Robbie Timmons is a retired American TV news anchor/reporter for

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

television stations WJBK-TV and WXYZ-TV. She was the first female news anchor in American history to anchor the 6:00pm and 11:00pm broadcasts in March 1973 while anchoring the news at

WILX-TV WILX-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Onondaga, Michigan, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Lansing area. Owned by Gray Media, the station maintains studios on American Road (near I-96) in Lansing, and its t ...

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, Michigan, Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County, Michigan, Eaton County and nort ...

. After four years at WILX-TV in Lansing, she was offered a job working as a reporter and 11pm news anchor for

WJBK-TV WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities ...

(CBS) in Detroit, where she worked for six years. In 1982 Timmons accepted a news anchor position for

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

, the ABC affiliate in Detroit where she received numerous honors including Emmy Awards and the distinction of being named one of the most powerful women in Michigan. Robbie Timmons retired in October 2010 and is currently an officer of a non-profit Thoroughbred retraining organization, CANTER.

Personal life and career

Timmons was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, attended

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

, studying Business Administration. She had a passion for television journalism and reporting. She wrote and produced TV commercials. In 1972 she interviewed for a TV News reporter/anchor position at WILX-TV in Lansing. Two weeks later she was on television as a reporter. While working at WILX-TV as a news anchor/reporter she worked with sportscaster

Jim Brandstatter Jim Brandstatter (born ) is an American former sportscaster. He served as a radio announcer for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1979 to 2021, and for the Detroit Lions from 1987 to 2017. Brandstatter is also a sports television show h ...

, whom she later married. In 1976 WILX sent Timmons to

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

to cover President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...

's address to television news directors at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

. Timmons was experienced in setting up and operating video cameras and after videotaping the president's address, she hoped to get an interview with him. She took advantage of an opportunity to grab Ford's attention by saying "Go Blue", as he approached. She knew that President Ford had played football at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, and was an avid alumnus. The president smiled, and gave Timmons an exclusive interview. The TV news director for CBS affiliate in Detroit saw Robbie get the exclusive interview and was so impressed he scheduled an interview with Timmons. Three weeks later she was the anchor for WJBK-TV for the 11:00pm news. As Timmons career as a news anchor in Detroit took off, Jim Brandstatter began working in the Sports Department of WDIV-TV in Detroit. They were married in 1980. Timmons has six Emmy awards for reporting and anchoring, two Silver Circle awards, and in 2013 was enshrined in the Michigan Association of Broadcaster's Hall of Fame. In 1998 Timmons began volunteering for CANTER, a non-profit all volunteer organization that retrains non-competitive thoroughbred race horses for new careers as sport horses or trail horses. She began volunteering full-time as Treasurer and currently Executive Director of CANTER after her retirement from television in 2010. Timmons wrote a popular book based on one of the thoroughbreds helped by CANTER, titled "Twoey and the Goat", in 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Timmons, Robbie Ohio State University Fisher College of Business alumni American television reporters and correspondents