Election 2012: Alabama and the Nation

Alabama voters go to the polls today to elect a president, members of congress, a state supreme court chief justice (Roy Moore or Judge Bob Vance), president of the Alabama Public Service Commission and several other offices. They’ll also decide on eleven constitutional amendments including one controversial measure that removes racist language from the 1901 constitution.

WBHM’s coverage of election results begins tonight at 7 p.m. NPR will have updates and analysis from around the country and WBHM’s team will bring you results from here at home:

It was probably inevitable that Andrew Yeager would end up working in public radio. The son of two teachers, NPR News programs often formed the backdrop to car rides growing up. (He has vague memories of Garrison Keilor in his “beard stage.”) And it was probably inevitable that Andrew would end up in news after discovering the record button on his tape recorder. He still remembers his first attempted interview – his uncooperative 2-year-old sister.

Originally from east central Indiana, Andrew earned degrees in broadcasting and political science from Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. While there he spent more than his fair share of time at WOBN, the student-run radio station. After college Andrew worked for an educational non-profit and volunteered at WMUB in Oxford, Ohio. He ventured into public radio full-time as a reporter for WNIN in Evansville, Ind. Besides covering an array of local stories, Andrew’s work was heard on several NPR news programs.

Don Dailey is the host and producer of Alabama Public Television’s news and public affairs program ‘Capitol Journal,’which focuses on the legislature and state government. The show airs every Friday night throughout the year and each weeknight when the legislature is in session. During his first year as host of the program, Don has interviewed state officials including Governor Robert Bentley, Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey, House Speaker Mike Hubbard, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh and U.S. Representatives Martha Roby, Mike Rogers and Jo Bonner.

Dailey is a 27 year veteran of broadcast news. Before joining APT in December of 2011, he spent 21 years as News Director and morning news anchor at WZZK radio in Birmingham. While there he was honored with numerous awards for his work from organizations including the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Association of Broadcasters, the Alabama Broadcasters Association, the Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, and his alma mater, Troy University. Before his long tenure at WZZK, Don worked for 5 years as a news anchor and reporter at WKMX radio in Enterprise.

Don is a 1985 graduate of Troy University, where he received his BS degree in broadcast journalism. Don also attended Alabama Southern Community College, where he received his AA degree in speech and drama. He is a native of Linden, Alabama, but now calls Hoover home.

Tanya Ott is WBHM’s News Director. She’s been hunting down good public radio stories for more than two decades. Prior to coming to Birmingham, she worked in news at WUFT-FM (Gainesville, FL), WCBS-AM (NYC), and Colorado Public Radio (Denver, CO) and spent three years as an independent producer filing stories from her walk-in closet in Orlando. Her stories are heard on national and international programs including Marketplace, the Marketplace Morning Report, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, the BBC, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America, AARP’s Prime Time Radio and The Environment Report.

Tanya’s reporting has garnered numerous professional awards including more than a dozen Edward R. Murrow regional awards, Alabama AP’s Best Specialized Reporter for 2004 and 2005 (health), 2006 (business) and 2009 (government), the American Legion Auxiliary “Heart of America” award, and the New York Festival Gold World Award for environmental reporting.

Tanya has also been cited for her work in fostering new public radio talent. While at WUFT-FM she oversaw University of Florida broadcast students producing a daily half-hour news magazine — a task akin to herding cats! She’s also a journalism consultant/trainer for NPR’s Morning Edition Grad School, a trainer for the Public Radio News Directors Inc’s NewsWorks program and a mentor with the Association of Independents in Radio.

Intern Em Wiginton’s history with public radio started somewhere around the age of eleven, when she discovered her love for A Prairie Home Companion and chose “garrisonkeillor” as her first online screen name. It blossomed into a beautiful and meaningful relationship years later, when her history teacher assured her that the government would cut NPR’s funding before Em ever had a chance to work there. Em now works as an intern at WBHM, where she enjoys completing small writing/editing tasks and decorating her desk with Hello Kitty stickers.

Em attends Hayden High School, a comically small facility in the boondocks of Alabama. Although she spends most of her time there glaring threateningly at her peers, she also takes part in marching band and scholars’ bowl. She plans on attending UAB in the fall of 2013, where she hopes to major in communications.

When she’s not down at the station, Em spends her free time selling coffee at farmers’ markets and pursuing her numerous silly interests, including comic books, girl bands, rooting through thrift stores for old dresses, writing, and exploring the city of Birmingham.

Intern Anjali Wagle is a dreamer. Dreaming a simple dream – mostly involving food.

A sophomore pre-medical student majoring in Neuroscience and Chinese, Anjali’s interests range from obsessing over Harry Potter to running from her golden retriever pup, Rani. Although she lives in Gadsden, she went to high school at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham. This one hour commute gave her plenty of time to catch up on the news by listening to WBHM.

While Anjali has worked many jobs including being a sales representative at King Cotton, a teacher at the McWane Center, and an auctioneer assistant, you can usually find her at the library studying for an organic chemistry test or practicing writing Chinese characters. Anjali hopes to gain more journalism experience to help her in her future narrative medicine endeavors. Anjali Wagle lives her life one day, one dream, and 1-4 coffees at a time.