Bobbie Wygant, legendary entertainment reporter with first Texas TV station, has died
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Bobbie Wygant, the longtime KXAS entertainment reporter who joined the TV station when it was created as WBAP-TV in 1948 and took part in celebrations of the station’s anniversary, died Sunday, KXAS reported. She was 97.
Wygant did “a little of everything” at KXAS, from hosting Dateline and live game shows to interviewing celebrities, the news station reported.
She was hired two weeks before the station, founded by Amon Carter as the first TV station in Texas, went on air and said she in a book she published that she planned to stay in television until she was 98. She retired after 70 years with the station and continued freelancing for KXAS, returning regularly for major anniversaries.
Wygant was born in Lafayette, Indiana, as Roberta Frances Connolly on Nov. 22, 1926. She and her husband, Phil Wygant, came to Texas after going to Purdue University, where she got a degree in broadcasting and psychology, KXAS reported.
Born in Lafayette, Indiana, as Roberta Frances Connolly on November 22, 1926, Bobbie and her husband Phil Wygant came to Texas after college. She had a degree in broadcasting and psychology from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and said she always wanted to come to Texas.
“I was always in love with Texas. When I was a little kid I guess, movies and things, I just always knew that someday I would go to Texas,” Wygant said, according to KXAS.
“I was the first woman to host a general interest television talk show. Before that women had to do the housekeeping things and the cooking and so forth.” Wygant said, according to WFAA.. “The staff was ‘moi!’ I produced it. I did my own research.”
Throughout her career, Wygant interviewed celebrities like Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Bob Hope, Jimmy Dean and Richard Chamberlain. She received several recognitions and awards including induction into the Gold Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received the Gracie Award, KXAS reported.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
