Bobbie Wygant

Roberta Frances Wygant (nee Connolly;[1] November 22, 1926 – February 18, 2024) was an American television news reporter, film critic, talk show host, and interviewer who worked for Fort Worth, Texas, television station KXAS-TV (originally known as WBAP-TV) for over 70 years.

She remained a full-time student while caring for her mother during her extended illness, after which she maintained the home for her father and her brothers.

[7] A trip to the 1939 New York World's Fair sparked her interest in television as she visited an experimental TV studio and appeared in front of a camera.

[1] Wygant graduated from St. Francis High School[3] and from Purdue University in 1947, majoring in media broadcasting as well as psychology.

She gained her own talk program, Dateline, in 1960 after she filled in for a week when the original host was sick with the flu.

[4] Around 1975, after a change in station ownership, Wygant began working in the news department, particularly teaming with Chip Moody on Inside Area 5, which featured interviews and coverage of community activities.

[1] Beginning in 1977, she was co-host of the local component of The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.

[15] In early 2019, she published her autobiography, Talking to the Stars: Bobbie Wygant's Seventy Years in Television.