Nov. 17
November 17, 2009
Mr. Heath Adam Perkins
November 19, 2009
For 48 years, when news happened in Lafourche or Terrebonne parish, radio listeners could trust that retired KTIB Station Manager Marie Servino Bergeron was on the job.
Bergeron, 75, worked at KTIB for 48 years, prior to retiring in 2002.
Longtime radio leader Ray Saadi, who knew her for more than 50 years, said she was the best local news and radio advertising personality that ever sat behind a microphone in the Houma-Thibodaux area.
Sadly, Bergeron died on Sunday, Nov. 15, at Regional Medical Center of Acadiana in Lafayette.
Locals will say their final goodbyes to her today at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, with interment following at the church cemetery. The family requests that visiting hours be observed from 9 a.m. until service time.
In Saadi’s words, “Marie was truly a pioneer in the radio broadcasting industry and will be greatly missed.”
Bergeron found her passion for broadcasting at an early age while tuning in to a radiocast on World War II, Saadi said.
She took the necessary steps to fulfill her dream fresh out of Sacred Heart High School in Tennessee. She enrolled in the Keegan’s School of Radio, Broadcasting & Television in Memphis, Tenn.
After graduation, she got her first job at WELO AM in Tupelo, Miss. She lasted two weeks on that job, according to a 1997 news article in the Tri-Parish BusinessNews.
“I didn’t know what I was doing,” she told the paper.
But she didn’t give up on her dream. Some years later, she tried it again, when she accepted a job as “Girl Friday” on KWEM in West Memphis, Ark. That is how she met legendary blues singers B.B. King, Lil’ Jr. Parker and Howlin’ Wolf, Saadi said.
Bergeron worked at the Arkansas station until she came to Thibodaux. It was then that she began living out her dream, Saadi said.
Former KTIB manager Hal Benson hired her as an office manager. A year later, Saadi, a sales manager with KTIB, and Bergeron had the pleasure of meeting each other for the first time, he recalled.
The two worked together at KTIB until 1968, when Saadi left to become executive vice president of LaTerr Broadcasting, original owners of KHOM in Houma.
Still green in the broadcasting industry, Bergeron came to work for KHOM for a short stint.
“I gave Marie some pointers on the ins and outs of broadcasting, and she taught me what a good work ethic was. She really became a well-known on-air personality in this area,” Saadi said.
Before long, she headed back to KTIB to cover news and sell radio advertisements. She was reluctant to be an on-air personality, Saadi said, but he outfoxed her.
“I would say, ‘Hey Marie, would you cover a story for me in Houma?’ or, ‘Hey Marie, there’s this thing happening right now and I want you to go for me,'” he recalled. “‘Just take a tape recorder with you and record what is said’. Before long, she was going everywhere interviewing everybody.”
LaTerr Broadcasting purchased KTIB in the early 1980s and Bergeron became the station manager for both radio stations. From there, her daily radiocast “Dailogue” took form.
One of her strongest suits, Saadi said, was covering political events and hurricanes. He said she’d interview every politician from Lafourche to Terrebonne parish, and she never missed a hurricane season.
“She was a splendid broadcaster. She was polite and well prepared,” Saadi said. “She did her job beautifully. She was the kind of employee that any employer wanted working for them.”
Under her helm, Saadi said she had the pleasure of molding well-known broadcasters WVUE-TV Fox 8 News’ Margaret Dubuisson, WWL’s Dave McNamara and Sue Poye with the Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association before they took their place in front of the cameras.
Her reputation as an outstanding broadcaster earned her top honors.
Bergeron was awarded the Business and Professional Women Foundation’s Woman of the Year title, the Frank Kennedy Award, the Chamber Government Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcasting presented by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters.
Former KTIB Station Manager Marie Servino Bergeron died Sunday at age 75. * File photo / Tri-Parish Times
