Bernard honored for life in media

Date: 1/14/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD Barbara Bernard said with a smile, "It feels good to break the glass ceiling at the age of 81."

Bernard, who was honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Valley Press Club last week, was referring to being the first woman recognized by the group.

The awards luncheon was part of the sixth annual Communications Conference sponsored by the Valley Press Club and Western New England College (WNEC). Presented at the college, the audience included many of Bernard's colleagues from WGGB-TV and the Republican, which currently publishes her column.

Although she wasn't born in Holyoke, she has spent her life in the Paper City and much of her career has centered on the media. While attending Mount Holyoke College, she began reporting for the Transcript-Telegram in Holyoke. Following graduation, she landed a job writing commercials for WHYN, the radio station then co-owned by the Dwight family, the publishers of Transcript-Telegram and the DeRose family, the publishers of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

She found herself making a transition from behind the microphone to in front of it, hosting local shows. In 1955, she made the leap to television with her own program on WHYN-TV (now WGGB).

Her show was broadcast live and she recalled with a laugh the day she couldn't open a sofa bed during a commercial she was doing for that product. An ability to ad lib was necessary for the medium, she added. She noted there isn't much local television production today, a major change in the medium.

Bernard's show was a required stop for celebrities appearing in the area, such as singers Nat King Cole, Robert Goulet and Tennessee Ernie Ford. She also interviewed newsmakers such as Pres. John F. Kennedy. She was on the air live the day Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

In a short documentary on her life and career produced by WNEC students Matt Caron and Robert Souza, WGGB news staffers Dave Madsen, Ray Hershel and Kathy Tobin all lauded Bernard as a pioneer and role model for women broadcasters.

Her onscreen career stretched into the 1970s and after she left television she continued her writing career at the Transcript-Telegram, Hello Holyoke and then the Republican.

In addressing the audience, Bernard said she had been given 15 minutes to speak and asked Dan Jarvis, her former floor manager from television, to give her the wrap-up sign at the 14 minute and 30 second mark. Given her television training, Bernard ended her remarks on time and without a prompt.

She said her time on live television was "sometimes exciting and sometimes harrowing."

In speaking about writing her column today, she said, "I'm doing something I always wanted to do, something I found easy.

"I'm very grateful to a lot of people," she added.