In the early days of WDSU, there wasn't really a playbook on how to do local TV. It was very much trial, error and dedication by a young group of pioneers laying the groundwork for future journalists. "This was a new medium, and I was fascinated with it," said Ellen Hardeman, one of the first producers at WDSU. In 1951, at just 17 years old, Hardeman walked through the station's French Quarter doors on Royal St. for the very first time. She started as an excited volunteer with a zest for broadcast, working on a children's show called "Mrs. Muffin" before quickly rising through the ranks. "The only station was WDSU when I was a teenager, and they were live shows with Dick Van Dyke, and Phil Gordon, and Vera Massey," said Hardeman, who also wrote a book about her time at the station. "I went down there the day after my graduation, and they gave me a desk and a typewriter and a phone. And I said, 'I don't type.' So they sent me to typing school to learn how to type. That's what they did."In addition to writing scripts, she and her TV family were writing the rules for television production. "They hired all this talent and gave us free will because they trusted that they knew that they could do it, and they did," said Hardeman. "We were the highest-rated station there. We were the only station for a while, but then, when the others came on, they gave us such freedom to do what we needed to do, and we always got what we asked for."Bob and Jan Carr were also breaking barriers on television in New Orleans at WDSU. "We were the first husband and wife team. So we represented the family image of New Orleans," said Bob Carr. The couple even had to get special permission from station management and the catholic church to get on air, becoming mainstays of the midday news in the 60s."We were on sometimes seven days a week. We did the Second Cup show, then the Midday Show, then the Bob and Jan Show," said Carr. Jan was even pregnant on TV, something else that was a little taboo at the time, but family, in general, has always been central to the station. "WDSU was just our life," said Janet Romig, whose family grew around WDSU. Her husband Jerry was the Vice President of Productions and Program Director in the 1960s and 70s, incorporating his kids and wife frequently in commercials and shows. "WDSU was really a wonderful time in our lives because the kids could be a part of it, like with the commercials that they made," said Romig. "We were just run all over the place," said daughter Mary Beth Romig. "We were playing in the prop rooms, which were built on shelves back in the back. We would play on the set like we were the newsmen. I always wanted to be Nash Roberts."These trailblazers would go on to impact the lives of countless families, relying on WDSU journalists and staff to tell them the stories that matter and guide them through the decades. "I learned from the best," said Hardeman. "Those were some of the best people in the early television. Pioneers. We were pioneers."Bob Carr is still producing his own show on YouTube chronicling the events in his retirement community. Jan died last year at the age of 91 in Covington after 71 years of marriage.