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Melanie began her career as a work study student, working in the areas of news reporting, anchoring and news-gathering. After graduating from Alabama State University, she worked as a production assistant at the local NBC affiliate, WSFA-TV. As a News Director at WVAS-FM, Melanie leads her team to produce award- winning newscasts and talk shows. Her professional achievements includes News Reporter of the Year for a number of years and awards for talk show producer, by the Alabama Broadcasters Association and the Associated Press. She is an active member of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. Her goals are to expand the reach of WVAS FM into more homes locally, regionally and nationally.

Gene has over 30 years of extensive photography, film making, and cinematography experience. He began his career in Wichita, KS for the Kansas State Network as a News/Production Photographer. Gene was the first African-American in the state to produce and host his own public affairs and entertainment television program, “Knight Time”. His next milestone was as the assistant cinematographer and film editor at the Kentucky Authority Educational Television station in Lexington, KY. Alabama had its first views of Knight’s work when he came to Birmingham and Montgomery to work for Alabama Public Television and as a filmmaker on projects at Alabama A&M University. In 1993, he was commissioned by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to submit photographs for publication in their “Book of Days.” He is proud graduate of Alabama State University.

Eugenia was born in Chicago, Illinois and is graduate of Huntingdon College with a BS in Business Management, she has worked with WVAS for a number of years. She has served as a student coordinator, where she helped train students while on the air, and music director. Currently, she is an announcer and host of Jazz Inspirations. Eugenia is a motivational speaker with her organization, Positive Pieces and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.

David Kestenbaum is a correspondent for NPR, covering science, energy issues and, most recently, the global economy for NPR's multimedia project Planet Money. David has been a science correspondent for NPR since 1999. He came to journalism the usual way — by getting a Ph.D. in physics first.

Bassist extraordinaire, composer, arranger, educator, curator and administrator, Christian McBride, has been one of the most important and most omnipresent figures in the jazz world for 20 years. Sometimes hard to believe considering this man just entered his 40's.