Broadcast Pioneers member Steve Highsmith is PHL17’s Director of Community Relations, host of PHL17’s community affairs program, “In Focus,” and anchor of “NBC10@Issue,” the Sunday news and public affairs show of NBC 10, Philadelphia. He covers politics and government for NBC 10, and also serves as the principal host of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day and the MDA Labor Day Telethon, both on PHL17.

Steve, the son of a career U.S. Army Officer, was born at Fort Gordon, Augusta, Georgia, and grew up throughout the United States and in Europe and Asia. Highsmith began his career in Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, Michigan, South Bend, Indiana, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. He has been on the Philadelphia news scene since 1981 and has served as the morning news anchor and news director of WCAU Radio and news anchor of the NJN Nightly News before joining WPHL-TV in 1994 as chief political correspondent and anchor.

Active in the community, Steve serves on the Board of Directors of United Cerebral Palsy of Philadelphia, the Board of Directors of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Board of Directors of CADEkids. He is a former member of Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia, the Cabrini College Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Steve has also been an active supporter of other community and nonprofit efforts, such as the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Police Athletic League, Philadelphia Childrens Alliance and Special Olympics.

Highsmith is a summa cum laude graduate of Cabrini College with a B.A. in English and Communications and attended the University of Notre Dame. He resides with his wife and two children in Bucks County.

Steve Highsmith has been honored by the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences, the Associated Press, the Radio and Television News Directors Association and the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters. On Friday evening, November 18, 2011, he was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's "Hall of Fame."

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Photo and bio originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Steve Highsmith
© 2011, Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
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