Bernie Wagenblast
Bernhard Robert Wagenblast (born September 1, 1956 in Elizabeth, New Jersey) is the founder and editor of the Transportation Communications Newsletter (ISSN number 1529-1057), an e-mail publication with over 7,000 subscribers as of January 2008 which is distributed via Yahoo Groups and Google Groups Monday through Friday. The newsletter originated as a discussion group in June 1998, evolving into its current format shortly thereafter. He is also the editor for of the AASHTO Daily Transportation Update, published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
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Early life
Bernie Wagenblast is a graduate of Seton Hall University where he was active in the college's radio station, WSOU-FM (South Orange, NJ), serving as the News Director there in 1976-1977, and Station Manager in 1977-1978.[citation needed]
Career
Wagenblast is the founder and editor of the Transportation Communications Newsletter (ISSN number 1529-1057), an e-mail publication with over 7,000 subscribers as of January 2008 which is distributed via Yahoo Groups and Google Groups Monday through Friday. The newsletter originated as a discussion group in June 1998, evolving into its current format shortly thereafter. He is also the editor for of the AASHTO Daily Transportation Update, published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.[citation needed]
He also serves as the voice for various transportation facilities including AirTrain Newark, AirTrain JFK, New York City Transit and the highway advisory radio system at Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. As of May 28, 2015 he can be heard as the voice on the refurbished cars running on the PATCO Speedline. He is the voice of the PATH_(rail_system) customer information line as well as the main phone number for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. On July 4, 2004 he was the announcer during the laying of the cornerstone of the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site.[citation needed]
Wagenblast is a traffic reporter for the New York City office of Shadow Traffic/Metro Networks (a Westwood One company), where he began his career in the transportation field in 1979 as one of that company's original on-air reporters.[1] Through his work for Shadow, he appeared on several New York City radio stations over a five-year period, including WINS and WABC. On WABC he used the name Jack Packard which was given to him by legendary Top 40 DJ Dan Ingram. The name was based on a character from the old time radio program "I Love a Mystery".[2] In addition to the New York City stations, Wagenblast also appeared on WBAB (Babylon, NY), WMTR (Morristown, NJ), WVIP-FM (Mt. Kisco, NY), WWDJ (now WNYM) (Hackensack, NJ), WNAB-AM (Bridgeport, CT) and WERA (Plainfield, NJ).[citation needed]
Other broadcast experience included positions at WHN (New York City), WJDM (Elizabeth, NJ), WDGS (New Albany, IN) and WRNJ (Hackettstown, NJ).[citation needed]
After working for Shadow Traffic the first time, Wagenblast joined the New York City Department of Transportation, where he helped to establish the city's first transportation communications center. Afterward, he moved to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was operations manager at TRANSCOM, a coalition of transportation agencies in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. He also was involved in the start of the I-95 Corridor Coalition, serving as co-chair of the Highway Operations Group.[citation needed]
Following over a decade of work in government, Wagenblast rejoined the private sector serving as the NYC Director of Operations for SmartRoute Systems, a Senior Associate for TransCore and working with SmartRoute Systems to help grow their public sector Intelligent Transportation Systems business.[citation needed]
Wagenblast returned to WINS in April 2008, and is now doing the traffic reports in the early afternoon hour (from 12:31 to 2:51). Wagenblast called his 23-year absence from the station a "lunch break" and one of the longest absences in the history of the New York media market.[3] In addition, he also is currently heard on WKXW-FM (Trenton, NJ) and WRCN (Riverhead, NY). He works for Total Traffic in Rutherford, New Jersey.[citation needed]
Lastly, He has been occasionally on different productions, such as Freedom Tower Groundbreaking As an announcer, Good Morning America as himself, and To Life As himself.
References
External links
- Bernie Wagenblast at the Internet Movie Database
- Out Of The Sounds Of Jersey, A Familiar Voice Makes A Mosaic - Profile on NPR's All Things Considered, from July 4, 2014
- Profile in The New York Times, from February 23, 2012
- Video of cornerstone laying ceremony for the Freedom Tower on July 4, 2004
- Shadow Traffic Turns 25 - Article from the New York Daily News, from December 7, 2004
- City traffic reports are cutting through the gridlock - Article from the New York Daily News, from December 3, 2009
- Recording of Terminal B announcement for the AirTrain at Newark Liberty International Airport
