Meet the News Team

Todd Jeffries

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:42:00 GMT

Todd Jeffries got his first radio job in 1985. His accolades include numerous Katies from the Press Club of Dallas, as well as awards from the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters, the Texas Medical Association. Currently, Todd & Sarah Jeffries live in Cedar Park with their two children Gage and Macy.

Todd began his radio career 1985 at K104 in Dallas as a DJ. Then KGNZ Christian Rock Radio in Abilene, while attending Hardin-Simmons University. Then in 1989 Todd moved back to the Metroplex to be a News Anchor at KCBI and The USA Radio Network. In 1990 Todd worked as a Reporter and News Anchor at ABC Radio & WBAP in North Texas. Then in 1994 Todd became a Reporter and News Anchor at News Radio 590 KLBJ.

Over the years Todd as been a fill in Talk Show Host, Disc Jockey, and business owner, and aspiring professional bowler. When not in the newsroom Todd enjoys adding to his music collection, participating in cub scouts, and sports with his children. A lifelong Texan – Todd, Sarah, Gage, & Macy take several trips each year to the Gulf Coast. They used to take fishing trips to Michigan, but Grandma sold the cabin. What was she thinking!

Diann Hodges

Thu, 07 May 2009 19:47:00 GMT

Diann brings major market experience to Newsradio 590 KLBJ. She began her radio career in Dallas/Fort Worth at Newsradio 1080 KRLD, where she learned all aspects of news business, from editor to reporter to anchor. She was on the desk in Arlington the night Amber Hagerman disappeared, the little girl for whom the now nationally famous Amber Alerts are named.

Diann was also part of a short-lived news experiment called All News 94.9 FM. It was the only FM all-news station in the nation and had the largest news team in the southwest. F.C.C. deregulation caused the demise of All News 94.9 FM, where she was a news reporter.

As fate would have it, Newsradio 590 KLBJ stepped in an offered her a job as news reporter and news anchor in the mid-nineties. Diann worked for KLBJ for four years, before leaving to work in the private sector. After an eight-year hiatus, Diann has returned to her roots and her main love….newsradio.

Diann has won numerous awards from Texas AP Broadcasters including Best Reporter, Best Medical Reporting and Best Feature Reporting. She also has won a Texas Gavel Award.

Diann is a graduate of Texas A&M University and has two palomino quarter horses and shows western pleasure. She also has a dog named Lexi.

Jarrod Allen

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:57:00 GMT

Jarrod is an award-winning broadcast and web journalist with major market experience, one of many talented pros at KLBJ. Jarrod is a trained Skywarn severe weather spotter for the National Weather Service. While working in Houston, he covered two tropical storms and the start of the Baby Grace case in Galveston in 2006. He reported on the Marble Falls flood that year, reported from the Clinton and Obama campaign stops in Austin in 2008 and covered the attack on the Echelon Building in northwest Austin in February, 2010. Jarrod was on the air all night for KLBJ and The Weather Channel during Tropical Storm Hermine in September, 2010. He was on the scene live in the aftermath of the UT gunman in 2010 and handled the Bastrop wild fire in 2011 with reports from the fire zone for two weeks. Those were fed to over a hundred stations in Texas. Jarrod's main focus for Austin's listeners is I-35, Mopac, TxDOT and Capital Metro, including Metro Rail and its opening in 2010. His past experience includes live reporting at KTRH/Houston and several Ohio stations including WLW, WCLT, WHIZ-TV and WSEO.

Perry Watson

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:20:00 GMT

Perry Watson has with KLBJ for the past two years, but his radio career covers more than 10 years. His broadcasting career began in South Texas, where he was a radio analyst for college and high school football games. In Austin, he also worked at another radio station as a co-host of a sports talk show for six-plus years. While there, he covered high school football, the Dallas Cowboys training camp, and Longhorn sports. He was also part of pre-game and post-game shows for UT football.

Alex Hall

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:51:00 GMT

Alex Hall is a News Reporter and occasional Traffic Reporter for News Radio KLBJ. He has been in Austin radio for close to 15 years. Alex is a native Texan born and raised in Fort Worth, coming to Austin to attend the University of Texas in 1997. During his second year at UT Alex started working as an intern at Austin’s former classic rock station. He soon landed a gig as the overnight DJ. He continued in that role for several years, taking on additional responsibilities as the local producer for a nationally syndicated morning show. During his tenure with the station he hosted the popular Saturday night show “Masters of Metal” and a show dedicated to local music called “Texas Flood”. Alex eventually moved to the afternoon drive slot and became the assistant music director. After the station unexpectedly flipped formats Alex moved to news and traffic reporting with Metro Networks here in Austin. His next stop was with Nokia’s traffic gathering and reporting arm “Navteq Traffic”. Alex joined the KLBJ-AM team late in 2010 as a News and Traffic Reporter and is now a general assignment News Reporter.

Jean Casey

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 15:55:00 GMT

Jean Casey joined the weekend news team in October of 2011 and hopes to join the weekday staff soon! She has a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin and works full time at Emmis Austin Radio as a Traffic Director for 101x and 107.1 La Z; she also does occasional commercial voice work. Prior to her career at Emmis she was a Traffic Coordinator at Univision-TV in Austin.

Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, Jean moved to Austin in 1995 and has been here ever since. In her free time, she loves experiencing all that the city has to offer, spending time with her family, watching cheesy "B" horror films (if you have not seen Troll 2, she suggests you do so immediately!) and hiking and cuddling with her four-legged babies, Cosmo and Circe. She is passionate about ending animal cruelty and anti-violence-against-women movements.

Don Pryor

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:18:00 GMT

Don Pryor is a lifelong resident of Austin and has been with KLBJ for over 4 years. He also happens to be the son of KLBJ’S Cactus Pryor who had Don sitting in front of a microphone on his regular morning radio show from their home before he was old enough to walk. Don is KLBJ’S midday traffic reporter and fills in for his Dad with his radio commentaries which can also be heard by logging on to 590klbj.com. Don also performs a comedy act around the country and plays drums on the local music scene. He and his wife Kim have been married for 11 years.

Joe Sebastian

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:59:00 GMT

I'm originally from Ventura, California. I did most of my growing up in Northern Arizona. I attended the University of Arizona in Tucson and began my radio career in 1996. For ten years I worked as Traffic Manager in the commercial department for a radio group in Tucson under Lotus Communications. 8 of those 10 years I doubled as an air personality for rock station 96.1 KLPX. I arrived in Austin early 2006 here at Emmis Communications as Traffic Manager in the commercial department and have found my way back to the airwaves in double-duty here on News Radio 590.