BLOGGER
Ted Leonsis
It’s Ted Leonsis’s world web. We’re just living in it. The Renaissance man and technology tycoon gives readers a glimpse into his always-on-the-move world with his blog “Ted’s Take.” Leonsis, whose resume highlights include vice chairman of AOL, majority owner of the Washington Capitals, movie producer, angel investor, chairman of Revolution Money and all-around uber-successful entrepreneur, waxes about everything from Caps games to his 10-point plan to reinvent the newspaper industry.

As a high-profile Washingtonian (among his accolades are Washington businessman of the year and one of the most 20 influential people in sports), Leonsis gets plenty of ink for all of his ventures. So why the blog?

“Because blogs are the latest incarnation of why I first fell in love with the online medium nearly two decades ago,” he wrote. “The real magic of the Internet isn’t in high-tech gizmos and complicated computer code. It’s in each individual’s ability to connect with the rest of their world … In short, your personal blog is a way to leave your footprints in the sand.” ted.aol.com.—KW

MORNING RADIO PERSONALITY
Elliot in the Morning
Nothing like a little sexual innuendo to get you ready and raring for your early workday hours. That, along with a personalized label of potty humor, is just what native Canadian and lead radio personality Elliot Segal has been delivering to frustrated Metro-region drivers since his rate-pumping “Elliot in the Morning” show was first introduced to the local scene in 1999.

Broadcast from Rockville, Md., offices every weekday morning from “5:48 til 10-something” on modern and alternative rock station WWDC-FM, “Elliot in the Morning” has scored a loyal fan base with his take-no-prisoners brand of edgy humor. Flanked by co-cast members Diana “Momma” Stupar and Bryan “Flounder” Schlossberg, the 30-something shock jock, who first cut his teeth on radio stations in Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and most recently on New York’s famed Z100, has one of the nation’s most heavily FCC-fined shows, which consistently reels in a pool of regulars with in-person and phone-in celebrity interviews, taboo toilet talk, gross-out stunts, a specialized brand of “can they say that?” comedy (sometimes they can’t) and a trademark, semi-crazed cackle. Annual WWDC-organized sponsored throwdowns he’s known to host include Kegs and Eggs and the Non-Denominational Christmas Party.

To tread the territory of Segal’s antics, some of which land him the occasional suspensions, is not unlike tiptoeing across a landmine (take for example, the fact that his most famous catchphrase is “smell my face,” and in 2002 he inadvertently got two female students from Arlington’s O’Connell High School suspended after an on-air conversation about Catholic school girls that would have had Britney Spears red in the face). But we’re guessing that, whether or not they admit to it, most readers are already listening in, anyway. When their kids aren’t in the car.—KW

NEWS ANCHOR
Jim Vance
Deadpan delivery and friendly demeanor are what have made Jim Vance a favorite of local news viewers for an astonishing stretch of several decades. If you’re a native Northern Virginian, you may well remember watching Vance as a kid with your parents right before dinner or after NBC’s must-see slots.

Vance, who did double duty as a reporter and a school teacher in Philadelphia before moving to the region, made his debut on NBC 4 in 1969 as a reporter. In 1972 he moved to the anchor desk; today he anchors two evening newscasts with Doreen Gentzler and fellow Northern Virginia Magazine fave Bob Ryan.

Vance, who is active in many local charities, has won 17 Emmys in the time of his four-decade career and also holds the Ted Yates Award for outstanding community service.—KW

NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST
Tony Kornheiser
With the exception of the guys actually on the field/court/diamond, Tony Kornheiser just may be the hardest working man in sports. Between his columns for The Washington Post, “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN, his radio show, TV appearances, books, contributions to ESPN The Magazine—did we mention he once had a sitcom based on his life?—Kornheiser has got all his professional bases covered.

The sports columnist has been enlightening the region since 1979, when his byline first appeared in The Post. His Dave Barry-esque, self-deprecating humor quickly made him a household name and the go-to guy for sports news topped off with a little sarcasm. Suffice it to say fans across the country can’t wait to see where he’s bound to turn up next.—KW

METEOROLOGIST
Bob Ryan
Washington-area weather may not always be consistent, but meteorologist Bob Ryan is. The NBC 4 weatherman has been helping viewers plan their wardrobe for more than 25 years. It’s his helpful style of forecasting that has made Ryan a perennial favorite amongst locals ever since he first appeared in their living rooms in 1980.

“I’ve always tried to make it a presentation that I hope is as informative as possible,” explained Ryan, who started out on “The Today Show” in the late ‘70s before becoming the local affiliate’s chief meteorologist. “You build up a rapport and trust a person’s opinion … It’s something people now over the years have come to depend on.”

Trust in him: Despite so many years of predicting the region’s unpredictable weather, Ryan said he has no immediate plans to hang up his hat, or relocating. “We get all sorts of weather here,” he said. “I don’t think I’d want to do what I do in the Southwest or Los Angeles.”—KW

DRIVE-TIME RADIO PERSONALITY
Don & Mike
Fixtures on the local radio scene since 1985, radio personalities Don Geronimo and Mike O’Meara have been entertaining (and shocking) commuting listeners for more than 20 years now. So it might feel a bit strange when Mike takes to the airwaves this June—minus Don.

Don Geronimo (real name: Michael Sorce) announced his retirement back in February, about two-and-a-half years after the unexpected death of his wife Freda. On April 11, the well-liked deejay signed off WJFK’s wildly popular “Don and Mike Show” for good. The new solo format will likely be a work in progress throughout the next couple of months. But it’s a challenge O’Meara, who is probably best known for his dead-on impressions, said he’s up to.

“You’re talking about a significant change,” O’Meara said in a March phone interview (ironically from a cell phone on the road during his own commute). “Don has been the ringleader of the show. He’s been the guy that stirs the drink. I’ve been smart enough to know that what he brings to the table is different from what I bring to the table.”

Geronimo may have been anchor, but it’s what the duo collectively spun out of thin air over their airtime years that made the syndicated show a hit in the Washington region and beyond.

Don and Mike first made their debut together on the now-defunct “Morning Zoo” show on WAVA in 1985. Geronimo had been a deejay at the station and overheard O’Meara, who was in the building working as a freelancer on radio promos, doing some of his now-famous impersonations.

The two paired up, and “we haven’t looked back since,” O’Meara said. “It was instantaneous chemistry. I’d always been a big fan of Don’s, and it was great to work with someone who I thought was one of the best deejays in the country.”

Their bawdy brand of humor quickly gained them a following, especially show segments such as Guess the Whoopee (guess when your parent or grandparent was last intimate), Can You Get to Ten? (win a prize if you can convince a friend that you were intimate with a celebrity) and Strip Trivia (probably self-explanatory).

Beyond their racy contests (some of which were abandoned after Janet Jackson’s 2004 wardrobe malfunction and the Federal Communications Commission’s subsequent crackdown), Don and Mike’s banter—much of it between Don and any number of Mike’s characters—kept listeners consistently tuned in. “If you’re making the guy that you look at across the table laugh on a daily basis, which is what both Don and I did for each other, that what makes it rock,” O’Meara said.

Going forward on “The Mike O’Meara Show,” listeners are likely to be treated to more of the fine-tuned parodies (“I was imitating Jimmy Cagney when I was 5 years old in front of my parents”), more banter from the show’s lively cast of regulars and more chances to chat with O’Meara live.

“It’s going to be a little bit more interactive than ‘The Don and Mike Show,’” O’Meara said. “I … know to fill the void that Don is leaving I need to bring a lot more people to the table, and I think that’s going to be a lot of fun.”

And while Don might not be at the desk across from him anymore, his influence will assuredly remain.

“I think he’s a legendary performer,” O’Meara said. “I will miss him, but I’m excited for him, and he’s excited for me … I really owe all of this to him. We had an incredible partnership with a tremendous amount of success, and I think we’re parting as friends.—KW

Tom Davis (Photography by Seth Freeman)

LOCAL POLITICIAN
Tom Davis
“Maybe they like me because I’m leaving,” Rep. Tom Davis (R) joked of his win. The Virginia congressman departs public office this coming January after a 14-year career in the House, but it’s likely not his lame-duck status that makes him a favorite among Northern Virginians.

Davis, who before heading to the Capitol served as chairman on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, has a long list of accomplishments spanning his time in the political spotlight. Among his most proud are the county being named “Best Financially Managed County in the Country” under his supervision, the closing of Lorton prison and working to open the first homeless shelter in Fairfax.

“I hope people would say that I put the region first and partisan politics second,” Davis said. “I wasn’t afraid to tackle the tough problems.”

Come 2009, Davis said he’s looking forward to a slower lifestyle with his wife, former state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis. “The main reason (for leaving office) is to try to get our lives back together,” Tom Davis said. “We’ve been rushing from event to event for years.”

First up on the list of free-weekend activities?

“I haven’t had a garden in years.”—KW