Mario Armstrong
Host, Digital Cafe
Photo by Sean Kief

Mario Armstrong has been the Technology Advocate for then Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, developing and implementing the Mayor's Technology Strategic plan and fostering an environment that enables Baltimore's technology companies and community to grow and succeed. By night he is the Executive Producer & Host of the area's NPR technology radio talk shows & ABC affiliate TV show in Maryland, entitled "The Digital Cafe'" & "The Digital Spin" respectively. Mario also writes for Tech Link - The Maryland Daily Records exclusive technology publication and the Afro-American Papers (Balto. & D.C.) covering the latest in technology.

Mario's involvement with technology and the Internet exceeds ten years. His career background involves being Technology Director for Maryland Tourism and working for companies such as CIENA Corporation, System Source, TCI Cable and Cellular One. Most recently, Mario has been recognized as one of Baltimore's "Top 40 Under 40" leaders to watch by the Baltimore Business Journal-Oct. 2002. 

Anirban Basu
Host, Morning Economic Forecast
Photo by Sean Kief

Anirban Basu, Chariman Chief Executive Officer of Sage Policy Group (SPG), is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's leading economic consultants. Prior to founding SPG he was Chairman and CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, a company he co-founded and which continues to operate. Anirban has also served as Director of Applied Economics and Senior Economist for RESI, where he used his extensive knowledge of the Mid-Atlantic region to support numerous  clients in their strategic decision-making processes. Clients have included the Maryland Department of Transportation, St. Paul Companies, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee and the Martin O'Malley mayoral campaign. He is the author of numerous regional publications including the Mid-Atlantic Economic Quarterly and Outlook Maryland and is routinely asked to contribute to local media, including on his radio show on WTMD, 89.7 FM/Baltimore and here on WYPR's Morning Economic Forecast.

Anirban completed his graduate work in mathematical economics at the University of Maryland. He earned a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University in 1992. His Bachelors in Foreign Service is from Georgetown University and was earned in 1990. He is currently working toward his J.D. at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. 

Andy Bienstock
Program Director
On Air-Personality
Host, American
Songbook & The Signal
Photo by Sean Kief

Andy Bienstock is that rare radio bird who’s spent almost his entire career on the same frequency. As an undergraduate at The Johns Hopkins University, he polished his radio skills at the student-run WJHU, the best little 10-watt station ever. After a brief stint doing weekend jazz at WBJC, he joined the 10,000 watt WJHU in October of 1986, - when it went on the air as an NPR affiliate – doing a Sunday night jazz show and hosting the local portion of Morning Edition. In the summer of 1990 he began his nightly jazz program, and hasn’t budged since. When the station became WYPR in 2002, Andy added Program Director to his portfolio, and is excited to help shape Your Public Radio’s future.

A native New Yorker, he is still learning to deal with the Yankees' loss of omnipotence, though Oriole fans should still stay clear of him until the Birds manage to finish ahead of his beloved Bombers. He shares an 1891 house in Annapolis with the most wonderful woman in the world, and the meanest cat in the world. His hobbies include reading, martini making, martini drinking, and trying not to kill the fish and plants in his backyard water garden. He is happy to share tips and receive advice about all of that at bienstock@wypr.org.

Art Buist
On-Air Personality
Photo by Sean Kief

Art Buist was part of the original local news department when "FM88 - WJHU" (now WYPR) first went on the air in 1986. He was the first Morning News Anchor. (He co-hosted the morning show with Andy Bienstock for a while.) He also was a "street reporter" for the former WJHU, covering many issues including government and politics.

When budget cuts eliminated the local news department in 1988, Art decided to go to law school. He graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1992 and was a Law Clerk for Judge Joseph H. Kaplan, Administrative Judge of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, from 1992 to 1993. In 1994 and 1995, Art worked as an associate attorney, and worked for Delegate Sandy Rosenberg, as a Legislative Aide during the 1995 Legislative session.

In 1996, Art began his own law practice, while maintaining his services as an announcer to WJHU (now WYPR) to fill-in whenever he was needed. Since 1996, Art has regularly filled-in during mornings, afternoons, jazz, weekends, on any shift on any day. Art can also be heard periodically covering local stories for WYPR and on NPR reporting from the Baltimore area for the national newscasts.

Art received his undergraduate Degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Email Art at abuist@wypr.org

Carol Christian
Co-Host, SkyWatch
Photo by Sean Kief

Along with Co-host, Dr. Jim O'Leary, Dr. Carol Christian regularly brings insightful expertise to WYPR's Skywatch. In her other life as the Deputy Head of the Community Missions Office Of the Space Telescope Science Institute, Dr. Christian collaborates with scientists to define the operational facets of space science observatories that can take advantage of the Hubble experience.

Dr. Christian recently headed a group entitled "Development, Technology and Innovation," who for several years produced and delivered web casts of science symposia, technical workshops, science colloquia and a few fun events to the Internet.

Dr. Christian also served as the Head of the Office of Public Outreach, directing the Hubble Space Telescope News program, the construction of the main STSCI public website, and the SITES Hubble Space Telescope traveling museum exhibition. She invented two programs: first, Amazing Space, a suite of educational resources for pre-college curricula and teacher training (50 states, > 250 school districts!). Secondly she co-created Tour the Cosmos -- a series of radio/internet simulcasts on hot topics in HST research.

Jeff Clabaugh
Host, Afternoon Market Report

Jeff Clabaugh, who currently provides our afternoon listeners with Wall Street updates and the latest Baltimore-area business news from The Baltimore Business Journal, has been covering the local technology community and financial markets since 1995. Prior to that, Jeff produced and hosted radio programs for Radio Netherlands in Hilversum, The Netherlands, and before that at USA Today's Sky Radio in Washington, DC. Jeff came to the Mid-Atlantic region from Omaha, Neb. He majored in broadcasting and journalism at Creighton University and is an Iowa native.

Andrew Constantine
Co-Host, Backstage at the BSO

British conductor Andrew Constantine brings superb background and experience to his new post as the BSO's Assistant Conductor. After training at London's Royal College of Music, he won a scholarship to study with the legendary Russian conducting teacher Ilya Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory (Constantine is himself of Russian descent). Musin has described him as, "a brilliant representative of the conducting art." In 1991 Constantine won the first Donatella Flick/Accademia Italiana Conducting Competition. He regularly conducts all the leading British orchestras and enjoys a particularly close relationship with London's Philharmonia Orchestra. In addition to conducting most of the BSO's educational concerts and a program on SuperPops with guitarist John Pizzarelli, Constantine has devised and will lead a program on the Twist series called "What Dreams Are Made Of," which will include music by Sibelius, Wagner, Stravinsky, and Michael Daugherty.

Bob Costantini
News Features Reporter
Photo by Sean Kief

A graduate of Syracuse University, Bob Costantini has 26 years of radio, television and Internet reporting experience. Bob started commercial radio work at WETT-AM in Ocean City, moving over to WBOC-TV in Salisbury in 1980. His career eventually took him to Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where he worked for WNEP-TV.

In 1989, Bob moved to the Conus satellite news cooperative in Washington, D.C., covering government and politics on a national level. His years in Washington have included stints as a reporter for Fox News Channel, Tribune television and radio stations and as an extra Pentagon correspondent for CNN, and Voice of America. At times, Bob even reports for WYPR from Capitol Hill. Bob has covered all the major stories out of Washington over the years, and was even in the Roosevelt Room at the White House when President Clinton made his famous finger-wagging denial about Monica Lewinsky.

A Baltimore native, Bob was raised in Highlandtown. He is a regular contributor to WYPR's newscasts, regularly covering the city he "loves." He lives with his wife Vickie and two daughters in Baltimore. 

Diane Finlayson
On-Air Personality
Photo by Sean Kief

Diane Finlayson has been with WYPR-FM since February 1998 and has been in the business since 1983. During her radio days, Finlayson has worked in a wide variety of music and news formats for both commercial and public stations. She looks forward to working with Andy on developing the cultural programming offered on WYPR.

In her off hours Diane is working on a Master of Liberal Arts degree at JHU. She also publishes the magazine 'Yoga Voices' and runs Yama studio (Yoga, Ayurveda & Meditation Arts). When time permits she enjoys playing her piano, camping and reading trashy murder mysteries.

Sam Gallant learned his way around a studio in the Public Radio Playground of Alaska. Sam has produced award winning talk shows in Alaska and Washington DC, and has won numerous awards for his daily reporting in Alaska. Sam has worked as a weekend On Air Technician for WYPR since 2001. He also spends his time handling art at The Walters, picking balls for the Maryland State Lottery, and telling stories for the Fells Point Ghost Tour. But his best time is spent with his wife Molly, daughter Maya, and too many dogs in the Lauraville neighborhood of Baltimore.

Tom Hall
Host, Choral Arts Classics
Arts & Culture Editor, Maryland Morning

Tom Hall is the Arts and Culture Contributor for Maryland Morning with Sheilah Kast and the host of Choral Arts Classics. Tom has been a dynamic force in Maryland's creative community for 25 years as a performer, lecturer, writer, and educator.

As the Music Director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, he has collaborated with many of Maryland's leading arts organizations, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Maryland Symphony, Pro Musica Rara, the Walters Art Museum, and the Baltimore Museum of Art. He appears regularly as a guest conductor throughout the U.S and in Europe, and he is invited frequently to speak to professional and community organizations in Maryland and throughout the United States.

Tom has published articles in the Baltimore Sun, Style Magazine, and many professional journals; he has served as a panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts; and he has lectured and taught courses at the Peabody Conservatory, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Baltimore, and Morgan State University. He has been the Director of Choral Activities at Goucher College since 1983, and he is also a board member of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance.

Tom lives in Baltimore with his wife, Linell Smith and their daughter, Miranda Hall.

Aaron Henkin
Sr. Producer & Cultural
Features Reporter, The Signal
 

Aaron Henkin is a co-creator and producer of WYPR's radio arts program, The Signal. His news reports and features have aired nationally on programs including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Day to Day, and PRI's The World. Aaron is also the curator and host of a weekly podcast called The NPR Station Showcase with PRX, where it’s his privilege to highlight outstanding stories from fellow producers at public radio stations around the country.

Ken Jackson
Host, In the Mood
Photo by Sean Kief

Ken Jackson began his 50 year career in broadcasting in 1954 while attending Emerson College in Boston. As a student, he cut his teeth on the school’s FM station, playing classical music and reading the news among other duties. In 1958 he moved on to commercial radio as a news broadcaster. After 20 years in news, Ken turned his attentions to music. As a program host, he was able to choose his own music, conduct interviews, make observations on local public service issues and neighborhood events, and participate in friendly patter….a recipe that has worked for Ken to present.

In 2002, Ken retired from his previous on-air program and at the behest of WYPR Program Director, Andy Bienstock, began hosting a big band oriented show where Ken could be Ken. In the Mood allows Ken to mix Big Band with the likes of Sinatra, Ella, Sarah, Jane Monheit, Four Freshmen and Jos Williams. At 72, Ken still enjoys what he’s doing and by bringing the best of two musical worlds together, he hopes to keep audiences interested in the music of another era for as long as he can.

Ken lives in Baltimore with his wonderful wife, whom he met in college. He has three children and seven beautiful and exceptionally brilliant grandchildren. 

Sheilah Kast
Host, Maryland Morning

Sheilah Kast, host of Maryland Morning, brings wide experience in radio, television and newspapers to WYPR.

She learned the craft of broadcasting at ABC News, where she was a Washington correspondent for fifteen years. Her reporting ranged from the White House to Congress to the historic 1991 coup attempt in Moscow, which signaled the end of the Soviet Empire.

Her first public-broadcasting venture was done in association with BusinessWeek magazine in the late 1990s: Sheilah began and hosted a weekly national public television show, "This Week in Business," on which she analyzed breaking developments in business, interviewed business leaders and discussed trends in personal finance.

Public radio listeners have heard her host NPR's Sunday morning magazine, Weekend Edition Sunday, when Liane Hansen is away. She has also substituted for Diane Rehm.

Sheilah's focus during most of her reporting life has been on the economy and workplace, and how they affect people's everyday lives. She began her career at The Washington Star newspaper, where she covered the Maryland and Virginia legislatures, as well as county governments and schools. After electricity rates shot up during the 1970s, she moved to the Star's business staff, to cover utilities, energy and taxes, as well as financial and banking regulation.

She lived in Romania for two years when her husband, Jim Rosapepe, served as U.S. ambassador there. He now serves in the Maryland Senate, representing the 21st District (Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties).  Remarks of Sheilah Kast at Hood College's Commencement Ceremony Saturday May 19, 2007.

Milton Kent
Host, Sports at Large
Photo by Sean Kief

Milton Kent has been writing about sports for The Baltimore Sun since 1988. He has covered the Orioles, Maryland basketball, the Washington Wizards, the Redskins, and sports media. In addition, Milton has covered the World Series, the American and National League Championship Series, the Men's and Women's NCAA Final Fours, and the NBA finals. He is currently a high school sports columnist.

Sunni Khalid
Senior Reporter &
Managing Editor, WYPR News in Maryland
Photo by Sean Kief

Sunni Khalid is the senior reporter with WYPR's News Department. A veteran journalist and former foreign correspondent, Sunni was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. and graduated cum laude, majoring in print journalism. He also attended the prestigious Johns Hopkins University's Nitze School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., majoring in African studies and international economics. During his career, Sunni has worked as a journalist with Time Magazine, The Washington Times, USA TODAY, The Wilmington News-Journal, The Baltimore Sun, The Voice of America, and National Public Radio. At NPR, Sunni was a diplomatic correspondent and the Cairo bureau chief.

Sunni has reported throughout Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean on a number of breaking international stories, including Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, the U.S. military intervention in Haiti, and South Africa's first all-race elections in 1994. He is a past recipient of the Maryland-District of Columbia-Delaware Press Association honorable mention, Overseas Press Club's Ben Grauer Award, and the Columbia University School of Journalism's Silver Baton Award for his coverage of Haiti and South Africa, respectively. He also helped create WYPR's news department.

Sunni lives in Joppatowne with his wife, Zeinab, a native of Kenya, and three children. 

Lisa Morgan
Senior Producer &
Cultural Features Reporter, The Signal
 

Lisa Morgan is the co-creator and producer of "The Signal," a weekly radio magazine devoted to exploring Maryland's thriving artistic and cultural scene. She also produces and voices promotional spots and does occasional reports for the news department.

Lisa began her radio career in 1993 and has won a number of awards for her work. She has developed many programs for WYPR, including commentaries, features, and long-form audio documentaries. In her spare time she does voiceover and narration work for a wide variety of clients. A proud graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, she has been teaching radio production at Goucher College since 2002.

Joel McCord
News Features Reporter
Photo by Sean Kief

Joel McCord spent nearly 30 years in print journalism, most of it as a reporter and editor at The Baltimore Sun, before joining WYPR. At The Sun he covered state and local government, transportation and environmental issues and was deputy chief of the Anne Arundel County bureau. He was project manager, writer and narrator for “Roots and Tides,” an audio driving tour of Southern Anne Arundel County that was named the best new tourism product of 2003 by the Maryland Department of Tourism and received honors from the Maryland Historical Society as well. From 2001 through 2004 he was a contributing editor for Chesapeake Bay Magazine and has written extensively for that publication. His work also has appeared in Chesapeake Life and Urbanite magazines. .

James O'Leary
Co-Host, SkyWatch
Photo by Sean Kief

Besides serving as co-host with Dr. Carol Christian, of WYPR's SkyWatch, James O'Leary serves as Senior Director of IMAX, Planetarium and Technology, at the Maryland Science Center. Serving the Maryland Science Center for over 20 years, Mr. O'Leary is responsible for the production and presentation of programs in the Davis Planetarium and the IMAX Theater. He also researches and implements new technologies for use in MSC's exhibits and theaters, such as motion ride simulators.

Mr. O'Leary is a frequent lecturer to both adults and children, and a familiar face and voice on radio and TV, where he is often called upon to interpret space science and astronomy for the public. He is also a freelance writer on space science and astronomy, and a consultant on science museum exhibitry and programming, and IMAX film production.

Jerry Pellegrino
Co-Host, Radio Kitchen
Photo by Sean Kief

Executive Chef Jerry Pellegrino of Corks restaurant is fascinated by food and wine, and the way they work in harmony on the palate. His understanding of the two goes all the way to the molecular level, drawing on his advanced education in molecular biology. His cuisine is simple and surprising, pairing unexpected ingredients together to work with Corks' extensive wine offerings.

His restaurant is set in a quaint 1849 rowhouse in Baltimore's Historic Federal Hill and he has transformed it into what Baltimore Magazine called "a miniature utopia for wine lovers." But wine is just half of the equation. Corks is a restaurant where diners can be swept up in Chef Pellegrino's passion for food and wine and discover the distinctiveness of ingredients and the way they work together.

Chef Pellegrino is a member of the local board for the American Institute of Wine and Food, Vice Chancellor Culinare of the Baltimore Bailliage of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers and often featured in cooking segments on local television. Under his guidance, Corks has been named one of Baltimore's top 65 restaurants every year since opening in 1997 and has been given "The Wine Spectator" award of excellence.

Dan Rodricks
Host, Midday

 
Jerry Rothman
Co-Host, Backstage
with the BSO

Gilbert Sandler
Host, Gilbert Sandler's Baltimore Stories

Gil Sandler has been telling his Baltimore Stories in The Sun, Baltimore Magazine, the Johns Hopkins Magazine, the Baltimore Jewish Times, in four books (published by the Johns Hopkins University Press), and on the lecture circuit for more than 30 years. "But," he says, "I'm just getting started. There is lot more where they came from." Gil was educated in the Baltimore City public schools, and has his B.A. from Penn, and M.L.A. from Johns Hopkins. He admits to being an incorrigible city buff; "It is where the tumble of life is."

Melody Simmons
News Features Reporter
Photo by Sean Kief

Melody Simmons has been a reporter in Baltimore for more than 25 years. She was a staff writer for The Evening Sun and The Sun for two decades where she covered city and metropolitan news, and was on a team that investigated a corrupt city public housing program that was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She has covered medical issues and the health care system as a former weekly freelance columnist for The Washington Post.

Hugh Sisson
Co-Host, Cellar Notes
Photo by Sean Kief

As General Partner of Clipper City Brewing Company, L.P., Hugh J. Sisson is among Baltimore's premier authorities on craft brewing and a former manager of the state's first pub brewery, Sissons, located in Federal Hill. A fifth generation Baltimorean, Hugh has been involved in all aspects of craft brewing.

In the mid-eighties, Hugh Sisson saw the potential for a small brewery in Baltimore, an historically "big beer" town. After researching the industry at its heart - in Germany, England, and the U.S. west coast - Hugh, with the help of Senator George W. Della, Jr., successfully lobbied the Maryland General Assembly to pass legislation required to open a brew pub in Maryland.

After the inception of craft brew in Baltimore, Hugh immersed himself in the development and market recognition of both Sisson's and its beers. He is a member of the Master Brewers Association of America, the Institute for Fermentation and Brewing Studies, and sits on the Executive Committee for the Brewers Association of Maryland. He has served as President of the Cross Street Irregulars Home Brew Club and along with Al Spoler, he has been co-hosting Cellar Notes since 1992. 

Fraser Smith
Senior News Analyst

Fraser Smith has been in the news business for over 30 years and as WYPR's news director, he oversees story assignments with a staff of 10 reporters and stringers. He began his reportorial career with the Jersey Journal, a daily New Jersey newspaper and then moved on to the Providence Journal in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1969 Fraser won a prestigious American Political Science Association Public Affairs Fellowship, which enabled him to devote a year to graduate study at Yale University. In 1977, Fraser was hired away by The Baltimore Sun where in 1981, he moved to the newspaper's Washington bureau to focus on policy problems and their everyday effect on Marylanders. In 1983, he became the Sun's chief political reporter.

During his career as a reporter, Fraser was the recipient of numerous journalism awards: from UPI New England in 1973, from AP New England in 1974 and 1975, from Roy W. Howard in 1975, from Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association in 1981, and from Sigma Delta Chi in 1986. His Sun series on lead paint poisoning, which he wrote with his wife, Eileen Canzian, won first place and best of show honors in 1987 from the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association. Between 1999 and 2003, he has served as an editorial writer and columnist for the Sun. 

Al Spoler
Co-Host, Cellar Notes/ Radio Kitchen
Photo by Sean Kief

Al Spoler, well known to WYPR listeners as the wine-loving co-host of "Cellar Notes" has had a long-standing parallel interest in cooking as well. Al has said, the moment he started getting serious about Sunday night dinners was the same moment he started getting serious about wine. Over the years, he has benefited greatly from being a member of the Cork and Fork Society of Baltimore, a gentlemen's dining club that serves black tie meals cooked by the members themselves who are some of Baltimore's most accomplished amateur cooks.

His most rewarding immersion in cooking came through his work as a television director at MPT. Spoler served as off-line editor and assistant director on two series featuring the legendary French chef Pierre Franey. He also worked with Mexican chef Patricia Quintana, and with Bed and Breakfast expert Gail Greco on her series "Country Inn Cooking". Al says traveling all over the US visiting country inns and taping recipes that they prepared in little makeshift television kitchens was an incredible education.

Spoler's tastes in cooking are influenced by regional tradition and contemporary casual French fare. Never slavish to recipes, he is never happier than improvising a Sunday dinner with whatever ingredients come to hand.

Nathan Sterner
On-Air Personality &
Director/Engineer,
Maryland Morning

Before coming to WYPR in September of 2005, Nathan Sterner spent 8 years at WAMU in Washington--where he worked his way up from a part-time receptionist to an on-air personality, with stints in promotions, fundraising, and program production along the way. During that time, he also worked on several special projects with Diane Rehm.

Nathan originally hails from rural Perry County, Pennsylvania (the only county in the Commonwealth without a traffic light). He currently lives in Baltimore with his girlfriend, two ferrets and a cat.

Bob White
On-Air Personality & Producer,
Cellar Notes & Digital Cafe
Photo by Sean Kief

Bob White, is a 29 year veteran broadcaster who has spent most of his career in the Baltimore area, on the commercial side of radio broadcast communications. Beginning his radio career in 1973 as an air personality with Baltimore's premier album-rock station, the former WAYE-AM (now WBGR), Bob has held numerous positions with stations throughout Maryland. He served as Director of Marketing for WXCY (Havre de Grace) as well as General Manager and air personality for WHRF, Harford County's News/Talk Station. As a freelance broadcaster, he established AM/FM Radio Media Group, a small independent radio broadcast consulting company. He joined the WYPR staff (formerly WJHU) in March 2001 as the station's weekend personality and fill-in announcer. As part of the production staff, he produces Cellar Notes, Digital Cafe and WYPR's Medical Commentaries. Bob also serves as the Promotions Specialist with Cecil County's Department of Economic Development and Tourism.

In his spare time, Bob is an active volunteer with the Johns Hopkins Childrens Center, American Lung Association, The Salvation Army, Kidney Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis, MS of Baltimore, March of Dimes and Lutheran Mission Society. He is also a member of the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB), National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Religious Broadcasters (NRB). 

David Zurawik
Co-Host, Take on Television

Each week, co-host David Zurawik takes a look at the way TV reflects and influences American Popular Culture - From the history of Jewish characters in prime time & the era of the blacklist, to reality TV & the changing face of war coverage in the age of the videophone. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, but always informed and engaging, David casts a critical eye on the small screen.

David Zurawik has been television critic for the Baltimore Sun since 1989. His writings on media have appeared in publications ranging from TV Guide and Esquire magazine to the American Journalism Review. From 1997 to 2002, he was the co-host of "Media Matters," a weekly show on media and popular culture, on WJHU. His new book is The Jews of Prime Time.