Inducted 2024
Jeff Gilbert
auto reporter, WWJ Newsradio 950/CBS News Radio
Jeff Gilbert is the only radio reporter in the United States assigned to cover the auto industry full time.
With nearly a half century of broadcasting experience, Jeff covers everything from new products, to labor issues, to financial issues to emerging technology. He’s heard on Detroit’s all news radio station, WWJ Newsradio 950 and across the country on CBS News Radio.
The auto industry offers unique coverage opportunities. Jeff often travels to auto shows, and to events where he can learn and drive new vehicles. His daily “Car Chronicles” feature is heard on WWJ and CBS affiliates around the country.
By his own estimate, Jeff has driven 1300 to 1400 different vehicles over the years. He currently serves as President of the jury that decides North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year.
While driving new vehicles is the fun part of the job, Jeff also regularly interviews leaders in the auto industry, visits factories and product development centers, and does all he can to increase his knowledge of this important business. He is often called upon by major radio and TV stations to lend his expertise to important auto related stories.
The Associated Press has honored Jeff 15 times for his individual reporting skills. He’s received hundreds of local, national and regional awards.
Prior to transitioning to the “Auto Beat”, Jeff covered a variety of breaking news stories from plane crashes to presidential inaugurations to Rose Bowls and Super Bowls. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, he visited—and reported from—all three sites.
Jeff also spent a decade in management as News Director of radio stations in Pittsburgh, California and here in Detroit. From 1986 to 1990, as News Director of WWWW/WCXI here in Detroit, Jeff’s department received four “General Excellence” awards from the Associated Press, beating much larger departments. In 1987, they received the National Headliner Award for “Consistently Outstanding Reporting.”
Before coming to Detroit in 1996, Jeff worked in his home town of Pittsburgh and several smaller markets in Pennsylvania and California.
A resident of Northville, Jeff is married to Dr. Cheryl Kovalsi, an Oncologist/Hematologist at Karmanos Cancer Center in Lansing. Their son, Dr. Christopher Gilbert is a Neurology Resident at Mercy Hospital in Grand Rapid