The Ebell of Los Angeles recently celebrated the legacy of Glenda Wina, a hometown girl who became a trailblazing journalist, news anchor, and media pioneer.
The evening included a presentation that highlighted Wina’s groundbreaking work and a discussion with her daughter, Mpambo Wina, who is a dancer and leads Marlborough School’s Performing Arts Department.
Wina made her stamp as the first African American female to anchor news in Los Angeles at KNXT (now KCBS) after returning from Africa after separating from her husband, Sikota Wina, a Zambian politician.
In the early 1970s, KNXT had the most popular news broadcast when the station hired a minority female anchor – Wina.
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“They had been interviewing all of these people and couldn’t find anyone who had been a journalist,” said Wina, who is the eldest sister to Marilyn McCoo of the 5th Dimension, a hit-making 1960s-70s band.
“They thought they could get somebody who’s at least used to being in the public eye, and then they would train them to be a journalist. They were interviewing models and beauty queens and all of these different people. When I [interviewed], I was actually a journalist,” added Wina who said she became the second woman to anchor the news in LA.
It didn’t take her long to raise the bar in the news. The daughter of two doctors, Wina was one of the first specialist reporters to cover health and science. But being the first to pave the way came with challenges.
“There were some (White men) on camera crews that were not happy about my about a Black woman being there,” she said, adding that they assumed she was an unqualified minority hire or affirmative action hire. “But I was the most experienced person there,” said Wina.
Wina interviewed some of the most distinguished scientists in the world including Nobel Peace Prize winner Linus Carl Pauling for his fight against the nuclear arms race between East and West and Dr. Christiaan Barnard, the first surgeon to conduct a human-to-human heart transplant.
Wina’s extraordinary journey began at UCLA in a program called Crossroads Africa. Wina refined her journalistic skills dealing with history-makers and world-changers while living in Zambia, formerly called Northern Rhodesia.
While there she married Sikota, then a high-ranking diplomat, and advocated for the nation’s independence. She met with such iconic people as Ethiopia Emperor Haile Selassie I, Kenya Prime Minister Jomo Kenyatta, and India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“But I was speechless when I met President Barack Obama for some reason,” she joked.
After winning various news awards, she retired from KNXT after 20 years and worked at the “American Journal” which aired on PBS stations.
She would later teach at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and work as the communications director for L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.
