Keith Altiero   Biography
 WDBO-AM

Born in New York and raised in the coal-mining town of Shenandoah, Pa., Keith wanted to be the best at whatever he did. At age 12 he fought Hodgkin's disease and was part of a pioneering study to find a cure. Keith, like so many others in the broadcast field, was "bitten by the bug" at an early age. He worked at a station in Pennsylvania as well as other markets including North Carolina before joining WDBO-AM 580 in 1999. At 16, Keith flew a plane solo. He decided to become a race-car driver and participated in closed-circuit road racing with Sports Car Club of America, even going to the national championship. He trained and raced continually and then moved to Central Florida to get back into radio. In 2001 he won five awards for his work from the Florida Associated Press and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his political reporting. Keith died Sunday, December 19, 2004 after a two-year fight with cancer. He was 51. In Memory


From wdbo.com
WDBO-AM 580 veteran reporter Keith Altiero died Sunday, December 19, 2004 after a two-year fight with cancer. Our hearts are heavy with sadness. Keith was a natural. His brilliance was not taught in journalism school, but rather gleaned from a life of experience as a writer, race car driver and pilot. That is what made him a great reporter and story teller. Hired by WDBO in 1999, he jumped head first right into presidential politics. In August, he broke the controversial story of Republicans working out of the elections office in Seminole County. It created quite a stir and he was subpoenaed to testify. Keith was squarely in the middle of the Bush/Gore controversy. And that's the way Keith liked it. Square in the middle of things. Keith hated to take a routine assignment. In fact, if there was a seemingly "routine" story, Keith would make it extraordinary. He developed his own material and used his own experience and expertise to frame the story. Being a former race car driver, Keith covered the death of Dale Earnhardt's from an "insiders" prospective and made us cry. He chilled us with his story of the Oklahoma bombing survivor who wanted to watch the Execution of her tormentor. He made us laugh when he rode the Kindergarten bus on the first day of school and had a first time Kindergartner tell his Mom he was OK over the air. Keith defined award winning. In 2001 alone he won the lions share of the Newsroom awards - five from the Florida Associated Press and a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for his political reporting. There were many more awards in the years that followed. Keith had heart. He fought his cancer with chemotherapy, surgery and work. During and in between the sessions, as soon as he could, he'd be back in the newsroom ready to go. Developing story lines, spouting ideas and formulating his plan for the next day's Central Florida's Morning News. He did that until he could do it no more.

Radio reporter Keith Altiero, 51, pursued news, excellence in life 
By Adinah Greene
Dec 22, 2004
Sentinel Staff Writer 
The radio bug bit WDBO's Keith Altiero at an early age. He reported features for a radio station in Pennsylvania as a young man and worked in different markets in North Carolina before joining the Orlando news radio station in 1999. "He was natural storyteller; people liked him," said Marsha Taylor, the news director at 580 AM (WDBO). "He was great at everything he did. He really wanted to be in radio news, had a passion for radio." Altiero died Sunday after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 51. Born in New York and raised in the coal-mining town of Shenandoah, Pa., Altiero wanted to be the best at whatever he did. At age 12 he fought Hodgkin's disease and was part of a pioneering study to find a cure, his brother Kerry Altiero of Owls Head, Maine, said. At 16, Keith Altiero flew a plane solo. He decided later to become a race-car driver and participated in closed-circuit road racing with Sports Car Club of America, even going to the national championship. He trained and raced continually and then moved to Central Florida to get back into radio. "He was not the kind of person who was complacent about anything," his brother said. "He was always looking to get better at whatever he was doing. He was in the relentless pursuit of excellence in whatever he did." Taylor said Altiero loved reporting hard-news stories but wasn't above doing simple ones, such as covering the first day of school. "He was so in-your-face that he could get a good story He was as nice as the day was long, but as soon as the mike went on, he had no problems asking difficult questions and getting to the meat of the story," she said. He was very generous in spirit, sharing credit with everyone who helped on a story and was always a team player, Taylor recalled. He used his personal experience to tell a story to the audience. For example, after NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001 , Altiero used his time on the track in telling the story, she said. "He was so unassuming and could get places where other people couldn't," Taylor said. "He was a great observer of life, and people opened up to him and told him things they might not have said otherwise. "I've gotten e-mails from people who talked to him and said they would miss him. It's been very interesting to see people come forward and talk about him." Altiero also is survived by his father, Carl Altiero of Allen-town, Pa.; his mother, Leona Altiero of Ringtown, Pa.; sister Karla Altiero of Cape May, N.J.; and brother Kris Altiero of Pittsburgh. Altiero's family had a private memorial service Sunday. 

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