Pioneer in local TV news, longtime WTAE employee
One of the first employees of WTAETV when the local ABC affiliate started in 1957, James “Chief” Berry was a pioneer in local television news and a widely admired video editor and photographer for nearly 40 years.
“Jimmy was a legend,” said his friend and former colleague, Sally Wiggin, a longtime WTAE news anchor. “He was a force in the evolution of media in this city. He was exactly what a photojournalist and editor should be. He was really talented.”
Mr. Berry, 84, died at his Forest Hills home Saturday from complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His wife, Sue McInerney, and his 4-year-old golden retriever, Lil’ Chief, a trained therapy dog, were by his side.
“He was great at his craft and very proud of it,” said Bill Hillgrove, a close friend and former WTAE sports director. “I worked with him basically every day from 1975 to 1995 when I was on television at Channel 4. He was a sharp editor because he was so cerebral. He gave everything a lot of thought, and his intuition was usually correct.”
The oldest of three children, Mr. Berry grew up in the hamlet of Buena Vista, on the Youghiogheny River in Elizabeth Township.
When his parents divorced, he saw an opportunity to help his family.
“At the age of 17, he joined the Navy to help support his mother,” his wife said. “He was in the Navy for four years, then he came home and started working at the transmitter that was being built for WTAE in [Buena Vista].”
Mr. Berry worked as a night watchman at the transmitter construction site, then became a driver for station executives, whom he would shuttle between the WTAE studios in
Wilkinsburg and their offices in Downtown.
“From there, he went to the mailroom, then feature film editing for movies that were playing on Channel 4,” his wife said.
Clever and creative, Mr. Berry quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder, becoming a news editor just a few years after starting at the station. He met his wife when she came to work at the station as a news intern in the 1970s. They married in August 1983.
“It was just one of those newsroom romances that blossom from friendship. He was the older, experienced, handsome and charming Jim Berry. I just fell for him,” said Ms. McInerney, who eventually became a television news director and now works as a talent agent.
His nickname, “Chief,” stemmed from Mr. Berry’s Native American heritage and his role as chief editor at the studio, said his wife and friends.
Mr. Berry was known as an innovative thinker and was credited as the first local television editor to use the Aroll, B-roll process of film production, before the advent of videotape.
For six years, Mr. Berry also worked as a video photographer for WTAE, working political conventions, inaugurations, the 1979 World Series — won by the Pittsburgh Pirates — and many other major events.
One of the highlights of his career was covering the partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg in March 1979, his wife said.
“He chartered a plane with [former WTAE reporter] Stu Emry and went to Three Mile Island,” she said. “They were the first video crew on the scene. It was a pretty big deal.”
One of Ms. Wiggin’s fondest memories of Mr. Berry came in March 1980, on her first day as a reporter in Pittsburgh.
“He was part of the crew I worked with on my first day. I came from Birmingham, Ala., from the 48th [media market] to the 10th at the time, and I was terrified. I was really frightened,” Ms. Wiggin said. “I could not have been made to feel more at home by the crew, especially Jimmy. He had a ponytail, a great face and this amazing, deep laugh. I just relaxed immediately.”
Mr. Berry was especially beloved for his legendary sense of humor, friends said.
“He was fun to be around; he had a quick sense of humor when it came to observing human behavior and the human condition,” said former WTAE news director Joe Rovitto. “He would notice things most of us would miss.”
And Mr. Berry’s “five stages of a career” mantra was something he used to keep his colleagues’ sometimesenormous egos in check, Mr. Rovitto said.
“The five stages were, first, ‘Who is Joe Rovitto?’ meaning that nobody knew who I was. The second stage was, ‘Get me Joe Rovitto,’ followed by the third stage, ‘Get me somebody just like Joe Rovitto,’” he said, laughing. “Then came the fourth stage, ‘Get me a young Joe Rovitto,’ and finally, back to ‘Who is Joe Rovitto?’ meaning that you have gone full circle, from unknown to unknown. He wanted me to stay humble while I was working my way up.”
Mr. Berry was among a group of colleagues who traveled to Conneaut Lake for an annual golf outing, first organized by Mr. Hillgrove in 1969. “We’re still going strong, but this year we had to FaceTime him because he couldn’t make it,” said Mr. Hillgrove.
A reliable friend who was always a source of sage advice, Mr. Berry made a great sounding board on particularly tough days, Ms. Wiggin recalled.
“He’d be in the editing booth, and I would go in and talk to him if I was upset about something,” she remembered. “He was one of the people who got me through what was a minefield in those days. It was highly competitive, exhausting and unforgiving. He was a wise soul, and when he left, it was never the same.”
After he retired in 1996, Mr. Berry found time to pursue his other passions, like baking his famous Thanksgiving buns, reading and doing crossword puzzles.
A mentor and adviser to many, Mr. Berry should also be remembered for his kind soul, Mr. Rovitto said.
“He was an extraordinary human being,” he said. “The only thing bigger than his intelligence and humor was his heart.”
Along with his wife, Mr. Berry is survived by four children, Mark Berry, of Shadyside; Amy Berry, of Forest Hills; Beth Berry, of Forest Hills; and Cindy Picone, of Regent Square, as well as three grandchildren and one greatgrandchild. He was preceded in death by his siblings, Patricia Soles and Mitchell Berry.
His funeral was private. Memorial gifts are suggested to Family Hospice, 50 Moffett St., Pittsburgh, PA 15243, www.familyhospicepa.org, or to Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, 1 N. Linden St., Duquesne, PA 15110, www.pittsburghfoodbank.org.