Kristen Hampton
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Career: Kristen's first taste of news was at an early age. She was a studio guest during a live newscast in her hometown of Augusta, GA. When the show opened, and Kristen got goosebumps, she knew a career in news was in her future. At the ripe old age of 18, she started as a studio camera operator at WAGT. She quickly worked her way into the newsroom as a reporter. Five years later, in 2003, she landed here at WBTV for what she calls, "The best job in the world."
Beat: Kristen brings us a daily report on "The Good News." Since March 2009, Kristen has been scouring the streets and taking viewer suggestions on stories that encourage us and make us smile. "There's so much bad going on in the world right now, but people need to see there's just as much good if not more happening also," Kristen says.
Kristen has featured all types of people, pets and places in her "Good News" segments. If you have an encouraging story or just an interesting person, then let us know! E-mail Kristen your story ideas at goodnews@wbtv.com
See the Good News weekdays at 5:30 on WBTV.
Hobbies: Playing the guitar, cooking, and still photography. Favorite subject matter has been and remains, her kitty cat, Girl. Kristen also considers her job a hobby. Meeting new people and experiencing wonderful things makes her reluctant to call her job, "work".
Updated: Oct. 5, 2022 at 3:21 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Little did we know Nicholas would absolutely steal the show and come up with a description so fitting, the fair folks might want to consider hiring him for the marketing team.
Updated: Oct. 2, 2018 at 6:19 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Her official job title is Student Life Coordinator, but her duties often go well beyond that role.
Updated: Oct. 1, 2018 at 7:10 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The 16-year-old Mooresville teen has been drawing and painting since he was old enough to hold a paintbrush.
Updated: Sep. 26, 2018 at 12:11 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
We went into Uptown Charlotte to explore the very idea of ‘fashion’, and as you can imagine, laughter ensued.
Updated: Sep. 24, 2018 at 6:04 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Harrisburg firefighters throw 3-year-old a birthday party.
Updated: Sep. 21, 2018 at 5:35 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The event promotes inclusion and acceptance. You’ll meet amazing humans, and make new friends, and help support something that will surely make you smile.
Updated: Sep. 20, 2018 at 11:34 PM EDT
|By WBTV Web Staff and Kristen Hampton
Around Christmas, 8-year-old Fore Putnam wrote letters to Santa Claus, Ivanka Trump, and President Donald Trump. In them, he made an emotional plea for help in finding his dad, Trae, a kidney.
Updated: Aug. 30, 2018 at 12:23 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
"You can teach almost anyone how to be a firefighter, a medic or just about anything imaginable. What is virtually impossible to teach is compassion."
Updated: Aug. 29, 2018 at 6:09 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Mac Tabby Cat Cafe' has adopted out 86 cats since they've been open.
Updated: Aug. 21, 2018 at 5:58 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Gabby Bristol overcame failure after perfecting her lipstick line Be Moxie.
Updated: Aug. 14, 2018 at 5:46 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
So far his leap of faith has paid off. His backlog is long but his banjos are now all over the world.
Updated: Aug. 13, 2018 at 5:49 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Whether it be 113 or 114, we wish Ms. Hester Ford a very Happy Birthday!
Updated: Aug. 10, 2018 at 5:08 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
After a long summer of vacationing, relaxing, and enjoying a break, leaders from the Rock Hill School district wanted to get teachers and faculty back into the swing of things in a big way.?
Updated: Aug. 6, 2018 at 6:46 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The police that came to investigate normally just investigate the crime, but this time they went above and beyond.
Updated: Aug. 3, 2018 at 9:56 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
But perhaps the biggest smile "Spanky" brings is to his owner.
Updated: Jul. 27, 2018 at 5:56 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Using donated materials and some of their own, the group from 'A Shift' crafted a hand-made bench in between calls.?
Updated: Jul. 25, 2018 at 6:40 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
It's one last thing he can do to assure his friend can rest in peace.
Updated: Jul. 24, 2018 at 5:59 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Colleen Sowers never gave up hope that one day, Honey would come back home. Sowers runs Peanut's Place Small Dog Rescue in Matthews. In 2014, Honey was adopted out to an owner in Sowers' neighborhood, but she escaped.
Updated: Jul. 18, 2018 at 10:01 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Take a moment to read the prayers, it might just make your day.
Updated: Jul. 17, 2018 at 7:42 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
When her mom suggested the idea, she went right for it.
Updated: Jul. 13, 2018 at 4:22 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
It's a huge win for the shelter which sent out an alert last Friday, they were at full capacity with their cats and kittens and needed help to clear the shelter.
Updated: Jul. 12, 2018 at 8:15 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The pantry is growing crowded, and can't help as many people. They need space - and more volunteers.?
Updated: Jul. 10, 2018 at 5:31 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
It's Jesse Wolfram's job to save lives. The Charlotte MEDIC employee is a paramedic, and recently found himself attempting to save a life that wasn't human. "It had been outside in the rain for a long time and we weren't sure it was going to make it," Wolfram said.
Updated: Jul. 9, 2018 at 5:51 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Wells was a member of a nine-man team that was arrested in Rock Hill in 1961 at the old McCrory's lunch counter. The group sat down and ordered lunch at the whites-only establishment.
Updated: Jul. 6, 2018 at 6:41 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The shelter is hoping a little publicity might get folks to come and adopt all the adorable faces.?
Updated: Jul. 4, 2018 at 7:57 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Wesley White doesn't mince words when jaws drop at the $3,000 price tag of his fireworks, "I love it. I don't regret it. I'm blessed to have it."
Updated: Jul. 3, 2018 at 6:55 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Ivy started gaining popularity on Instagram when her mom posted videos of the dog painting on canvas. That's when we first introduced you to the talented K9.
Updated: Jul. 2, 2018 at 6:38 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The sign proclaimed its planted spot as the same spot the couple met.
Updated: Jun. 29, 2018 at 6:30 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The two brothers survived the shooting, but their lives were forever changed by the relationship they now have with one of the responding officers.
Updated: Jun. 27, 2018 at 8:00 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Benjamin, Uriah and Christian Lemay might not have expected their dad to win, but they certainly expected he'd at least show up and keep his promise he made to his sons.
Updated: Jun. 25, 2018 at 6:04 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
"Some people think I'm crazy, which you just about have to be to drive this thing," Morrison said.
Updated: Jun. 22, 2018 at 9:39 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
After bearing 90-plus degree heat all week, Friday morning, we decided to chill.
Updated: Jun. 20, 2018 at 6:32 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
In the sessions, kids learn about gun safety, fire safety, and pedestrian safety with a life-like road course.
Updated: Jun. 19, 2018 at 7:24 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Hayley and her husband Matt videotaped their induction endeavor in hopes of making people smile, and also actually inducing the baby. Only the smiling part worked.?
Updated: Jun. 19, 2018 at 7:20 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
The idea of putting their earnings towards a good cause wasn't even debated.
Updated: Jun. 15, 2018 at 5:49 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
A nationally sanctioned women's league in Charlotte, is looking to add to their ranks.
Updated: Jun. 14, 2018 at 12:45 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
On Wednesday afternoon, Ballard picked up the intercom receiver and started the music to Etta James' "At Last."
Updated: Jun. 13, 2018 at 6:22 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
While people may not remember this story in a year, let's hope they never forget that time a raccoon brought the world together.
Updated: Jun. 12, 2018 at 5:45 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
She calls her customers "friends," and if you look around her store, it's clear that her friends adore her.
Updated: Jun. 11, 2018 at 7:03 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
In video taken by Morgan's parents, an excited Raina is seen showering her long lost dad with playful kisses and even rolling over for belly rubs.
Updated: Jun. 6, 2018 at 5:50 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Most parents wouldn't understand the stresses that come with having a baby in the neonatal intensive care unit. Charmaine Martin has two babies in the NICU at Carolinas Healthcare System in University City.
Updated: Jun. 4, 2018 at 5:48 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
When you get an e-mail from a 13-year-old who's almost screaming for your attention, your attention it gets. Kenzie Lail used her mom's e-mail address to write a note to WBTV Good News asking for us to come do a story on her science teacher at Arndt Middle School in Hickory.
Updated: May. 17, 2018 at 7:10 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Farmer Rick Ellis was attempting to figure out who stole one of his chicken's eggs when he almost drove his motorized farm cart right over the culprit.
Updated: May. 14, 2018 at 7:46 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Shawn Ramsay and his son Draven were heading to a Mother's Day dinner in the Town of Cleveland when they noticed a car that seemed to be spitting fire from its gas tank.
Updated: May. 8, 2018 at 7:54 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Kaci Beck and her husband Ethan wanted to do something really special to announce the gender of their baby to friends and family.
Updated: May. 7, 2018 at 6:13 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
A Charlotte teacher is surprised with the gift of seeing color for the first time, and his reaction is worth every penny.
Updated: May. 3, 2018 at 5:52 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
A 12-year-old Titan Arum plant, or "Corpse Flower," went into full-on bloom-mode. The flower, which smells like rotting flesh when in bloom, is a very popular attraction.
Updated: Apr. 30, 2018 at 1:18 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
"You'll smell it outside in the streets around us. For a hundred yards you'll smell it," Gillman said.
Updated: Apr. 27, 2018 at 5:58 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Friday afternoon, dozens of industry professionals from all over Charlotte came out to the 7th Annual Community Matters Dodgeball Tournament.
Updated: Apr. 26, 2018 at 4:29 PM EDT
|By Kristen Hampton
Eleanor is due in about a month. No one is really sure how the goose will react when she gives birth to a baby that looks nothing like him.
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