During her professional career, local resident Kathy Romano has excelled in a wide range of mediums that include television, film and radio. Over the years her hard work, determination, bubbly personality, and yearning desire to learn more has granted her the title of radio personality for one of the most popular stations in the Philadelphia region. Her decorated accomplishments behind the microphone truly speak for themselves. However, it’s what Kathy does away from the microphone that genuinely makes her shine in a light all her own. On top of being one of our area’s most passionate philanthropists, Kathy is a proud mom to her four year old son, a big sister to her two brothers Jim & Christopher, and a loving wife to her best friend and husband Dennis. It’s literally unbelievable to imagine how much the Conshohocken resident has on her plate, yet she handles it all with a style and elegance that is more than deserving of this article!
As a kid, Kathy was born in Long Island, New York and moved to Bucks County when she was just a young girl. When her parents Gerry and Robert bought Kathy’s grandparents house in Levittown over 30 years ago the family made the move from NY to our local region. Kathy’s mom Gerry is a long time nurse who worked and helped those in need at a homeless shelter in Bucks County. At 70 years old, her Dad Robert is still working as an electrician to this day! On top of being very supportive parents, Gerri and Robert were also loving foster parents. Kathy vividly remembers growing up with her foster brothers and sisters, and believes that it made a huge impact on the person she is today. The Romano’s have always been very family oriented, and Kathy’s own small family is a perfect reflection of the way she was raised.
After settling in with her family in Bucks County, Kathy attended Penn Valley Elementary School and then William Penn Middle School. Some of her favorite memories from growing up were spending time with her younger brothers at the LPRA Community Pool in Levittown. After middle school, Kathy enrolled at Pennsbury High School in Fairless Hills and was soon joined by her younger brothers who were just a few years back. When it came to schooling, the young high school student showed a particular interest in tv, film, and radio. That interest soon turned into passion and with the help of Al Wilson, head of Pennsbury’s tv department, that passion turned into a mature expression of skill and talent. During her time at Pennsbury the budding young student helped evolve her craft by taking media classes, filming sports games, editing videos, and helping create and broadcast the high schools daily morning shows. Although a great student, nothing came more naturally to her than media, and it showed!
Kathy continued to add experience and knowledge to her growing resume at West Chester University where she graduated magna cum laude and majored in Communications Studies. She even returned to be the commencement speaker in 2013. During the last semester of college she landed an internship with UPN57, now CWPhilly in Philadelphia. As a wide eyed intern, Kathy learned as much she could while quickly adjusting to the work load and fast paced environment. Her first big opportunity occurred when she recorded a segment featuring the Ronald McDonald house in Philadelphia. The piece was so well done the station decided to air it live! As time passed Kathy moved on from UPN57 and was hired at NBC10 where she found herself reporting, making reels, editing, assisting with On-Air assignments, and covering local news. During her time with Channel 10, she became a fill-in traffic broadcaster after the previous reporter had left for another job. Once another full time reporter was hired Kathy found herself off-air, that is until Preston & Steve reached out to see if she would like to embark on a new opportunity with them at Y100. With her resume soon arriving on the desk at Y100, the aspiring radio personality got the job of her dreams as the female voice of the Preston & Steve morning show in 2003. The entire team would later move to WMMR in 2005. As the new team member for WMMR’s ridiculously funny morning show, the Bucks County native and Montgomery County resident became the perfect addition to the growing program.
If you weren’t already familiar The Preston & Steve show airs mornings, Monday through Friday on 93.3WMMR. The outrageously hilarious variety and comedy radio show has created an enormous difference in the moods of morning 
commuters around the Philadelphia region for more than ten years now. You could visit every wood shop, auto garage, office and local business in our area during the morning hours and you’re just about guaranteed to hear Preston & Steve streaming live from the radio. In addition to hysterical banter on trending topics, the show boasts a continuous line up of interviews from big time celebrities, Richard Gere being one of Kathy’s all time favorites! You can hear Kathy providing her personal opinions and sensible questions during the program as well as providing our local traffic each day. In the testosterone filled man cave that is the Preston & Steve studio, Kathy often finds herself acting as the voice of reason. At the end of the day though, the collective group are all just as weird as the next, and that’s exactly what we love most about them! In regards to working with Preston & Steve the Conshohocken resident and talk show radio queen commented, “It’s like working with two older brothers whom you’ve been with forever. We have arguments, we fight, we get on each others nerves just like any normal family would do. One minute we’re arguing, the next minute we’re all laughing together”!
In 2005, Kathy made the move to the beaming and beautiful town of Conshohocken. The Montgomery County resident explained how much loves the feel and vibe of the welcoming town. Especially the people, places and things to see on Fayette Street. Geographically, her Conshy address keeps her close to work in Bala Cynwyd because when waking up at 4:15am, a short commute is key! In addition to work she loves being just a short car ride from everything and everyone she loves. Whether it’s the shore, the city, or having the ability to see her friends and family in Bucks and Montco, the busy mom and radio personality is able to make the trip at a moments notice. As a mother to her 4 year old son, the safety and sense of community in her neighborhood is something that she values each and every day. Not far down the road, younger brothers Jim and Christopher are also proud residents of Conshohocken. Jim works as a realtor for Coldwell Banker in Conshocken while Christopher works at Apple and is already taking steps to become a successful filmmaker at just 24 years old.
93.3 WMMR’s Preston & Steve Show
While keeping hundreds of thousands of our residents entertained and road rage free during the morning, the entire Preston & Steve family have always made extreme efforts to give back to their listeners and local community. Most recently, their famous annual “Camp Out for Hunger” collected more than 1 million pounds of food which was donated to Philabundance and then distributed to local shelters all across the Delaware Valley, and that’s just scratching the surface! What really impressed us about Kathy though is the amount of work she does outside of the station. The time, effort and energy she readily donates to help better our community is something that has left a lasting impression with our residents.
When she’s not in the studio Kathy is still actively participating in a number of foundations, charities and fundraisers in and around Montgomery County. Kathy’s Cuts Fundraising event takes place each year and was designed to help provide donated hair to help make real wigs for cancer patients in our region. She is the founder of the Fresh Smiles Foundation, a non-profit organization which helps the young residents of our county achieve their dreams, and also serves on the board for the M. Night Shyamalan Foundation’s “Shyamaween”. Most recently, she was welcomed to sit on the advisory board of the Philadelphia Police Foundation where she will be an enormous support to the men and women of the Philadelphia Police Department. With the use of her enormous heart, communication and social skills, Kathy is helping raise an enormous amount of awareness and funds for those in need all across our area.
On the radio she’s hilarious, witty, and quick to make a joke. Outside of work she’s just the same, but with so many more traits that make her one of Montco’s most beloved and accessible ambassadors. When tuning in to the morning radio show most listeners never get a sense of how humble, down to earth, and overly friendly she is. But with so many endearing qualities and talents, it’s her motherly instinct that rules all.
Kathy and her son literally do everything together. Whether it’s shopping at the Metroplex, visiting IKEA, grabbing ice cream at Merrymead Farms, hiking on the trails at Valley Green or picking wildflowers at Maple Acres, the mother and son duo are inseparable. “Whatever he’s up for, I am up for”! In addition to her son, Kathy also stays in touch with a lot of her good friends both from Bucks County and from her old dance classes. Her close knit group of friends love going out, especially to Redstone where she said, “the cookie sundae is a must”!
When asked what advice she would give to an aspiring radio or tv anchor Kathy replied, “Get a foot in the door with an internship. From there, work tirelessly, start meeting people, networking, getting hands on and working on your own personal craft!
For every reason, Kathy Romano is one of the most influential community members Montgomery County has to offer. Montco Happening would like to thank her for taking the time to sit down with us for a one on one interview. The staff at MH believes that good things should never go un-noticed, and that’s exactly why we were so excited to share her story. The amount of positive contributions she has brought to Montco and its surrounding areas is astounding, and the young radio anchor shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon! Help show our local resident and celebrity neighbor some love by following her on Twitter at @kathyromanowmmr, and on FB at Kathy Romano WMMR!!! #lovelocal #montcoproud
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