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  Barbara Rodgers  
 

For nearly 30 years, Barbara Rodgers was one of the most recognizable newscasters on CBS 5 Eyewitness News. She started at the station in 1979 and quickly became a popular, award-winning anchor, reporter and show host. Before leaving CBS 5 in 2008, she was co-anchor of Eyewitness News at Noon and host of Bay Sunday, a weekly public affairs program where she interviewed dozens of newsmakers, community leaders and celebrities, including Spike Lee, Terry McMillan, Delroy Lindo and Jamie Foxx. She also was a reporter for the Jefferson Awards, given each week to people who have done outstanding public service. Many viewers still remember her years as the co-anchor of CBS 5's weekend newscasts with the late Doug Murphy from 1987 to 2000.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
Rodgers has received numerous honors for her work and community service, including the Frederick D. Patterson Outstanding Individual Award from the United Negro College Fund (2008), seven Emmy Awards from the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS); five Excellence in Journalism Awards from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ); and awards for reporting from the Associated Press, United Press International, the (San Francisco) Peninsula Press Club and The Society of Professional Journalists. In 2004, she received the "Pioneer Award" from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and the Governor's Award from NATAS, the highest local award a journalist can receive. That year, she was also inducted into the Golden Key International Honor Society. In 1992, the San Francisco Chapter of the League of Women Voters chose her as one of its "Women Who Could Be President." She has also been honored by the California Legislature, the National Council of Negro Women, CityFlight Magazine and the Golden Gate Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, receiving AWRT's Kudo Award for Best On-Air Anchor in 2003. Also in 2003, she was given the national Unity Award from the Radio and Television News Directors Association for reporting in the series "Muslims in America," which examined cultural, civil rights and religious issues involving American Muslims in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 1993, she was chosen by the Freedom Forum and the National Association of Black Journalists as one of five journalists to participate in the South Africa Journalists Exchange Program. She spent a month in that country reporting on the changes taking place there since the end of Apartheid.

In 1985, Rodgers was awarded the prestigious William Benton Fellowship in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Chicago. During her six-month leave of absence to participate in the fellowship program, she took courses in such diverse subjects as international relations, poetry writing and Meso-American pre-history. "It was," says Rodgers, "one of the most exciting and intellectually stimulating experiences of my life." She has also been a fellow at the Aspen (Colorado) Institute, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives; and at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, which provides innovative training programs for journalists.

Rodgers joined CBS 5 after seven years at WOKR-TV in Rochester, New York. Prior to entering a career in broadcasting, Rodgers headed the Business Skills Department and was an instructor of English and communications at the Educational Opportunity Center in Rochester. She also worked as an urban affairs researcher and a computer programmer for the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester.

EDUCATION, CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
Rodgers holds a bachelor's degree in business from Knoxville College in Knoxville, Tennessee. She did additional studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Chicago. She is a member and co-founder of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association and has served on the boards of various organizations, including the World Affairs Council of Northern California, the Society of Professional Journalists, Walden House, a non-profit health and human services program specializing in substance abuse treatment for people of all ages and Friends of Faith, which raises funds to help low income women diagnosed with breast cancer. She has volunteered her time to scores of other community groups.

PERSONAL
Rodgers loves traveling and has been to scores of countries on five different continents. She is also a confessed "foodie" and a lover of good music--especially jazz and classical. She is currently writing her first novel, which she calls "an urban contemporary romance."

 

 

 

 

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