Back in the mid 1970’s, Pam Huff was assigned to cover the accomplishments of Viola the pig. It was her first day on the job as a reporter and she wasn’t happy. But she gave it all she had, and management quickly took note of her ability. Huff has been making people take note of her creativity, professionalism and zeal for getting it right ever since. For the last five decades of extraordinary journalistic talent the Alabama Broadcasters Association is inducting Pam Huff into its Hall of Fame.

“I ran by my apartment and put on a gingham dress, and I went to the hotel lobby and sat down on the floor, and I held Viola the pig. I talked to Viola and “listened” to Viola and if I do say so myself, it was a good little story.

Wendell (Harris) called me into his office after that and he said, ‘Okay, you win.’” Huff never did another Viola story.

Huff attended the University of West Virginia and unlike most broadcasting students who wait until their senior year to get an internship, she worked every day at a television station that was connected to the university.

“I learned all the basics there,” she says. “We had a nightly newscast and so I got to work my way up and become one of the anchors while I was still in college.”

With all her experience she quickly landed a job at WSAZ in Huntington, West Virginia and then she got an opportunity in Tampa.

“My husband, who was my fiancé at the time, was in Orlando and waiting to get into law school. I got a job at WFLA and that worked out well because I learned a lot more.”

Her husband ended up getting his law degree in Birmingham. “He told me that if I’d just move to Birmingham for three years, then we’d could go anywhere I wanted to go. But once I got here, Birmingham was very good to me and so this summer makes our 48th year here.”

Huff got the co-anchor position in Birmingham when Harris stepped away from on-air work. He asked her to take his spot.

“You could have bowled me over with a feather,” says Huff. “I never thought of myself as an anchor. I’m not tall. I’m not blonde. All the things which back then you needed to be if you were going to be a female anchor. But I said, ‘Thank you … I’ll give it my best shot.’”

“And so, with that, I became the first female primetime evening news anchor in the state.”

“What makes Pam a great person to be in the Hall of Fame is that she obviously was a leader,” says Janice Rogers, news anchor at WBRC and a close friend of Pam’s. “She’s a pioneer. There’s no question about it”

“Her legacy to me is integrity and honesty. She’s just someone who during times of happiness she was there leading the way but during times of troubles she was there as a calming voice to walk people though things,” she continues. “And I think when people turned their TV on, no matter what was going on, Pam was there talking about it, and they felt a lot better.”

“If you’re not up on the news of the day, if you don’t understand why this is an important story, the viewer figures that out pretty quickly,” says Pam. I honestly believe that’s one of the reasons why people have always supported me. They know that they can trust me.”

The future is exciting, but a little scary for Huff.

“I’m enjoying these first few weeks of retirement,” she says, “But it still feels very weird. I’m in deep prayer to find out what I’m supposed to do next. I’m sure it’s going to drop out of the heavens, and I will know it when I see it.”