Alexandra Todd, a 2009 graduate of Seneca Valley High School in Harmony who most recently worked for two years as a morning anchor in Sioux Falls, S.D., will join KDKA-TV next week as a reporter.
Technically she’ll be a MMJ (multimedia journalist), meaning she’ll be a one-woman band who reports and serves as her own videographer on taped pieces while working with a photojournalist for live shots. She’ll first appear on-air on KDKA on Oct. 1.
On her last broadcast at “Dakota News Now” in early August, Todd’s co-workers wished her well with the station’s assistant news director saying he’d miss talking reality TV with her.
Todd is a 2013 graduate of New York University where she studied early childhood education and special education. She’s also worked as an actress and after teaching for a year, Todd moved to Los Angeles, landing small roles in Disney and Nickelodeon series. She decided Los Angeles was not for her and opted to pursue a career in broadcast journalism.
“I had this lightbulb moment where [while] I was honored to have these little, small roles on these big opportunities, I realized as much as I love other peoples’ storytelling, wouldn’t it be nice if I could do the storytelling myself,” Todd said. “That’s when it all came to a head and I thought, let me apply to grad schools for journalism and see what happens.”
Todd graduated from Northwestern University with a master’s in broadcast journalism in 2021.
During her time at KSFY-TV in Sioux Falls, Todd anchored weekdays 5-7 a.m. and then was a feature reporter, introducing members of the community under reports titled “Someone You Should Know.”
“I got to handpick awesome people in the communities in the state of South Dakota” to highlight, said Todd, who won an Eric Sevareid Award from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association for her report on a Sioux Falls hairstylist creating a safe place for adopted children in the community.
Todd, who grew up on Mt. Washington before moving to Cranberry, expects to cover a mix of hard news and more uplifting, hopeful stories.
“I’m excited to get my tougher journalism hard news chops sharpened here, but I also [look forward to] finding those beautiful moments too,” Todd said. “Being able to come home and being able to know how to pronounce all 67 counties’ [names], how to fall in love with the sports — even the little, smaller teams and the school teams — my heart’s just tied already to all of that.”
Earlier this year Todd visited KDKA and posted to her social media about watching her mother, Pennsylvania Chief Supreme Court Justice, Debra Todd, be interviewed by Heather Abraham on KDKA’s “Talk Pittsburgh.”
Todd’s family’s ties to the KDKA name date back to 1930s radio when her late grandfather, Harry McCloskey, was the leader of the Shag Level Cider Hounds band, which played live on KDKA-AM when the station broadcast from a studio in the William Penn Hotel.
‘PTL’ regular gives birth
Celina Pompeani Mathison, a regular on KDKA-TV’s “Pittsburgh Today Live,” posted to Facebook that she gave birth to a son, Sonny Robert Mathison, who weighed in at 8 lbs. 8 oz.
“We love you little Sonny!” Pompeani Mathison wrote.
Channel surfing
Apple TV+’s “For All Mankind” returns for its fourth season Nov. 10. … Netflix renewed its live-action “One Piece” series for a second season. … That long-gestating “Star Wars” series starring Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian is now envisioned as a movie and Amazon pushed Glover’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” series back to 2024. … Animated adult comedy “Big Mouth” returns to Netflix for its seventh season on Oct. 20. … Some of the original stars of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” reunited for a new audio-only Audible series, “Slayers: A Buffyverse Story,” premiering Oct. 12. … HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” will return without its striking writers at 10 p.m. Sept. 22.
You can reach TV writer Rob Owen at rowen@triblive.com or 412-380-8559. Follow @RobOwenTV on Threads, Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook. Ask TV questions by email or phone. Please include your first name and location.