Alison Stewart

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Alison Stewart bigraphy, stories - American journalist

Alison Stewart : biography

July 4, 1966 –

Alison Stewart (born July 4, 1966) is an American radio and television journalist. She was one of the hosts of the Bryant Park Project, a morning drive news program from NPR. Stewart first gained widespread visibility as a political correspondent for MTV News in the 1990s.

Education

Stewart attended Brown University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American literature. She began her broadcasting career there where she was the music director for the school’s radio station, WBRU.

Career

WHTZ and PBS

Stewart anchored news segments for New York City’s WHTZ, host PBS’s Act Against Racism campaign, and contributed to Swing magazine.

1991-1995: MTV

In 1991, Stewart arrived at MTV News as a segment producer when she was hired by MTV News Director Linda Corradina. She began on-air reporting during MTV’s first "Choose or Lose" segments, which covered the 1992 presidential race. Her coverage earned her a Peabody Award.

Stewart remained at MTV for much of the 1990s, contributing segments to other MTV News shows including Megadose and MTV News: Unfiltered. She also hosted specials including the Real World Reunion in 1995.

1996: CBS News

Stewart left MTV and moved to CBS News in December 1996. While there, she reported for several of the network’s news programs, including CBS News Sunday Morning, 48 Hours, and Public Eye with Bryant Gumbel.

2003: ABC News

Moving to ABC News, she co-anchored its early morning news program, World News Now with Anderson Cooper, and also contributed reports to Good Morning America and 20/20 Downtown.

2003-2007: MSNBC & Olbermann

In 2003, Stewart moved from ABC News to MSNBC where she was a daytime anchor and primary substitute host for Countdown with Keith Olbermann. She occasionally filled in as newsreader on NBC’s Weekend Today. From May 2006 to April 2007, she hosted a daytime news program The Most with Alison Stewart on MSNBC. Stewart married MSNBC Vice President of Programming Bill Wolff in November 2006.

2007 to 2010: NPR and The Bryant Park Project

Stewart joined NPR in May 2007 to host (along with Luke Burbank) a morning drive show called The Bryant Park Project, which targeted adults between ages 25 and 44. The program premiered October 1, 2007, NPR (archived May 7, 2008) and was canceled effective Friday, July 25, 2008. Stewart returned from maternity leave to host the show’s last week, starting Monday, July 21, 2008.

Stewart served as a panelist on NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! on August 2, 2008. She appeared again on August 31, 2008 and October 11, 2008.

She has served as fill in host of NPR’s Talk of the Nation and as primary substitute host of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

2010-2011: Need to Know

On May 7, 2010 she became the co-host of the new show Need to Know on PBS. She left the show on September 9, 2011; in her departure announcement she said she would be finishing a book she had "been working on for years."PBS.org, September 9, 2011.

2011-present: back to CBS

In late 2011, Stewart went back to CBS News. Her debut as a 60 Minutes correspondent took place on January 1, 2012.

Early life

Stewart, a native of the New York City suburb of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, is the daughter of a pharmaceutical company executive and a high school science teacher.