AP Broadcast

AP Radio Editorial Staff Profiles

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NEWS ANCHORS:

Jon Belmont
AP Radio News Anchor

Jon Belmont is the morning-drive anchor for AP Radio News.

Jon is one of those radio junkies who grew up falling to sleep with a radio tucked under his pillow. His passion grew into his first radio job in a small town in Ohio at age 14. His career has taken him to news and management positions in Columbus, Detroit, Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Milwaukee and now Washington, DC.

In nearly 20 years with ABC News Radio, Belmont held down the anchor chair for live coverage of such major stories as the 2000 presidential election, the Clinton impeachment trial and the JFK Jr. plane crash. He also reported from the scenes of dozens of major stories including the TWA 800 disaster, OJ Simpson trial, Northridge earthquake and the Midwest's Great Flood of '93.

Jon left ABC to host a morning show in Milwaukee, where he shared in his second RTNDA Murrow Award after earlier being honored by the National Headliner Awards, the International Radio Festival of New York and The Ohio State University. But he found he missed covering world and national news and was proud to join the AP in 2004.

Ross Simpson
Anchor

As the evening anchor for AP's Radio News, Ross is responsible for bringing listeners the very latest news from here and abroad; news that could very well impact their lives. In 2003, Ross spent 49 days reporting from Kuwait and Iraq while embedded with the US Marines.

Ross brings almost 50 years of experience to the microphone. Before joining AP Radio in 1998, Ross spent 20 years with the Mutual Broadcasting System and the NBC Radio Network. Ross was their "go guy" who covered every major news story from 1978 to 1998, including conflicts in Panama, the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Haiti. During his career, Ross has won almost every major journalism award, including two prestigious Sigma Delta Chi and three Edward R. Murrow awards. One of the Murrows was for co-anchoring the coverage of 9-11, the first Murrow ever for AP Broadcast.

In addition to being a broadcaster, Ross is also a published author; having written four books, including "Stealth Down," his latest book about the loss of the first Stealth fighter and the recovery of its pilot during Operation Allied Force in Yugoslavia.

Rita Foley
Anchor

Rita is an award-winning journalist and talk show host, who wakes up the nation with morning information on AP Radio News. She co-anchored the AP's award-winning coverage of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, winning the presitigious Edward R. Murrow Award, the first ever such honor for AP Broadcast.

Prior to joining AP, Rita hosted a cutting edge radio talk show on WMAL, the ABC-owned station in Washington, DC. Mixing live interviews with listeners' telephone calls, she investigated hard-news oriented issues and tripled the rating for that time period. She earned the American Association of University Women's Broadcast Excellence award, and the Carlton Sherwood Media Award, among others, for her work on the Rita Foley show.

Her work as a radio news director was cited by a consultant as producing, consistently, the finest department at the radio station.

As a reporter and anchor for the NBC-owned radio station in Washington, DC, she reported the events surrounding the assassination attempt on President Reagan, and covered the arraignment of assailant John Hinckley, Jr. Her continuing reports from the White House on negotiations to free the American hostages in Iran brought the station an Achievement Award.

During that time, Foley began covering trials on a regular basis.

Foley has been a guest on ABC-TV's Good Morning America, and on the NBC-owned WRC-TV in Washington, DC. She has appeared on WJLA-TV in Washington, DC as well as various other broadcast stations across the country.

Tim Maguire
Anchor

Tim is an anchor for AP Radio News. He is a 6-year AP veteran with 24 years of radio news experience. Tim anchors the evening newscasts. He also hosts and produces AP's weekly news magazine and feature "Portfolio," which focuses on lifestyle issues, entertainment and books.

His career includes launching and overseeing an award winning news department at WQIK radio in Jacksonville, Florida where he also taught broadcast writing and reporting as an adjunct professor at Jacksonville University.

Tim was also a morning drive anchor for seven years at WZZK radio in Birmingham, Alabama. Maguire began his career at WMSL radio, in Decatur, Alabama in 1978.

Ed Donahue
Anchor

Ed Donahue anchors hourly newscasts for AP Radio News.

He joined AP in 2000 and has worked in radio since 1984. He has covered a variety of news stories including the Worcester fire of 1999, the Ryder Cup, and the New Hampshire presidential primary. For the AP, he has anchored 9/11 coverage as well as coverage of the start of the Iraq war. He also covered the 2005 Presidential Inaugural, the Athens Olympics and the Consumer Electronics Show. In 2008 he anchored the coverage of the Presidential debates and live reports on Election Night. He was part of the team that won the Edward R. Murrow award for coverage of the JFK Jr. plane crash.

Prior to AP, Ed was news director at WKOX radio in Framingham, MA and morning news anchor at WHJJ in Providence. For 9 years, he was a reporter, anchor, writer and editor at WBZ in Boston and was part of the team that switched the station over to all news.

Mike Gracia
AP Radio Network Anchor and Reporter

Mike anchors evening sportscasts for AP Radio News. In his 20 years at AP, he has covered nearly every major sporting event, including ten Olympic Games, Goodwill Games, Pan American Games, Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, the four major golf championships, Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and major title fights involving the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Mike Tyson, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.

Mike also has the ability to cover non-sporting events, including breaking stories at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, the White House and the 1989 earthquake in Northern California.

Prior to joining AP, Mike was a news and sports anchor at WKCW in Warrenton, Virginia and at KANA radio in Anaconda, Montana.

Sandy Kozel

AP Radio News Anchor

Sandy Kozel is a longtime voice of the AP Radio Network, anchoring newscasts and live events since 1986. She has covered presidential conventions, debates and breaking news stories, being on the air for such varied events as the opening of the Berlin Wall, the O.J. Simpson verdict and the death of Beatle George Harrison. Sandy was part of AP's 9/11 coverage, which won the broadcast team the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award.

Over the years, Sandy produced and anchored the public affairs shows "Special Assignment" and "Portfolio", as well as the daily "Travel Update" feature during AP's All News Radio years. She currently works as a reporter, producer and writer, and voices stories for the AP's Online Video Network.

Sandy started her news career at radio stations in Ohio, after earning a journalism degree from Ohio University. While an anchor/reporter/assistant news director at WGR radio in Buffalo, she won a number of AP, UPI and New York State Broadcasters awards for newscasts, spot news and political coverage and was honored with a state AP award for General Excellence in Individual Reporting. She was also a general assignment and entertainment reporter for WGRZ-TV in Buffalo. Sandy is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and was awarded an SPJ Taishoff Fellowship in 1988.

SPORTS ANCHORS:

Jack Briggs
Assistant Sports Director

Since joining AP Radio in 1978, Jack has covered almost every major world-wide sporting event for AP. He has been to every Olympics since 1980 and is one of two primary anchors for all Olympic programming. 2008 marked Jack's 16th straight Olympics for the AP where he served as the anchor of the daily recap podcast. He also anchors the weekly AP College Basketball podcast and covers major sporting events.

Before joining AP, Jack was a sportscaster in several major cities around the country. He was the play-by-play voice of the ABA's Utah Stars and for several years called college basketball games. Jack has a degree in communications and is from Cleveland, Ohio. A true basketball fan at heart, Jack even sports the bald, aerodynamic look.

John Klobucar

Sports Reporter

John has been a sports reporter with the AP since 1995 and as chief baseball correspondent, has covered seven World Series since 2000. In sports lingo, John is a “triple threat,” providing talent for the AP's radio and online video platforms as well podcasting. He has hosted the AP Inside Baseball podcast since 2006 and lists as one of his highlights for the show, interviewing Bobby Thomson and Ralph Branca from 'Shot Heard Round the World' fame.

John has covered four Olympics for the AP starting with the Summer 2000 games in Sydney. At the Beijing Olympics he covered Usain Bolt's world record-setting sprints and was there when the U.S. men's volleyball team captured gold for the first time since 1988.

He's reported on some of baseball's greatest moments including Cal Ripken breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak in 1995 and Mark McGwire setting the single-season home run record in 1998. While John has been on the scene for a couple of BCS championship game blowouts by Florida and LSU, he reported on one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history when the New York Giants surprised the New England Patriots. John has also covered the NBA Finals, the Final Four and the PGA Championship for the AP.

Prior to joining the AP, John was a sports anchor for USAToday Sky Radio; a morning drive disc jockey at WNAV radio in Annapolis, Maryland; and play-by-play announcer for the Class-A Lynchburg Red Sox in Lynchburg, Virginia. He holds a broadcast journalism degree from Southern Methodist University.

Dave Lubeski
Sports Director

Dave directs all radio sports coverage on the network and the AP Broadcast Wire and can be seen and heard on the AP's Online Video Network. He has covered every major sporting event throughout his career and has covered every Olympics since the Montreal games in 1976.

Dave's tenure at AP is older than AP Radio itself: he joined the company in September of 1974 to help start AP Radio, and he had it on the air just one month later. He began his AP career as the evening drive sportscaster and late night news producer. Dave was named sports director in 1980.

Before the AP, Dave was a sports editor, sportscaster, and talk show host at KTRH in Houston and disc jockey and newscaster at KOGT in Orange, Texas.

BUSINESS ANCHORS:

Mark Hamrick
Business Editor

As Business Editor for Broadcast, Mark is the point man for stories of interest to consumers and investors alike. On any given day, his work is on radio and online video.

The son of a newspaper editor, Mark began his radio career at KGGF while in high school in his hometown of Coffeyville, Kansas. He worked at KANU radio while attending the University of Kansas in Lawrence and later joined WBEN in Buffalo, New York where he reported on traffic from a helicopter. He also worked as an anchor at the public, all-news WEBR radio, where he garnered top national and state awards for newscasts and documentary work.

Joining the AP in 1986 in Dallas, Mark served as a reporter for AP Radio covering stories throughout the Sunbelt region, including immigration issues and politics. Upon moving to Washington in 1987, Mark anchored hourly newscasts for AP Radio and transitioned into business news in 1994. He writes, produces and hosts the ever-popular Tax Break feature.

Mark continues to serve on the Board of Governors of the National Press Club, where he is Membership Secretary. He lives in Potomac, Maryland with his wife and son.

REPORTERS:

Gerald Bodlander
Capitol Hill Reporter
Since starting with AP in 1978 Gerry has served in various capacities for AP Radio and the Online Video Network, including as a general assignment reporter and as supervisor, and is currently the Capitol Hill correspondent. Gerry has covered many of the most important worldwide events, including the release of American hostages in Iran and Lebanon, the Israel-Hezbollah war, numerous Olympics, political conventions, plane crashes, and hurricanes.

Gerry was among some of the first journalists to enter Kuwait after its liberation in the Gulf War and was part of a team of AP Radio reporters who won an AP award for their coverage.

Before coming to AP Radio, Gerry worked at station WGNY in Newburgh, New York. He has a B.A. from Syracuse University in TV-radio news and political science and an M.A. from American University in journalism and public affairs.

Mark Smith
White House Correspondent

Mark is an award-winning broadcast journalist, who has worked for AP since 1976 and covered the White House beat for AP Broadcast since 1996. Mark is part of the press corps that travels around the world with the president and is a past president of the White House Correspondents’ Association.

Over the years, he has covered presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan and Carter and presidential elections since 1980. Among Mark's many assignments are: the Sept. 11 attacks; the impeachment/trial of president Clinton; the Oklahoma City bombing; papal visits; the Olympic Games; G-7/8 Summits; presidential travel in six continents; the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Dianna; Dianna’s funeral; the release of Nelson Mandela; numerous space shuttle launches; the Gulf War and Iraq War; the fall of the Berlin Wall; the Iran hostage crisis; and Three Mile Island.

Mark has won several journalism awards, including the Forum Award for his coverage of Three Mile Island; the National Press Club Consumer Journalism Award; a Gold Medal from the International Radio Festival for his coverage of the Berlin Wall; and several AP awards including the prestigious Gramling Award.

Prior to joining AP, Mark worked as a reporter for CNN in New York; an anchor for WCIC-TV in Ithaca, NY; and as a reporter for WTKO Radio in Ithaca. Mark has a degree in Communication Arts from Cornell University.

Sagar Meghani
National Security Correspondent

With primary coverage of the Pentagon and security issues for the Online Video Network and AP Radio, Sagar also reports from the White House, Capitol Hill and elsewhere in Washington. He played a key role during the 2008 presidential election, traveling with the Obama campaign and to both party conventions, and co-hosting Online Video's first-ever live streaming Webcast on election night.

Sagar has covered domestic stories ranging from the Virginia Tech shootings to space shuttle launches, hurricanes and Super Bowl XL. He's also traveled internationally for AP, covering the Israel/Hezbollah war in Jerusalem, the potential return of Fidel Castro at a parade in Havana, the Summer Olympics in Athens and President Bush's European farewell tour.

Before joining AP, Sagar was a news and sports anchor/reporter at WMAQ-AM in Chicago and WAJR-AM in Morgantown, West Virginia. He holds a broadcast journalism degree from Syracuse University's prestigious Newhouse School of Public Communications.

David Melendy
Reporter, Producer

David is a seasoned veteran with versatility who serves in several capacities for AP Broadcast. After joining the AP Radio Network in 1981, David was a news anchor for 12 years, a business anchor and planning editor. He also created the Network's "Flashback" feature and produced it for more than a decade.

David's many assignments have included reporting from the White House, Capitol Hill and the Kennedy Space Center. He's also worked as a desk supervisor and produced multi-part special reports on such subjects as the "Star Wars" missile defense and the Vietnam War.

He began his career in Connecticut, working for ten years as a reporter/anchor and news director at radio stations in Connecticut and New York, including WCBS-FM in New York.

Tony Winton
AP Broadcast, Southeast Regional Correspondent
A 15-year AP veteran, Winton is a multimedia journalist, covering events for AP Radio News, the AP Broadcast news wires, AP's web-related services and periodically for APTN.

Based in Miami, Winton has covered news events locally and around the world. Earlier this year, Winton transmitted the first video of "Camp X-Ray" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Other assignments have included the Gulf War, coverage of U.S. forces in Haiti and Somalia, the Oklahoma City bombing and the succeeding trials, the Noriega trial, space shuttle launches and numerous hurricanes and tornadoes.

Winton also covered the Bush and Gore campaigns, and the ensuing Florida recount. He was in Washington on September 11th, where he was among the first reporters into the Pentagon. He then traveled to New York for coverage at Ground Zero.

In 2000, he was awarded AP's Gramling award for coverage of the Elian Gonzalez saga, and was the only radio reporter present when federal agents stormed the boy's Miami home.

Winton is a 1983 graduate of Columbia College in New York. Previously, he worked freelance for WINS all-news radio in New York City and at WRKL, New City, New York.

EDITORS:

Mike Hammer
Daytime National Editor

Mike Hammer, an editor of the AP's national broadcast wires, has been with AP since 1980. He began as a writer and editor for the broadcast wire in New York, and moved to Washington three years later when the broadcast wire merged with AP Radio.

While doing general assignment reporting for the radio network - including coverage of the White House, Capitol Hill and the Supreme Court - Mike continued to serve as a wire writer and editor, as well as BNC supervisor. Mike reported from the presidential and political campaign trips of Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton, and was the on-scene writer for the broadcast wire at the Democratic and Republican conventions in 2000 and 2004.

More recently, he was a writer of APNewsNows on the night of the 2008 elections, providing the initial word of the election outcomes from each state for all media.

Prior to joining AP, Mike worked as a reporter and anchor at radio station WGCH in Greenwich, Connecticut. He holds a degree in journalism from Ohio University and is originally from Long Island, New York.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Rosalie Fox
Entertainment Correspondent

Born and raised in Hollywood, Rosalie has been covering movies, television and celebrities for The Associated Press since 1996. She’s brought AP subscribers interviews with the industry's hottest stars, including Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Lindsay Lohan, George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Jay Leno, Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, Salma Hayek, Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster and many, many others.

Rosalie regularly covers the Oscars and Emmys along with many other Hollywood events. In addition, she produces daily audio features and writes a daily column used by both TV and radio called Morning Segue, as well as a daily TV highlights column.

Rosalie is enjoying a varied and award-winning career, with several shelves of journalism awards to show for it, including Golden Mikes, as well as Mark Twain trophies from the Associated Press Television and Radio Association.

Prior to joining AP Radio, she was a general assignment reporter at KFI-AM, anchor at KOST-FM, KNX-FM and reporter-anchor at KLAC-AM and KZLA-FM, all in Los Angeles.

She's also been in front of the camera as an anchor at Los Angeles Business Channel 22, KWHY-TV; reporting for CNN's Los Angeles bureau; and working as a reporter-anchor for the NBC-TV affiliate in Bakersfield, KGET-TV. She's been a news writer for Los Angeles NBC O&O, KNBC-TV. And, she's written and produced a documentary for the Discovery Channel.

Rosalie is a proud graduate of Hollywood High School and California State University, Los Angeles, where she was a Dean's List student. She later earned her masters degree in public administration at the University of Southern California.

Oscar Wells Gabriel
AP Radio Network, Urban Correspondent and Editor, "Cyber Corner"
Oscar has been with the AP since 1983 and has been the Urban Correspondent since 1992. He has interviewed some of the biggest stars in the entertainment world, including Stevie Wonder, Will Smith, Diddy, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Barry White, TLC, Babyface, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Arthur Ashe and scores of others.

In addition to his feature interviews, Oscar has covered breaking stories like reporting live from Los Angeles on the murder of Notorious B.I.G. and the shooting and funeral of Jam Master Jay of Run DMC. He regularly covers the NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, as well as provides coverage of Soul Train Music Awards and other major events. He also has done several Black History Month features for both the Network and Broadcast wires.

Oscar also writes and edits "Cyber Corner" – a daily wire feature highlighting the latest in the hi-tech world.

Margie Szaroleta
Entertainment Reporter

The first song AP Radio Rock Reporter Margie Szaroleta can remember hearing was "Catch A Wave" by the Beach Boys. It was a love affair with music from the very start. Since then, Margie has partied with The Cure, been choked by Alice Cooper and was mistaken for 16 years old by Jerry Lee Lewis.

Margie joined the AP in 1994 and the AP Entertainment Department in 1996. A native of Toledo, Ohio, she previously worked for Toledo's WRQN-FM and WVUD-FM in Dayton, as well as a brief stint opening Charles Kuralt's mail at CBS and interning at Voice of America. And she's no airhead rock chick -- she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Dayton in journalism and has been a member of Mensa since 1994.

Michael Weinfeld
Entertainment Editor
As Entertainment Editor, Michael coordinates entertainment coverage for AP Radio News and the AP Broadcast Wire. His duties include writing, anchoring, and producing each day's top entertainment stories.

Michael joined AP as a broadcast writer in New York in October of 1981 and transferred to Washington when the Broadcast Wire merged with the Radio Network in 1983. Since 1987, he has served as entertainment editor and has interviewed Hollywood's biggest stars.

In his previous capacities at AP, Michael has worked as an anchor, general assignment reporter, producer, supervisor, national editor, and writer. During his tenure, Michael has also dabbled outside the realm of entertainment while working on business, sports, and agriculture reports.

Before joining AP, Michael was the news director of radio station WMMM/WDJF in Westport, Connecticut; an anchor at WPOP, the all-news station in Hartford, Connecticut; and news director at WINY in Putnam, Connecticut. Michael has a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from New York University and is a recipient of the 2001 Gramling Journalism Award.