Jamie Dupree, the award-winning Washington D.C.-based radio journalist and a regular presence on WSB Radio, is departing the company after three decades.
Drew Anderssen, program director at WSB, declined to comment, citing a Cox Media Group policy about discussing personnel matters of this type.
Dupree, 57, has provided political coverage for multiple Cox Media Group radio and TV stations, covering Congress and administrations from George H.W. Bush to Donald Trump. But in the spring of 2016, he contracted a rare medical condition called tongue protrusion dystonia, in which his brain, his tongue and vocal muscles don’t match up, making it difficult for Dupree to speak.
“I am looking for work,” Dupree wrote on his public Facebook feed Monday afternoon. “I had a great run, working with fantastic colleagues at our radio and TV stations. I may not be able to speak, but I can still report.”
The malady happened during the run-up to the Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump presidential election. He continued to gather recorded interviews with lawmakers and posted regularly on his blog and social media, but he was no longer on the radio.“ It was my Super Bowl, and I missed it,” he wrote at the time.
There is no known treatment or cure.
In 2018, Scotland-based tech company CereProc, which develops text-to-speech technology, used past Dupree recordings to piece together enough of his phrases so he could type sentences and they automatically come out in audio form. Cox radio stations promoted it as “Jamie Dupree 2.0.” Though it sounded mildly artificial, his reports on the radio were still recognizably Dupree’s voice. A recent upgrade made his voice sound even better.
Apollo Global Management, a New York-based private equity investment firm, purchased a majority stake in Cox Media Group, closing on the deal in December 2019. Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises maintains a minority stake in Cox Media Group.
Cox Media Group includes 33 television stations in 20 markets, 54 radio stations in 10 markets along with numerous multi-platform streaming video and digital platforms.
