Chubbuck was born in Hudson, Ohio, on 24 August 1944. She grew up in a middle-class family and attended Laurel School for Girls. She went to college at Ohio State University. Then she graduated from Boston University with a degree in broadcasting. She held several jobs with small television stations. In 1973 she was hired by WXLT-TV in Sarasota, Florida as the host of a morning talk show. According to her co-workers she was pretty, easy to get along with and did a good job. According to her mother she wanted a family but had not found the right person to marry yet. In her spare time she held puppet shows for mentally handicapped children at a local hospital.