Chuck Custer

 CHUCK CUSTER
Chuck Custer is half of the "Chuck and Kelly and The WGY Morning News" team. Actually, in terms of gross weight, he's two-thirds of the team. Chuck has been with WGY since 1984 and for years (almost too many to count) was the legendary Don Weeks' on-air partner. Chuck came here after growing up in Pittsfield, Mass...going to college in Boston...and working in Utica, Charleston W.Va and Providence. He started at WGY anchoring night-time newscasts. After a couple of years, he moved to mornings with Don, and they spent 23 wonderful and productive years together. Chuck became WGY News Director in 1994 and later added Program Director duties. Under Chuck's leadership, News-Talk WGY has achieved high ratings, great results for its advertisers and has expanded an already impressive commitment to local charitable organizations. In 2008, the National Association of Broadcasters honored WGY with the prestigious Crystal Award for exemplary public service. Chuck and staff also have earned multiple Marconi awards and more than 60 awards for excellence in journalism, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards. Despite all those honors, Chuck's greatest source of pride and joy are his boys, Cory and Scott. Chuck lives in Latham with his lovely wife Linda who really could have done much better.



 

Kelly Lynch

KELLY LYNCH
Kelly Lynch is an award winning broadcast journalist with nearly two decades of experience in local media.

She comes to WGY from a 15 year television career, including WKTV in Utica, NY and local NBC affiliate, WNYT Newschannel 13, where she served as Weekend, Noon and Midday anchor and lead reporter for the 11 pm weekday news, as well as producer and host of the station's public affairs program. Her assignments have taken her to Hyde Park to cover President Clinton's historic summit with Russian President Boris Yeltsin, to Washington DC for the Presidential Election and vote recount of 2000, to New York City to cover President George W. Bush. She has also been a regular fixture at the State Capitol in Albany, covering local politics. She has reported from every county in the Capital Region, on everything from breaking news to investigative reports.

She has also interviewed numerous celebrities, including Donald Trump, David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne, Kate Gosselin, Luke Perry, Jenny McCarthy, Christie Brinkley, Jimmy Smits, Bradley Whitford, and Nancy Grace.

Kelly grew up in the Capital Region, graduating from Shenendehowa High School and Siena College. While at Siena, she contributed hourly news updates for the college station 88.3 WVCR. She lives in Albany County with her husband, WNYT Sports Director and FOX Sports Talk 980 morning show host Rodger Wyland, their two kids and a crazy dog.


 

JOE GALLAGHER
This is Joe’s second go-round at WGY, having hosted the afternoon show back in the 80’s. Currently, he has hosted the Weekend Morning Show since 1997. Joe’s show is a family-oriented program known for its unique brand of light humor, fun and entertainment! Joe has had the top-rated weekend morning show for more than a decade.  

Joe often wonders where he might be today if he had followed his heart and pursued a career as a trapeze artist… “Trapeze artist and high wire walker were my first two career choices, but there were no openings at the time. I was discovered by a radio program director while working as a waiter. He heard me yell out, ‘Eggs, sunny side up, side of bacon and fried potatoes’ and offered me a job on the spot.” The rest is history. Joe adds, “Many radio announcers start out working weekends and move up to full time weekday announcer. My career went in reverse – from full time to weekends.  I still check the classifieds for Trapeze Artist.”

Joe has been a tireless supporter of the WGY Christmas Wish program and the annual WGY Miracle Weekend Radiothon for the Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center. Joe and his wife Kathy have two sons and live in Schenectady.

 


 

John Craig

JOHN CRAIG
John joins WGY after ten years on Capital Region television. He has been a news and sports reporter and anchor for both the NBC and ABC affiliates in Albany, as well as Lansing, MI, Utica, NY, Kingston, NY and Fredericksburg, VA. He began his career at CNBC working for Dick Cavett, Phil Donahue & Vladimir Pozner and Geraldo Rivera.

John is also the golf/bowling columnist for the Troy Record newspaper, hosts "Huck Finn's Capital Region Bowling," a weekly hour-long TV show, and is the editor of Capitalareagolf.com, a website covering the local golf scene.

As you might guess, golf is a sport he loves and wishes he was better at and had more time to devote. How he did it, we're still not sure, but last year he not only visited Augusta National and the Masters but somehow played Pebble Beach just a couple weeks before the 2010 U.S. Open.

John lives in Colonie with his wife. His parents still live in northern New Jersey, where he grew up with three brothers. His broadcasting days go back to high school at the 10-watt radio station. He's now added 49,990 more watts to his career.


 

DIANE DONATO
Diane's voice will be familiar to many WGY listeners, as she's been working in local radio for over 25 years. (She started working overnights when she was just 17, egad!) Her career had her working as a disc jockey in a number of formats, including: adult contemporary, country, and oldies. Many will also remember her from a series of Upstate Ford commercials she did with Ernie Tetrault, and the For Sale by Owner television show. Diane got her first news job as the co-host of a local morning show, and she became hooked on life in a newsroom. The one thing that will pull her away is her family…Diane is married, and has two children.


 
Chad Erickson CHAD ERICKSON
Chad Erickson joined WGY News in 2007. He has anchored news updates and reported from the field for WGY. Chad has worked at radio stations in Syracuse, his hometown of Utica and Binghamton – where he went to college and worked with WGY's Tom Rigatti. Some of his radio reports have been carried nationally by CBS News. In addition to broadcast journalism, Chad regularly contributes stories to newspapers. His work has appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Newsday and the Nashville Tennessean. After spending years living in an apartment, Chad recently began a 30-year journey with the purchase of his first house, which is in North Greenbush.


 
JIM GAGLIARDI
Jim Gagliardi’s 40 year career in radio has led him back once again to one of America’s great radio stations, Newstalk WGY. Gagliardi’s career started at a much smaller Schenectady radio station, WSNY 1240 AM. Gagliardi graduated from the old Draper High School in Rotterdam in 1967. He then went to, and graduated from Grahm Junior College in Boston, while there, he worked at the campus radio station and also did part time work for WNTN, a 10 ten thousand watt daytimer in Newton, Massachusetts.

After College it was a 24 year stint at WROW, where he worked his way up from nighttime Staff announcer to Program Director. Awards included a New York State Broadcasters award and recognition from the American Hockey League for coverage of the Adirondack Red Wings.

In March 1994, Gagliardi joined the award winning staff at WGY. He was an important part of the staff and won numerous Associated Press awards and another New York State Broadcasters Award. Gagliardi’s coverage of the fatal 1999 E. Coli outbreak at the Washington County Fair won a National Edward R. Murrow award. Gagliardi also provided reports for ABC News during the network’s coverage of the 2003 Northeast Blackout, and a suit filed by Kevin Rooney, the onetime trainer of Former heavyweight Boxing Champ Mike Tyson.

In January 2011, he rejoined the staff of Clear Channel Albany, and WGY.


 
Mike Patrick MIKE PATRICK
Mike Patrick has been in radio for a LONG LONG time! His professional career began in 1977 while he was a Broadcasting student at Ashland College, now Ashland University, one of many things that have changed over the course of Mike’s career.
Mike has worked at multiple stations in multiple cities doing multiple formats under multiple names. Over the years, Mike has worked for stations with these formats:
- News-Talk
- Top 40/CHR
- Country
- Middle/All Over the Road
- And at one point, Mike has even played polkas and he LIKED it!
Mike has worked the Morning Show, Mid Days, Afternoon, Nights AND Overnights. Besides being known as Mike Patrick, names he’s used on air include:
- Big Mike Patrick
- Big Mike in the Morning
- Mister Mike in the Morning
- Mister Mikie in the Morning (because he likes everything)
At one point, someone told Mike to use the name Shadow on the radio. He says he prefers The Mighty Party Beast of the Great Northeast.
While Mike is a local guy (go Shaker Blue Bison!), he’s worked in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Vermont, Massachusetts, and confusion.
All kidding aside, Mike is VERY proud to be a part of the News Team on a heritage radio station like WGY!


 
Tom Rigatti TOM RIGATTI
Tom Rigatti joined the WGY News team in July 2010. Tom has worked as a radio journalist and sportscaster for nearly 20 years, getting his start in the business at WNBF in his hometown of Binghamton, NY after graduating from Hofstra University on Long Island in 1991. From there, Tom spent two years as News Director at WLEA in New York's Southern Tier, then worked in Wilmington, De for 9 years before moving to the Capital Region in 2005. Tom has won several industry awards for his broadcast journalism work from organizations like the Associated Press and Society of Professional Journalists. Tom is married with two young children, and lives in Scotia. In additional to being a news and political junkie, Tom is an avid reader, and likes to enjoy the outdoors any time he can in his spare time. He's also a rabid sports fan, with his favorite teams being the Jets, Mets, Knicks, and Syracuse Orange…which has resulted in premature gray hair.


 
Read Shepard READ SHEPERD
Read Shepherd, a native of Tiffin, Ohio, is entering his 10th year with News-Talk WGY. Read came to Albany in November of 2001 after more than a decade in Tampa-St. Petersburg, where he was the co-host of the "Shepherd and Shepherd" morning show on WWRM-FM.

He graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in journalism, and has worked in such diverse places as Gallipolis, Ohio, Huntington, W. Va, and Toledo, where he spent seven years as an award-winning street reporter and anchor.

Read has continued to help the station win awards during his time with WGY, including several from the Associated Press and New York State Broadcasters Association for spot news coverage of the Ethan Allen tragedy in 2005, and a National Edward R. Murrow award for anchoring the station's coverage of the "Stellamare" capsizing in 2003.

In his spare time, Read can often be found in the workout room of the YMCA. In the summer, he plays baseball with the Capital District Men's Senior Baseball League. He and his wife, Lorie, live in Clifton Park, along with a really neat cat, 'Toga, and a bird, "Dusty." Read is trying to teach Dusty how to tweet "Buckeye Battle Cry," but no luck yet.


 

Andrew Moll

ANDREW MOLL
Andrew has been a producer for WGY and WOFX since 2008. In 2010, after an unspecified incident with management, he was forced to become the producer of the Joe Gallagher Show. He now spends his Saturday and Sunday mornings working tirelessly on his resume.


 
Andrew Moll George Morris
George Morris joined the WGY News Team in September 2011. This is his first job in radio after graduating from Marist College with a degree in sports communication.  Prior to that, he worked with his campus radio station, WMAR and interned with Clear Channel in Poughkeepsie. As a lifelong Capital Region resident, he is excited to work in an area that is very important to him. He’s a sports junkie and a diehard New York Jets fan. When not at the station, George enjoys taking in local sporting events, reading and spending time with friends.