CHICAGO (WBBM Newsradio) – Elizabeth Rose “Betty” Sanders, a longtime Chicago radio personality who helped bring warmth and personality to midday programming on WBBM Newsradio, has died. She was 93.
Sanders died Feb. 20, 2026, surrounded by friends.
Born Oct. 20, 1932, in St. Louis to Joseph and Elizabeth Kwitzky, Sanders attended Bayless High School, where she played sports and developed a love for theater. After a brief stint in modeling, she met broadcaster Bob Sanders. The couple married May 15, 1954, and raised two children while following Bob’s radio career from St. Louis to Kansas City, Wichita and eventually the Chicago suburbs.
In 1972, Sanders joined her husband on the midday show at WBBM in Chicago. At a time when the station was known for its all-news format, the pair offered listeners a lighter alternative, blending celebrity interviews, playful banter, ad-libbed commercials and hourly quiz questions.
Their chemistry resonated with audiences, and the show remained on the air for more than a decade.
After leaving WBBM, the couple served briefly as goodwill ambassadors for the Salvation Army before moving to New York, where they worked at WMCA for about two years. Their joint radio career concluded at WISN in Milwaukee.
Bob and Betty Sanders retired to Williams Bay, Wisconsin, near Lake Geneva, where they expanded a small weekend cottage into a retirement home that became a gathering place for family and friends.
After Bob suffered a stroke in 1993, Betty Sanders became his full-time caregiver. She cared for him for two decades until his death in 2013, after 59 years of marriage.
Even in her 80s, Sanders remained active. She managed a senior living facility and later moved in 2014 to Friendship Village, now known as Encore Village, in Schaumburg, Illinois. There, she participated in Silver Games competitions, contributed to the community’s in-house television station, occasionally led morning prayer and joined an improv comedy group.
Sanders is remembered for her quick wit, devotion to family and the distinctive presence she brought to Chicago radio.