Bobbie Battista
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Barbara Ann "Bobbie" Battista is a former newscaster with CNN who anchored on all three CNN networks and hosted numerous shows during a 20-year career. She remains active in television today.
[edit] Career
Battista earned a Bachelor's degree in radio, television and film production at Northwestern University, and after beginning her career in Raleigh, North Carolina at a radio station, she moved on to be an anchor, reporter and producer with WRAL-TV. She was employed at WRAL for seven years before becoming part of CNN at its inception in 1981.
With CNN, Battista started as an anchor on the CNN Headline News station, and was moved to the main network in 1986, where she served as host of numerous daily and regularly scheduled shows as well as handling anchor and reporting duties. During that time, she reported on historic events including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Challenger disaster, the Gulf War, and September 11 terrorist attacks. Battista also hosted a regular program on the CNN International network.
In 1998, Battista was named as the host of the first multi-platform interactive talk show, Talk Back Live, which ran for an hour on weekday afternoons.
Battista left CNN after the merger of CNN's parent company Time Warner with America Online in 2001. She joined her husband's firm, Atamira Communications, and has provided strategic consul to a wide range of Fortune 500 companies. Battista remains active in television and is a member of AFTRA.
Battista's unique style was parodied on Saturday Night Live and a number of other satirical television programs.
[edit] Awards
Over her years at CNN, Battista was recognized with a number of awards. She wrote and produced a series on youth crime involving five stations, and was the recipient of a Peabody Award for her efforts. She also received a nomination for a CableACE Award in 1995.
