Jessica Ettinger (born June 9, 1966 in Lansing, New York) is an American journalist and broadcaster, also known as Jessica Wade [1] and Erica Phillips.[1] Her recorded voice is heard by millions of New Yorkers each day announcing stops on the New York City subway system.[2]
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Since recording the subway stops system-wide for the east side New York City subway train lines in the late 1990s, Ettinger has garnered a cult following. Time Out NY Magazine called her an "Indoor Stimulant" in its "Horny New York" issue.[3]
Jessica Ettinger's first on-air appearance was as a fifteen year old disc-jockey on WHCU-FM, Ithaca, New York, and by sixteen she had anchored her first radio newscast on WHCU-AM. By seventeen, Ettinger was a reporter and news anchor at WTKO-AM, Ithaca. As an undergraduate student at Cornell University, Ettinger spent four years at WVBR-FM; her final two years as Program Director. As a senior in 1987, Ettinger won an IRTS Fellowship,[4] and a job as the music director and weekend air talent for NBC's WYNY-FM in New York City. A year later she joined ABC's WPLJ-FM as its music director.[5] It was during this time that Ettinger up-ended the top 40 radio industry by playing a song that was unavailable in the US at the time, creating a "mystery artist" promotion; and later revealing the song as "Soldier of Love" by Donny Osmond, re-launching his career in the process.[6] Ettinger also spent time an air personality at New York's top-rated WLTW "Lite" FM.
In 1993, after a meeting with Michael Bloomberg, Ettinger joined Bloomberg, L.P. as a news anchor for his newly-acquired WBBR-AM. She spent the next 11 years with the company and helped launch Bloomberg Television as an original news anchor, and is pictured in "Bloomberg By Bloomberg," Michael Bloomberg's 2001 autobiography.[7] While at Bloomberg Television and Radio, she anchored wall to wall coverage of the September 11th terrorist attacks from Bloomberg's midtown Manhattan studios. Ettinger became among the first of a number of employees who attended graduate school while working full-time for Michael Bloomberg, who paid for her education. Ettinger earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2002.[8]
In 2004 Ettinger joined CBS-owned 1010 WINS, New York, as a news anchor, the same year she joined Sirius Satellite Radio as an air personality on its popular "New Country" channel. In 2006 she was asked to participate in a side project at Sirius; the creation of Howard 100 News, ahead of the arrival of Howard Stern. Using the name "Erica Phillips," Ettinger was an original Howard 100 News anchor and later became Howard's News Director. She also spent time as the Program Director of Martha Stewart Living Radio at Sirius.
In 2008 Ettinger (married and now known as Jessica Gottesman) moved to Seattle to raise her young children and joined 710 KIRO-AM, and can now be heard as a news anchor on Newstalk 97.3 KIRO-FM.[9] She continues to be heard daily as "Jessica Wade" on SiriusXM's "The Highway" [2] hit country channel.[10]