Jamie Dupree

After 32 years, one chapter comes to a close

32 years ago this week I walked over to the building which houses C-SPAN just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol to interview for this job. It worked out better than anyone could have imagined.


I covered eight campaigns for President, logging thousands of miles on the road. I checked in on House and Senate races around the nation. I covered hurricanes. The Nine Eleven attacks. Supreme Court nominations. Budget shutdowns. And I tried my best to keep my listeners informed about what was happening on Capitol Hill.


In the aftermath of Nine Eleven, I got a great break, as I started joining talk show host Neal Boortz each day. It was a great pairing, along with Belinda and Royal. And it opened the door to new listeners via talk radio for the next 15 years.


While I was mainly on the radio, I started writing about Congress and politics on my own website during the 1996 campaign. I couldn’t convince my bosses to let me have an official blog until 2007.


“Don’t waste your time,” writing for the internet, was what I was told repeatedly. But I kept doing it, and it let me document all sorts of interesting moments on Capitol Hill and around the nation.


In 2016, I lost my voice. It never came back. But we found a company in Scotland named CereProc, which built me a text-to-speech voice app - Jamie Dupree 2.0 - that put me back on the radio.



A recent software update (6.0.1 to be accurate) makes it sound better than ever. How do I know that? Because all of the listeners lodging complaints about my post-election stories aren’t saying a word about my voice. They can understand me on the radio.


But it wasn’t enough for me to continue on in this job. I will miss all my friends at our company’s radio and television stations. Two of my stations - WSB in Atlanta, and WHIO in Dayton - were aboard for all of my 32 years. It’s been 24 years for WOKV Jacksonville, WDBO Orlando, and KRMG Tulsa.


I’m still going to be on Capitol Hill, writing a newsletter about the Congress that shows up in your email inbox every day.

Thanks for reading here. Now it’s on to the next chapter.


Jamie Dupree

Jamie Dupree, CMG Washington News Bureau

Radio News Director of the Washington Bureau

0
Comments on this article
0

Listen

news

weather

traffic

mobile apps

Everything you love about wsbradio.com and more! Tap on any of the buttons below to download our app.

amazon alexa

Enable our Skill today to listen live at home on your Alexa Devices!