For 47 years, Birmingham residents have welcomed anchorwoman Pam Huff into their homes. Last week, she announced her upcoming retirement in late May.

She first entered our lives as a twenty-something reporter, who rose the ranks to become the first female television anchor in The Magic City.

Huff is a storyteller at heart. While she’s interviewed presidents and governors, she much preferred the company of her viewers—everyday Alabamians who care deeply about their communities, families and loved ones.

And Alabamians reciprocated that lifelong friendship and love when she asked them to support her on her cancer journey.

This week, Bham Now sat down with Pam to ask about what it was like becoming our community’s first anchorwoman, reminisce about her career and talk about the future.

Birmingham’s first anchorwoman and a pioneer

Though she’s often noted as the first anchorwoman in Alabama, Huff says someone in Huntsville got a head-start on her, going on air just a month before she did in Birmingham.

“I lasted a lot longer than she did!”

Pam Huff chuckled reflecting on her 4+ decades in the business.

When asked about being a pioneer she reminded us what she had to overcome.

“I own that title (pioneer). I take it all the way back to college. They told me — I wasn’t tall. I wasn’t blonde, and I’m not beautiful…One of my favorite professors said, ‘Now, you might get a job, but be sure you have some other kind of career to turn to by the time you’re 30 because they won’t need you anymore.’

I never expected to be a news anchor.I hope that what I brought to the table all of these years was credibility and believability. When I said something, they knew that I wasn’t just reading words. They knew that I really understood what I was saying. And hopefully that helped to build the paths for a lot of other women to follow.”

So many memorable stories – Snowstorm of 1993 a favorite

Huff has done, using her word, “fancy” stories over the years from the White House to celebrities and entertainers. What was one of her most memorable events? The Snowstorm of 1993 stuck out.

“We were on the air nonstop for four days. On Sunday morning, people were panicking because they couldn’t open their doors. The drifts had come up. I remember a couple of things that I said and people came back later and said, ‘Thank you.’

I said, ‘We’re going to get through this together. We’re not going to leave you. We’re here,’ and people like that.

And then I said, ‘Now remember, it’s Sunday morning, turn in your offering, send it to the mail.’ I had so many ministers say thank you just for thinking of that, but it was like, at that moment, I just kind of felt a connection to everybody out there, ‘We are facing something we haven’t faced before in our generation. We’re going to get through this.’ I felt like I gave some help.”

Front-row seat to history and the importance of news

In addition to memorable stories, Huff told us her personality made the career a perfect fit—she’s nosy, inquisitive and loves to learn history. News gave her a front-row seat

“I’ve been there smack dab in the middle of it.”

She does worry about the way we get the news today.

“I worry today because people don’t get, what we call, ‘Appointment viewing’.

Everybody watched the news in the past and you might talk about the news around the dinner table with your family. That certainly does not happen anymore. I’m kind of sad about that.

Everybody grabs the phone and unfortunately, it’s a very inwardly focused view of the world. I’m really worried that we don’t have a more outward view because people don’t have to agree on everything.

I’m firmly convinced that people need to know about everything. How else do you make decisions and and figure out what’s best for not just you and your family but for your community and ultimately, who are we going to elect to run the country?”

Pam’s cancer journey

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While Pam has had a front-row seat to watch and report on our community, almost two years ago she invited the community to take a front-row seat to support her in the toughest battle in her life, a cancer diagnosis.

“I didn’t want to keep that a secret when I had it. I kept working the whole time and I lost a tremendous amount of weight. I went bald, the whole bit. I kept going. I hope I helped some people along the way by being open, upfront and honest with it.”

Pam’s bravery touches us all, but she is quick to say how much the notes and the prayers gave her strength and hope.

“They (the Birmingham community) were there. They never let me down. I mean 10s of 1000s of people. I couldn’t reach out to all of them. I tried. It was amazing. I do, I give God the glory because I’m here. I also give Him the glory because I think he opened a path for me to help others. And they helped me in return.

It was a wonderful experience. And that’s a crazy thing to say! But I think there was a reason I went through it.”