Board of Trustees

2008 – 2009

Blanquita Walsh Cullum – Chairwoman

Blanquita Walsh Cullum is the Founder of Young American Broadcasters as well as a Member of the Broadcast Broad of Governors (BBG) and Chairman of the Talk Radio First Amendment Committee. She is the former president of the National Association of Radio Talk Show Hosts. Every year since 1995, she has been named by TALKERS magazine, the trade publication for the industry, as one of the Top 100 broadcasters in talk radio. Her nationally syndicated program, Newsbeat, was heard coast-to-coast on the Radio America Network. Cullum, the first Hispanic woman and the first radio talk show host to serve on the BBG, is also a member of the National Moment of Remembrance Commission. Cullum frequently appears on national television. She began her broadcasting career over 25 years ago in San Antonio, Texas. She also has worked for the Coors Corporation and the National Bureau of the Census.

Russ Hodge – Vice Chairman

Russ Hodge is Executive Producer and Founder of 3 Roads Communications, Inc. where he has created and produced hundreds of hours of network television for domestic and international distribution. He recently served an appointment as Director of Television for the Voice of America.

Russ is also an Emmy Award-winning producer with more than two decades experience in news, public affairs and documentary production and programming. His credits include projects for HBO, PBS, NBC, CNBC, CBS, Fox and Comedy Central. He has produced hundreds of hours of television programming for Network, Cable and Public Television, and numerous foreign broadcasters. He is best known for launching and producing some of television’s most successful news discussion shows including, Fox News Sunday, Off the Record for Fox, Politically Incorrect for Comedy Central and The McLaughlin Group for CNBC.

Jane Watrel – Secretary

Jane Watrel is a general assignment reporter for News4 and began reporting for News4 in 1999 as a national correspondent. She currently files stories focusing on local issues in the DC/VA/MD community. Jane graduated from Penn State University with a journalism degree, and began her broadcasting career in Dickinson, North Dakota as a reporter, anchor and news director. She also worked for stations in South Bend, Omaha and Orlando. Jane has covered multiple big stories, including the U.S. occupation of Haiti, the funeral of John F. Kennedy, Jr., the Washington area sniper attacks and trials, the rescue of the Pennsylvania coal miners, and many natural disasters. Many of these stories, as well as her reports on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the legal challenges to the 2000 presidential election, were broadcast on NBC stations nationwide. In 2008, she received a Congressional Award from the Blinded American Veterans Foundation for her work on behalf of wounded troops.

Bennie Simbole - Treasurer

Bernard J. Simbole has been practicing law in the Arlington, Virginia area since 1986. In 1985 he completed eight years of service as an assistant prosecuting attorney, in the trial division of the Wayne County (Detroit) Michigan Prosecuting attorney's office. During this period, Mr. Simbole worked exclusively as a trial attorney, developing professional skills of trial tactic and personal communication vital to influencing jury decisions. Mr. Simbole has received approved Continuing Legal Education (CLE) training in areas of estates, trusts, and federal estate taxation and document preparation. His corporate client work includes litigation on contracts, debt collection, Internal Revenue Service representation, and bankruptcy. Individual client work includes personal injury litigation, estate and trust planning, tax return preparation, and formation of new businesses. Mr. Simbole is an active member of the District of Columbia, and Virginia, bars.

Jim Bohannon

Jim Bohannon is a broadcaster who has worked in both television and radio. He took over as permanent host of Larry King's program in the mid 1990s when King moved to hosting his CNN TV show full time. His radio program, the Jim Bohannon Show, is produced by Westwood One and broadcasts from Washington, D.C. Jim also hosts two other Westwood One radio programs: America in the Morning and the weekend news-magazine America This Week. He also occasionally serves as a booth announcer for CBS-TV's Face the Nation. He also does voice announcements for the satellite feeds of some Westwood One programs, such as The Dennis Miller Show. Jim is a Vietnam veteran and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2003.

Bob Franken

Bob Franken has been reporting on the world’s major news events: war, political and legal for the past 30 years. He has specialized in live coverage, with a knack for taking the story and making it understandable. Bob is an Emmy-award winning reporter, recently inducted into the Society for Professional Journalists Washington Hall of Fame. He has covered combat in both Iraq wars, the White House during both the George W. Bush and Clinton administration, the Supreme Court and Congress for ten years.

Jack Landreth

Jack Landreth began his career in radio helping run WLS in Chicago and eventually became the Senior Producer for WLUP ("The Loop") in Chicago. He has served as Executive Producer for KFMB in San Diego and ran WTN in Nashville. From Nashville, Jack went back west and programmed KNST in Tucson. He then joined Infinity Broadcasting in San Antonio and moved to Infinity’s KXNT and KSFN in Las Vegas where he became involved with the country’s first launch of Spike Radio. In addition to programming the talk stations, Jack also acts as "Boss" on the top rated KXNT morning show. In addition, Jack is also the executive producer of the Penn Jillette Radio Show, syndicated around the country on CBS radio.

Paul Rodriguez

Paul Rodriguez is a newsman who has covered Washington and national politics for over 30 years. He was the top editor at Insight Magazine and its sister newszine, InsightMag.com, the independent weekly newsmagazine published by the Washington Times Corporation. He worked for the Times as a national investigative reporter, breaking many stories about ethical misdeeds of congressional leaders and exposing the truth about Capitol Hill. He has served as a host and sub-host on national radio shows, he has had his own national cable TV show called Headlines & Deadlines and has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, MSNBC, FOX News, NBC’s Dateline, Meet the Press, C-Span and CNN. Paul is a member of the Congressional Press Galleries, the White House Correspondents Association, the National Press Club, Investigative Reporters & Editors and the American Society of Magazine Editors. He also speaks to civic and professional groups on the ethics of journalism and its role in a free society.

Kathie Scarrah

Kathie Scarrah is an accomplished journalist, senior public affairs and media relations specialist with extensive national and international experience. She is an award wining international broadcast news producer and author of Ready, Set, Talk, a guide for public affairs practitioners. As a political appointee with Secretary of State Madeline Albright, Kathie was the Director of the Office of Regional Media and Press Outreach. She also has extensive credentials as Communications Director for three high-profile Members of Congress: Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Senator John Melcher (D-MT) and Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH-10). Kathie has more than 25 years experience in radio and television as a correspondent, producer, videographer and writer. In Washington, she has been an international television news producer for several commercial and government broadcast clients including Associated Press Television, VOA Television, Talk Radio News Service, Department of State and the United States Army. Kathie maintains active press credentials with the Senate Radio & Television Gallery, the Foreign Press Center and the National Press Club.