Kathy Roberts

Kathy Roberts
Born	Kathy Ann Grossart 1955 (age 68–69) Racine, Wisconsin
Other names	Kathy Fountaine (1979-2009)
Years active	1979-present
Television	WMYX (1979-1984) WXWI (1985-2009)
Predecessor	Rhonda Rhodes (Vote for the Girls USA moderatror)
Successor	Rhonda Rhodes (Your Debate Host)
Spouse	Frank Roberts (m. 1995) William Fountaine (m. 1980; div. 1990)

Kathy Roberts (née Grossart) (born 1955) is a former American afternoon news anchor for ABC affiliate station WXWI-FTV of Racine, Wisconsin, of which she co-anchored WXWI's 4:00 p.m. newscast with Lanise White from 1989 until 2009 and currently a moderator of the American version of Vote for the Girls.

Career

Anchorwoman

Kathy began her career in 1979 at then-independent Milwuakee station WMYX-FTV (now a Fox affiliate) as anchor/reporter. In 1985, she left to become a host at WMYX's competitor ABC affiliate WXWI-FTV (that station was affiliated with Fox from 1994 until 2010 before switching back to ABC) to become the noon anchor.

In 1989, the station launched the market's first 4:00 p.m. newscast and Bill Randolph, WXWI's news director at the time, and at the suggestion of close friend of David Imperial, Sr., the president of WXWI's then-owner Imperial Broadcasting, wanted to pair Kathy (known as Kathy Fountiane at the time) with an up-and-coming anchor from Green Bay for the September 1989 debut of Eyewitness News at 4:00 p.m. At the time, in the male-dominated world of Milwaukee television news, this was a first time two women co-anchored a newscast and eventually spread to WXWI's eventual sister stations now owned by NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations.

Departure from WXWI and Your Debate

On November 22, 2009, Roberts stepped down from Your Debate after 20 years with the program and left WXWI after 24 years with the station. Her final Your Debate broadcast did not feature clips highlighting memorable interviews and famous moments from her tenure as host, as is typical when an anchor retires. Instead, the show replayed the highly acclaimed episode of Your Debate with Roberts' 2008 interview with eventual Vote for the Girls creator Ava Zinn, who was at the time was President and CEO of NoSirGifts (NoSirGifts had acquired WXWI from NT Communications and WXWI's sister stations independent station WFUR-FTV (now WZWI) and Madison Fox affiliate WHAR-FTV from USNCD News Venues a year later).

After the show's last commercial break, Roberts made her final remarks prior to signing off:

“

There's this quiz I give to some of our young interns when they first arrive at WXWI. I didn't do it with the last batch; it's a little too close to home. "How many of you," I'll ask, "can tell me anything about Bill Leep?" Blank stares. "How about Hal Smith or Frank Roberts?" Not a twitch of recognition. "Melvin Runecraft" sometimes causes a hand or two to be raised and may be glad to learn that a lot of young people still have a vague recollection that he once worked in television news. What none of these young men and women in their late teens and early 20s appreciates, until I point it out to them, is that they have just heard the names of seven anchormen/anchorwomen or commentators who were once so famous that everyone in Milwaukee knew their names. Everybody. Trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal. Smith begat John Wills, and Roberts begat Runecraft. And each of them did a pretty fair job in their own right. You've always been very nice to me, so give this new host for Your Debate a fair break. If you don't, I promise you Fox 10 will just put another court show in this time slot. Then you'll be sorry. And that's our debate for tonight. I'm Kathy Fountaine, and from all of us here at Fox 10 News, good night.

”

Vote for the Girls moderator

In a seminar by Ava Zinn on July 3, 2015, it was revealed that Kathy Roberts will join the moderator panel of the American version of Vote for the Girls, and Zinn prompted at the suggestion of her former NoSirGifts colleague Melvin Runecraft and the success of the White/Fountain anchor team on on WXWI's 4:00 p.m. newscast would translate to a great Vote for the Girls moderator rivalry. Because both White and Roberts are from the same market and are both women as well as to make room for Roberts' arrival, White was moved from the pink team to the purple team (with White being on the same team with duo moderators Ava Zinn & Kymberly Alvaraz, Julia & Rachael Passalt, and solo moderators Kendra Ray and Kathi Jameson) and Roberts on the Pink team (with duo moderators Holly Everman & one of Everman's relatives, Kellie & Megan Rock, and solo moderators Thia Tola and Tracia Ward); this differs from the Ava Zinn-Holly Everman rivalry of Marion/Muncie, Indiana and Tracia Ward-Kathi Jameson of Chicagoland as Zinn and Jameson are both transgendered women on the purple team are respectively competing against bisexual women Everman and Ward on the Pink team. This marks the first time in the web site's history a woman is on a transwoman's team.