Host and Staff

David Furst

Host
Producer David Furst has been with WAMU 88.5 since 1997. He began as a reporter, working on local segments for Morning Edition and producing news pieces for Metro Connection, WAMU 88.5 's local news magazine. Now he is the host and producer of Metro Connection, which airs at 1 p.m., Fridays.

It's always a challenge to provide balanced coverage of a diverse region that includes the District, Maryland, and Virginia -- and at the same time produce radio that is compelling for ANY listener -- but it's a challenge David takes very seriously. He’s responsible for booking and conducting the interview segments on the show, and for choosing all of the music segues... which gives him something useful to do with his disturbingly overgrown compact disc library.

Born and raised in New Jersey, he previously worked as a classical announcer for KPAC-FM in San Antonio, and continues to produce and host Sunday Night Session, a Texas music program for KPAC's sister station KSTX. He also worked as a reporter for Dow Jones Telerate and as Head Engineer for Ocean Recording Studios in New Jersey. He is a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University in New York.

Stephanie Kaye

Assistant Producer
Stephanie Kaye reports on arts and culture events for the WAMU 88.5 newsroom and the weekly Washington, D.C., region news and arts radio magazine, Metro Connection, and broadcasts local live newscasts. She grew up in small town Alaska and attended university in Anchorage, Germany, and D.C., before graduating from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. She then performed two tours of duty with the Peace Corps in Ethiopia and Morocco, teaching English and developing HIV/AIDS presentations with local theatre groups. Upon returning to the States, she began volunteering at WAMU 88.5. Some of the engineers needed her to go on the air in a pinch, and she hasn't been off the microphone since.

Fred Fiske

Senior Commentator
Fred Fiske is Senior Commentator at WAMU 88.5 and a 50-year veteran of Washington, D.C., area radio. He can be heard every week on WAMU 88.5's news magazine, Metro Connection, which airs at 1 p.m., Fridays. A New York City native, Fiske got his start in radio as a child actor. After graduating from Brooklyn College with a bachelor's degree in speech and drama, Fiske enlisted in the Air Force. During World War II, he served as an aerial gunner and a radio operator in the 8th Air Force, flying 30 missions over France and Germany as part of a B-24 crew, and bringing home a Distinguished Flying Cross and four Air Medals. His squadron leader was Col. Jimmy Stewart.

After the war, Fiske returned to New York, where he taught high school and earned a master's degree in speech and education at Columbia University. After teaching for a year, he resumed his radio career as a free-lance actor on soap operas, plays, and nighttime shows. In 1947, Fiske left New York. He worked as a radio announcer in Lexington, Ky., for six months, then moved to Washington, D.C., landing a job with WOL radio, then part of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The station later became WWDC.

Fiske was a presidential announcer and veteran affairs commentator for Mutual Broadcasting. He was an announcer for the original Meet the Press, and later the Reporters Roundup. He provided live coverage of the presidential inaugurations of Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.

During the 1950s, Fiske hosted a midday radio music program that included interviews with recording artists, and he became Washington's highest rated radio music host. In 1970, Fiske became host of Empathy, a call-in talk show on WWDC, which later became The Fred Fiske Show. When WWDC changed formats in 1977, Fiske brought his program to WAMU 88.5, where he kept lively and interesting conversation going for the next ten years. In 1987, he retired from the rigors of daily hosting and moved the show to Saturday mornings, where it became Fred Fiske Saturday. Since 1995, Fiske has served in his cuurent role as WAMU 88.5's Senior Commentator