Rosenda Rios-Burns

Rosenda Rios-Burns knew she wanted to be a broadcast journalist from the moment she heard the reporters on the floor of the 1968 political conventions. Keeping her reel-to-reel tape machine handy, she recorded any radio and TV report she could find.

Rosenda enrolled in the San Antonio College RTF program where she had her first on-air experience on KSYM, the college radio station. The “A” grade she received for the news story she wrote and produced for her semester final gave Rosenda the confidence to apply for a job at WOAI Radio. She was hired in 1977 as a news writer for morning-drive news anchor Bob Guthrie.

Rosenda next moved to KKYX where she covered the Bexar County Courthouse in a highly competitive era in radio news. She then joined KISS not only to do daily news updates but also to tackle important issues facing young listeners. Special reports on date-rape and addiction were two of her proudest achievements. She was also honored for her health reporting with the Anson Jones Award from the Texas Medical Association and a citation from the American Cancer Society.

Rosenda moved to KXZL for a short time then joined the news team at KMMX where she did 90-second morning-drive news reports and a weekly public affairs program. She was known as Rosenda Baker through many of those years, transitioning to her married name, Rosenda Burns, after 1989.

While at KMMX Rosenda added television journalism to her resume. She used her maiden name on KENS-TV in the afternoons and weekends, and her married name on radio during morning drive weekdays.

Rosenda then moved to KQXT where she partnered with Jim Sharon on the Morning Show. Among their many projects, the duo was chosen by the Diet Coke Radio Network as the only radio team from San Antonio to broadcast "live" from the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Rosenda transitioned to a full-time television career in 1995. She passed away in 2020.