The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

Broadcast Pioneers member Joanne Calabria is Vice President of Public Affairs for the CBS Television Stations Group. In that role, she is responsible for developing group-wide public affairs initiatives for the company’s 29 television stations across the country. With offices in New York and Philadelphia, Calabria also heads the Communications Department of the CBS Television Station properties in Philadelphia; CBS 3 (KYW-TV) and The CW Philly 57 (WPSG-TV) where she is responsible for media relations and community outreach activities. In addition, she has also served in a consulting role for the company’s five Philadelphia radio stations.

During her career, Calabria’s hallmark has been her leadership on community issues, harnessing the powerful voice of the company’s stations in Philadelphia to spotlight emerging social issues from domestic violence and AIDS to Alzheimer’s disease and Autism. The multi-faceted campaigns, which teamed the TV stations with its sister radio partners for maximum impact, raised both awareness of these issues and hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to support grassroots efforts aimed at solving these problems.

Calabria has also championed the cause of breast cancer education for almost 20 years, serving on the advisory board of the Susan G. Komen Race for theCure and helping the organization build that event into one of the City’s largest and most successful races. In 2002, she launched Lights for the Cure, a campaign to light the Philadelphia skyline pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That campaign has grown to include more than 100 buildings in three states. Calabria is currently president of the board of directors of the Philadelphia affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Calabria has received numerous honors for her work, including the broadcast industry's most prestigious prize, a Philadelphia Emmy Award, for the public service campaign For Kids' Sake. Through that campaign, Calabria set up programs to help children better understand and utilize television, including building the City’s first working TV studio for children at the Please Touch Museum.

In 2001, she received the prestigious Hall of Fame Award from the Philadelphia Public Relations Association acknowledging her achievements in the field. Calabria has also been honored with two Pepperpot Awards from the Philadelphia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, a Sarah Award from the local chapter of Women in Communications and both a local and district award from the International Association of Business Communicators.

She is a former president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators and has served on the board of the Philadelphia chapter of The National Television Academy.

Calabria joined CBS 3 in 1981. She began her communications career at First Pennsylvania Bank in Philadelphia where she headed up the employee communications department. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Calabria holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. She resides in the Society Hill section of the city.

On Friday, November 20, 2009, Joanne Calabria was inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia's "Hall of Fame."

The e-mail address of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is pioneers@broadcastpioneers.com