Adrianne Baughns-Wallace | |
|---|---|
| Born | Adrianne Eugene Thomas 1944 (age 80–81) |
| Education | University at Albany, SUNY Majored in communications |
| Honours | Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (2000) |
Adrianne Baughns-Wallace (born in 1944) was a television journalist, the first African-American television anchor in New England, and a member of theConnecticut Women's Hall of Fame.[1]
Baughns-Wallace was born inThe Bronx, New York,[2] and raised in New York City.[3] She was educated at St. Colombo School, Washington Irving School, andUniversity at Albany, SUNY, where she majored in communications. Before becoming a broadcast journalist, she worked for a telephone company, an automobile agency, and an airline.[2] She also served as a pharmacy specialist in the Air Force.[3]
Baughns-Wallace began working in television in Albany, New York, in 1973.[4] In August 1974, she leftWAST in Albany and joinedWFSB in Hartford, Connecticut. Her initial work at WFSB included writing and presenting the 7:30 a.m.News Sign and being co-anchor of its noonEyewitness News broadcast.[2] In October 1978, Baughns was named co-anchor of WFSB's 6 p.m.Eyewitness News broadcast,[5] becoming the first female anchor of an evening newscast in Connecticut.[6] She left WSFB in June 1982 to launch a TV production company of her own.[4] The departure was a lifestyle choice. "I really needed to define for myself what my son needed and what I needed for our lives," Baughns-Wallace said.[7]
After leaving WFSB, in addition to being an independent TV producer, Baughns-Wallace was the host ofEssence, a program for black women that was broadcast onWPIX in New York City.[6] In 1983, Baughns-Wallace joined the staff ofWTNH in New Haven, Connecticut, tasked with helping to beginNewscope, a program that blended local stories with nationally syndicated material.[6]
In the late 1980s, Baughns-Wallace became director of Operation Fuel (OF), a nonprofit, private institution. OF, a program of the Christian Conference of Connecticut, provides funds (via a checkoff program ofConnecticut Light & Power Company) to help the poor, elderly, and disabled to pay their utility bills. A 1996 article in theHartford Courant's Sunday magazine commented, "... she's found her mission and purpose in life ..."[8]
In 2001, Baughns-Wallace was director of financial education for the Connecticut treasurer's office. Her job entailed teaching citizens of Connecticut about responsible financial planning. A newspaper article described her as "part facilitator, part advocate and part cheerleader."[9]
Baughns-Wallace is divorced from her first husband and has a son.[4] Her second husband was Lenzy Wallace, a manager of diversity and change atITT Hartford,[8] who died in 2021.[10]
In 2000, Baughns-Wallace was inducted into theConnecticut Women's Hall of Fame,[11] "an honor given to those who have broken the barriers for women in a job, doing most of their work while in Connecticut."[12] Her credentials included being the first African-American TV anchor in New England and the first female TV anchor in Connecticut.[12] She also received theNational Council of Negro Women's Distinguished Service Award.[4]
