomes a new reporter and fill-in anchor when Kelsey Kushner, a native of Hockessin, begins at the NBC station starting Monday, Aug. 18.
Kushner, a University of Delaware alumna with a degree in journalism and a 2025 recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award, comes to Channel 10 from WJZ-TV, the CBS station in Baltimore.
She earned her Murrow Award for coverage of last year’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.
Prior to Baltimore, Kushner was a reporter for WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Fla.
For NBC 10, she will be a general assignment reporter who stands by to fill in for weekend anchors Brenda Weick and Johnny Archer when necessary.
Ex-Channel 10 personality gets city appointment
Renee Chenault-Fattah, a former lead anchor on “Channel 10 News,” has a new challenge as Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker’s choice to head the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.
Appointed on July 25, Chenault-Fattah, an attorney as well as a journalist, is the commission’s executive director. She leads initiatives that address discrimination, equal rights, and community building in the city.
Established by Philadelphia’s Home Rule Charter in the early 1950’s, the Commission of Human Relations has been involved during the last 70-some years in working towards fair housing, nondiscriminatory job opportunities, and cordiality within Philadelphia communities.
It does this through a program of mediation, conciliation and referral services.
Behar, her play at George Street Playhouse
“View” panelist Joy Behar has written a play, “My First Ex-Husband, that received good notices when it debuted last year at Bay Street Theater in the Hamptons and enjoyed an early 2025 off-Broadway run.
On Aug. 28, Behar is bringing the show for one-performance only to New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse, where she will be joined by another daytime television star, Sherri Shepherd, a “View” alumna, and one of my favorite theater actresses Veanne Cox.
“My First Ex-Husband” is composed of stories from Behar’s experiences that show how complicated relationships are.
The anecdotes go beyond spouses to include in-laws and other byproducts of marriage such as sex, money and children.
Behar earned fame as a comedian before doing a topical radio program and becoming a political commentator on “The View.” “My First Ex-Husband” recalls those comic roots.
Each time Behar does the show, she invites friends from the theater and television to share their tales of marriage, divorce and what they wrought.
At George Street, her casemates include another daytime talk diva, Sherri Shepherd, whose weekday syndicated program airs at 11 a.m. on Channel 29. “The View” is seen at the same time on Channel 6.
Shepherd’s may be the liveliest daytime gabfest. Her show is an offshoot of one once done by Wendy Williams and includes a monologue and funny dose of daily gossip on each episode’s start.
Behar’s other guest is less known to TV audiences but highly respected among people who attend Broadway and regional theater.
Cox defines the term “working actress.” I’ve seen her in Princeton, Washington and Westport, Conn., and other theaters doing everything from Shakespeare, a marvelous Olivia in “Twelfth Night,” to musicals, “Flora, the Red Menace” and “An American in Paris” on Broadway.
It will be fun to see Cox perform as herself.
As for Behar and Shepherd, whether or not you agree with their every point of view, they are undeniably funny.
“My First Ex-Husband” is set for 7:30 p.m. at the George Street Playhouse in the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, 11 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick, N.J.
Tickets begin at $55 and can be obtained by visiting www.secure.georgestreetplayhouse.org/myfirstexhusband.
WIP challenge postponed
Via the WIP (94.1 FM) website, the postponed tennis competition that would have been the third event in the five-part challenge between morning host Joe DeCamara and afternoon host Jack Fritz has not yet been rescheduled.
DeCamara and Fritz were supposed to trade serves on July 29, but the day’s extreme heat and warning about heat-related calamities, not to mention possible legal liabilities, goaded WIP execs to caution, and the event was canceled until further notice.
DeCamara’s co-hosts Rhea Hughes and Jack Seltzer were not happy at the delay, criticizing their micmate on air for being a tad cowardly and possibly helping to persuade his bosses to postpone.
Ike Reese and Spike Eskin were no less sympathetic to Fritz or the situation.
As of now, with two events played, DeCamara and Fritz are tied 1-1, DeCamara claiming the win in golf, Fritz dominating in baseball.
Adding perspective, Eagles defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, asked about the toll the heat took on the players at training camp, said, “What heat?” and added that during a September game in Florida, temperatures on the field could be stifling.
“The team needs to be ready for that,” he said.
Source: Berkshire mont