Mai Martinez (born December 16, 1973) is an American news anchor and reporter. She is the co-anchor of the morning news on

WBBM (AM) WBBM (780 kHz) – branded ''Newsradio 105.9 WBBM'' – is a commercial all-news AM radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois. Owned by Audacy, Inc., its studios are located at Two Prudential Plaza in the Chicago Loop, while the station' ...

Newsradio 780 AM and 105.9 FM, with Cisco Cotto. She is a reporter for the all-news radio station.

Early life and education

A native of

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, Martinez earned a bachelor's degree in 1997 from

Jacksonville State University Jacksonville State University (JSU or Jax State) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's degree, bachelor's, mas ...

Jacksonville, Alabama Jacksonville is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 14,385, which is a 14.6% increase since 2010 and a 71.2% increase since 2000. It is included in the Anniston-Oxfo ...

. She is of half Cuban and half

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overseas Vietnamese, Vietnamese people living outside Vietna ...

descent.

Professional career

Martinez began her broadcasting career as a video editor at WBRC-TV in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, where she worked from 1997 until 2003. In 2000, she co-hosted a morning radio show on WOXR-FM in

Oxford, Alabama Oxford is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun, Talladega County, Alabama, Talladega, and Cleburne County, Alabama, Cleburne counties in the U.S. state, State of Alabama, United States. The population was 22,069 at the 2020 United States ...

. In 2003, Martinez became a photographer, general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor at

WDSI-TV WDSI-TV (channel 61) is a television station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with True Crime Network and Comet. The station is owned by New Age Media, which also operates Cleveland-licensed dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate W ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. She then rejoined WBRC-TV in April 2004 as a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor. While there, Martinez developed a higher level of national visibility when she spent eight weeks in

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

covering the disappearance of

Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other me ...

. In May 2006, Martinez was hired by

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's CBS network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington St ...

in Chicago as a general assignment reporter. On September 20, 2007, she was promoted to be a weekend news anchor at the station. Martinez was laid off on May 27, 2020. On March 28, 2022,

announced that Martinez has been hired to co-anchor the morning news starting April 4, 2022, with Cisco Cotto from 6-9 AM, she will also report stories from the field for WBBM Newsradio.

Personal

She is single and lives in the Uptown neighborhood on Chicago's North Side.

References

External links

WBBM-TV Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Mai Living people Television anchors from Chicago American television reporters and correspondents 1973 births American people of Cuban descent American people of Vietnamese descent