Robin Roberts (newscaster)
Robin Roberts | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 23, 1960 |
| Occupation | Television journalist |
| Notable credit(s) | ESPN correspondent (1990–2005) Good Morning America correspondent (1995–present) Good Morning America co-anchor (2005–present) |
| Website | ABC News: Robin Roberts |
Robin Roberts (born November 23, 1960) is an American television broadcaster. Roberts is the co-anchor of ABC's morning show Good Morning America.
Early life
Roberts grew up in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where she played basketball and tennis among other sports, and graduated from high school as the class salutatorian. Her father was one of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Roberts attended Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana, graduating cum laude in 1983 with a degree in communications. She followed in the footsteps of older sister Sally-Ann Roberts, an anchor at the CBS affiliate WWL in New Orleans.
Roberts noted on the January 13,2007 edition of Costas on the Radio that she was offered a scholarship to play basketball at Louisiana State University, but thought the school too big and impersonal after visiting the campus. On her way back to Pass Christian from that visit, she saw a road sign for Southeastern Louisiana University, stopped to visit and decided to enroll. The only scholarship left was a tennis scholarship and she was promised that there would be a journalism scholarship by the time she would graduate.
Broadcasting career
Roberts began her career in 1983 as a sports anchor and reporter for WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, Mississippi [1]. In 1984, she moved to WLOX-TV in Biloxi, Mississippi. In 1986, she was sports anchor and reporter for WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee [2]. She was also a sports anchor and reporter at WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia from 1988-1990. She was also a radio host for radio station V103 while in Atlanta.
She joined ESPN as a sportscaster in February 1990, and began to work for ABC News, specifically as a featured reporter, for Good Morning America in June 1995.
For many years, Roberts worked at both ESPN and Good Morning America, contributing to both programs. During that time, she served primarily as the news anchor at "GMA". In 2005, Roberts was promoted to co-anchor of Good Morning America.
In the fall of 2005, she anchored a series of emotional reports from the Mississippi Gulf Coast after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina; her hometown of Pass Christian was especially hard hit, with her old high school completely reduced to rubble.
Roberts has earned three Emmy Awards for her sportscasting work at ESPN.
In 2007, Roberts published her first book From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By.
Health status
On July 31 2007 Roberts announced during the live broadcast of Good Morning America that she had been diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer. She noticed a lump through self-examination the day they were working on Joel Siegel's farewell on Good Morning America (Siegel died from colon cancer). [3] Roberts underwent surgery August 3, and on August 9 ABC News announced she was planning to return to the anchor desk on Monday, August 13.
Roberts announced on the The Ellen DeGeneres Show on September 5 2007 that she is more healthy now than before the cancer but still faces future treatment. She also revealed that the mammogram did not detect her cancer but a follow up ultrasound did.
Roberts has recently shaved her head. She wears a wig on Good Morning America because she "doesn't want to distract viewers from the news."
As of January 10 2008 Roberts had completed her eight chemotherapy treatments. She will follow up with 6 1/2 weeks of radiation.
References
External links
- IMG Speakers
- Robin Roberts profile provided by ABC News
- National Women's History Project biography
- Roberts Q&A on post-Katrina trip
- Robin Roberts interview
| Preceded by Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer |
Good Morning America co-anchor 2005 – Present with Charles Gibson (until June 28 2006), and Diane Sawyer |
Succeeded by Incumbent |