Andrea Roane likens her career at WUSA (Channel 9) to something out of a reality show. "It's like 'Survivor,'" she quipped. "Outwit, outplay, outlast."

Roane, who marks 25 years at the CBS affiliate this week, has endured countless personnel and management changes and has been bounced all over the schedule -- from early morning to midday to late night. No matter, she said recently from her cluttered cubicle in the station's Northwest Washington newsroom.

"Change is part of the business. I'm adaptable, I work hard and it's paid off," she said. "And it's one of the reasons I'm still here."

Since 2000, Roane has co-anchored the sunrise show from 5 to 7 a.m. (first with Mike Buchanan and now with Mike Walter), and she's the lone anchor for the 9 a.m. newscast.

The shift "takes a toll on the body," she said, but it has its advantages.

Advertisement

Morning meteorologist Kim Martucci "calls it 'one team, one dream,'" Roane said, in reference to her early morning colleagues. "It's kind of nice to be here when things are quiet."

Roane, 56, joined Channel 9 in 1981 after a two-year stint as anchor of WETA's now-defunct "Metro Week." She first anchored at WUSA on weekday mornings, picking up the noon broadcast in 1983. In 1989, she began anchoring the 4 p.m. newscast.

In 1995, Roane joined Gordon Peterson to co-anchor the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, replacing longtime evening anchor Maureen Bunyan. Five years later, Roane herself was replaced by Gurvir Dhindsa and moved to the morning shift. (Bunyan and Peterson were reunited on WJLA, Channel 7, in 2004, and Dhindsa now anchors mornings at WTTG, Channel 5.)

Though the years at WUSA have included plenty of drama, Roane said the constants in her life have kept her grounded and going. "Family is first," she said.

Advertisement

The New Orleans native met her husband, Michael Skehan, at the city's CBS affiliate, where they both worked in the 1970s. They now live in the North Portal Estates neighborhood in Northwest.

And Roane beams about her children. Alicia, 25, a design assistant for high-end fashion label Kate Spade, was born during Roane's days at WETA and was thus known in the family as the "Public TV Baby." Andrew, 23, works at his father's TV production company and was known as the "Channel 9 Baby."

Roane's other passion is the "Buddy Check 9" program, which she has promoted on the air for the past 13 years. The idea is simple: On the ninth day of every month, women perform a breast self-examination and call a friend or relative to remind her to do the same.

"To have someone phone me up and say, 'Thank you, you saved my life' . . . that still blows my mind that something that simple has so much of an impact," Roane said.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZK6zr8eirZ5nnJ6zpr%2FTsqOeZ6SrfHN8j29maW9faH1wssirpKWxXZa7pLTOq5ydZaOlrq95wqWYrKuSlrustMSam5qmlKeyonnRqJinnV2irrO30mZpbmWpmq6zv4yaq2abmJa7r7HLZnCsqJGjfKOFwXBoaW2WYrFyfpZma21uYGKFp3yPZm5ya2hqhaaykGqan2dvnsCOu8Gio551YQ%3D%3D