Westwood One News Names Reporting Team

Westwood One today announced that its new customized news product--Westwood One News, a next-generation, full-service news network powered by CNN—has built an award-winning news team featuring top correspondents.

Steve Kastenbaum

CNN Correspondent Steve Kastenbaum will be joining Westwood One News as Senior Correspondent and New York Bureau Chief.  Bob Costantini of NBC News Radio will become the network’s Washington correspondent, covering the White House and Capitol Hill.  Veteran CNN broadcast journalist Jim Roope joins as the network’s West Coast correspondent based in Los Angeles.  Alan Scaia will serve as the Midwest reporter based in Dallas.

"Westwood One News will launch with national coverage from some of the most experienced and honored news correspondents in our business,” said Bart Tessler, Westwood One’s EVP, News and Talk.  “They will be on the scene covering breaking news, filing for the network, and providing live two-ways with affiliates. We are proud to have them on our team and we look forward to more exciting WWO News announcements soon."

Steve Kastenbaum comes to Westwood One from CNN where, for the past year, he has worked as a producer, reporter and CNN Newsource correspondent out of the network’s New York bureau. Recently, he reported from Ferguson, Missouri on violent clashes between protesters and police. His coverage of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and investigative work on the so-called “Bridgegate” scandal resulted in several exclusive reports.

Bob Constantini

Steve was a correspondent for CNN Radio for seven years after starting his career at all news radio station WINS in NY. He’s won more than a dozen local and national awards for his reporting, including the 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award for Reporting: Hard News and the 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Use of Sound.

Bob Costantini joins Westwood One from NBC News Radio. His career includes reporting for Fox News Channel, Tribune Television, and CNN Radio.  He has covered the White House and Capitol Hill, Supreme Court, and the political game.  Bob has also covered many other major stories out of Washington over the years, and was in the Roosevelt Room at the White House when President Clinton made his famous finger-wagging denial about Monica Lewinsky.

Jim Roope

Jim Roope comes to Westwood One as a veteran broadcast journalist. He spent 13 years as the West Coast Correspondent for CNN Radio, where he was the recipient of 12 Golden Mic and three Peabody Awards for excellence in journalism. 

Before joining CNN, Jim worked in Los Angeles at such storied stations as KABC, KFWB and KNX as a general assignment reporter, and as news director for K-NEWS and Operations Manager for KKGO/KGIL.

Alan Scaia has worked for WBAP and KLIF radio in Dallas/Ft. Worth, WIBC in Indianapolis, and KEX in Portland, Oregon. He has earned numerous awards from national, state and local broadcasters' associations, including the Edward R. Murrow Award.  

Alan Scalia

Westwood One News, which launches at the end of the year, was created to offer stations greater flexibility and local branding opportunities. Stations have the option to select one to five minute newscasts based on needs and preferences, allowing them to integrate network news into their local operation.  Westwood One News will include special reports, correspondent two-ways, newsmaker sound bites, live feeds of breaking news events, and other elements that affiliated stations have come to expect from Westwood One as a respected network news provider.

Westwood One owns, manages, and operates Westwood One News.   As momentum and buzz continue to grow, major station groups will be affiliating with this innovative news product.

For more information, contact Jim Jones at jimjones@westwoodone.com or (202) 895-2339.