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KAREN
FOSS
news
anchor, KSDK (Channel 5) |
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By Holly O ’Brien
If Karen Foss had followed her dreams, she would have been an art teacher...or maybe a producer for “The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.” As fate would have it (and to the delight of her fans), she instead co-anchors the five and 10 p.m. news at KSDK (Channel 5). “Forty years ago, I never even considered that being on the news was a possibility,” she recalls. “There were no role models for me. It was older white men reading news for 15 minutes.”
But some of her art classes at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) were housed in the communications department, and that’s when her eyes were opened to what could be. “I knew I loved to write, but I never thought I’d be on camera,” she admits. “So I taught myself to type and became a secretary at a news station in Kansas City.”
Foss reflects on the early days when the people who either discouraged or encouraged her were men: “‘This is a terrible business for a woman,’ they said. But once they saw how determined I was, they were all too eager to help. People in this business are very gracious and generous.”
It’s been 25 years since Foss first joined Channel 5, and now she is recognized the world over—for better or worse. “I was eating at a restaurant in Paris, and people at the next table over knew exactly who I was,” she says. “Another time, I was having dental work done. My face was very distorted from the cotton packing and Novocaine. The taxi driver very astutely pointed out that I looked better on TV!”
With a job as demanding as Foss’s, time management skills and stress outlets are paramount. What makes her effective, she insists, is organization and communication. “Early in my career, I was a single mother. I learned to talk through everything, and help my children help me prioritize,” she says. “[I would ask], ‘Would you like home baked cookies, or would you like me to be at the basketball game?’”
Things have slowed down some over the years, but as the oldest of five siblings, Foss still can’t shake her innate sense of responsibility and the desire to make things right. “We were shopping out of town over the holidays,” she remembers, “and the lady behind
the counter got so busy I went back to help her gift wrap.”
The best antidote to the frenetic pace she keeps is her grandchildren. “My son lives in Germany, and I don’t get to see his two [children] nearly enough,” she laments. “But my daughter is here with her 3-year-old...and I delight in her discovery. I marvel at the continuity of family, and I’m so proud of my daughter’s development as a mother. There is nothing more important than family.”
When she’s not working, Foss says she’s happy staying at home and spending quiet time with her husband, Jim Whiteley, who sells real estate. In fact, her own dining room is her favorite restaurant, a place where she can enjoy comfort food like homemade macaroni and cheese.
Perhaps it’s this warmth—overlying a firm bedrock of confidence and strength—that so many viewers admire. When asked what she hopes Karen Foss the anchor is known for, she responds that it is respect for the people she reports on and to. “The stories we air are about our friends and neighbors,” she says. “The challenge is to maintain the appropriate demeanor, and I hope I exhibit grace.”
As for the person Karen Foss, her desire is to be remembered as a loving and loved individual. “[I hope] that my grandchildren will think of me fondly with a sense that I contributed in a good way,” she says. “I want them to really know me—and not as a distant figure. And I want to be around for a long time!”
Holly O’Brien is a freelance writer based in
St. Louis. |
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