DC Radio: WTOP's Dave McConnell Observes 50th Anniversary

Dave McConnell

WTOP 103.5 FM's Dave McConnell is celebrating 50-years of reporting, mosty of it spent as the Capitol Hill correspondent.  Acutally, he is the only full-time reporter for a local radio station covering Capitol Hill.

McConnell started with the station on January 18, 1965 as a reporter for what was then 1500 AM. He has spent most of his career as the station's Capitol Hill Correspondent, where he remains the only full-time Congressional Correspondent for a local radio station in the United States.

"It is part of WTOP lore that while other kids were skipping school to see the Washington Senators play at Griffith Stadium, Dave was skipping school to hear the real Senators debate on Capitol Hill," says longtime WTOP News Director Mike McMearty.

He started out as a local reporter, and soon found himself behind the microphone at the anchor desk before transitioning to the Hill. His career has spanned 12 presidential elections and five inaugurations. He's covered breaking news not only on the Hill but around the rest of D.C., including the 14th Street Bridge Air Florida crash, the shooting of Ronald Reagan, the 1989 Capitol shootings and September 11, 2001.

McMearty continues, "Dave McConnell is a class act. He's a mixture of hustle, honesty and humbleness. Dave lets the members of congress express their point-of-view without inserting opinion or commentary. He is, and has always been known as, an honest broker. I consider it an honor to have worked with him for more than 20 years of his illustrious career."

Despite all the challenges of covering such a competitive beat, the political theater, the accolades and technological advancements, McConnell has no plans to hang up his microphone. He has never breathed the word “retirement.”