If you are from the Pittsburgh area and tuned in to KDKA-TV at any point over the past 15 years, then you may be familiar with the name Heather Abraham.
Oddly enough, if it wasn’t for Mr. Lee Myers and his video classes, you may have never heard of Heather Abraham.
She grew up in the Shaler Area School District, but before graduating in 2002, she wasn’t involved with any extra-curricular activities in the high school. A classmate of hers asked her to help out with a sports program for SATV. She said yes, not knowing what to expect or how it would ultimately go.
“I just really liked everybody who was there. Mr. Myers was hugely encouraging,” she said. “It became a really safe space for me to direct the energy that I had in a positive way.”
That experience, which put her on her career path, has given her some perspective which she shared.
“I think that there are always people around who are helping you. If you open your eyes and you allow yourself to see it, there are always people in your corner: they could be your teachers, they could be your parents, they could be friends, they can be family members. But in this building, Mr. Myers might be one of them.”
After helping out with the sports program, the first SATV morning announcements class was launched during her senior year which she was happy to take.
“I got to be part of the first class, and I just felt like this is what I wanted to do,” Abraham said.
She continued her education by attending West Virginia University to pursue a degree in broadcast journalism. Shortly after graduating in 2006 she became a reporter for News 12 Brooklyn, where she spent four years covering stories and working in multiple roles such as a reporter, photographer, and editor.
“I got to cover the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest when I was in New York, which was disgusting and amazing and included lots of puns. That was one of the coolest things that I could ever do, because it’s a national thing,” Abraham said.
After those four years, in 2010, Heather got a chance to come back home when she was hired at KDKA where she has witnessed some of the biggest news events in the city.
“I’ve covered some of our bigger events that have happened within the last five or so years. I covered the (Tree of Life) Synagogue shooting. We were on the air for eight hours. We stayed on all day,” Abraham said.
In September of 2022, a unexpected change happened in her career. Heather stepped away from her job as a morning news anchor to pursue being the host of Talk Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Today Live.
“It was not easy to come to this decision in my heart, but after talking with my wonderful bosses at KDKA, and with their blessing, I am stepping away from the anchor desk in the morning,” Abraham wrote on her Facebook page. “It will allow me to expand my role on ‘PTL,’ still contribute to the morning show with valuable reports and I’ll be able to help with additional creative content.”
From starting out at Shaler Area High School to West Virginia University to New York and finally back to Pittsburgh, Abraham has always loved her career in television. She can not wait to see what the future has in store for her.
