GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Hard to believe, but Robb Westaby has been on the air for 5 decades!
Born and raised in California, our resident Dodgers fan jokes that he’s probably the anti-cliché for this home state. He’s never been surfing and never been in the movies—though it’s hard not to meet a star or two in the broadcast industry.
He started in radio during the first time it was cool to come to work with this shirt:
—And has been reporting on traffic and other local events through the years, sporting only the most stylish of coifs:
The Life & Times of Robb Westaby isn’t fully documented on his social profiles for us to do a proper deep dive and secretly write a celebratory article— despite his insistence that he has been using the internet since the dinosaur days. What even are the interwebs for, Robb, but chronicling your every moment?
Among our questions—what are all these buttons for, anyway?
All we know is he came to Michigan in the 80s, moving off camera to entertain West Michigan commuters as a morning personality at STAR 105.7 and later took on the roll of Program Director for WOOD radio before life gave him the green light to join FOX 17 in 2008.
While Robb has been the calm voice of reason for the FOX 17 Morning Show traffic reports the past 16 years, he's more recently used his golden tones to anchor several newscasts. That was a role that came by chance one day when a handful of sick calls left the FOX 17 Midday newscast without an anchor. Robb stepped in to help out that day, and the rest as they say is history!
Robb is now the anchor for FOX 17 News at 5 a.m. plus he delivers traffic updates throughout the FOX 17 Morning Show.
It’s been a long road and we couldn’t be more glad to have him keeping an eye out for us on our daily drives, updating us on changes that make our state a safer place to travel, and making sure West Michigan knows exactly what’s ahead.
Congratulations on 50 years in broadcasting, Robb!
You can follow Robb on Facebookand X
Special thanks to The History of WOWO Radio 1190 for sharing the airchecks and other audio from Robb's early radio days!
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