Bob Phillips

Who is Bob Phillips?

Robert Leon Phillips, known as Bob Phillips, is an American television journalist best known for his long-running program Texas Country Reporter. In 2005, Phillips was inducted into the Silver Circle of the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the association that gives the Emmy Awards; the honor is extended to professionals who have spent at least twenty-five years of their career in television in Texas and have made significant contributions to their industry and their communities.

Phillips was born in Dallas, Texas, where he graduated in 1969 from Bryan Adams High School. He grew up in the hotel industry with a mother whose specialty was helping hotels to establish their housekeeping staff; in a 2006 interview, Phillips stated that his first paying job was assisting the executive chef at the Dallas Hilton Hotel, adding, "I found out real fast that washing dishes was not what I wanted to do." He attended Southern Methodist University, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1973 and a Master of Liberal Arts degree in 1977.

An admirer of CBS broadcast journalist Charles Kuralt, Phillips chose the same field. He began working at local CBS affiliate KDFW-TV as a gofer his first year in college, started learning to use a TV camera, and within three months was reassigned as a photographer. He got his break in March 1970 when he was sent to shoot film about a possible drowning, and no reporter was available to interview the youths involved, who had in fact survived; after preparing the equipment, Phillips stepped in forward to report the story while the camera ran itself, a procedure that would become his regular mode of operations.