Donald Reichardt taught English and wrote for newspapers before becoming editor of a company newspaper for Southwestern Bell Telephone. He organized and managed Southwestern Bell’s media relations department, then moved to New York as a charter member of the executive speechwriting team for AT&T. He was department head of public relations and advertising for South Central Bell and held a similar position for Southern Bell. Reichardt organized BellSouth Corporation’s first companywide advertising department and was named executive director for advertising, brand management and Olympic Games programs. He has written speeches for five Fortune 50 CEOs and other officers. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America and to the Georgia Public Relations Hall of Fame.

After leaving corporate life to pursue freelance projects, Reichardt consulted with companies and organizations, including the New York-based Advertising Council, on marketing and media relations programs. He developed strategic plans for three non-profits, including the Georgia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, and the Gainesville, Ga., Symphony Orchestra. Reichardt wrote more than 60 by-lined articles for the Atlanta Business Chronicle and its parent company, American City Business Journals (some 40 publications), and for several magazines. Other projects include several novels and screenplays currently under rewrite, and a number of short stories, three of which received special honorary mention or honorary mention in magazine competitions.

A graduate of Emporia State University in Kansas, Reichardt majored in English with a journalism sequence. He worked on the university’s newspaper, The Bulletin, as sports editor, humor columnist, film & theater critic and associate editor. In his junior year he was named editor and his senior year was sports publicity director, both paid positions. In 2011 he received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

Joyce Oscar has been a reporter and anchor for top-rated WSB television in Atlanta for more than 20 years. She began her broadcast career in Chicago writing radio commercials at WFYR-RKO. She landed her first television position at Atlanta-based Cable News Network. Hired as a video journalist, she was one of CNN’s first 300 staffers, with duties ranging from writing and camera operation to tape editing, graphics and audio.

Oscar joined WJBF-TV in Augusta, Georgia as reporter and weekend anchor, winning spot news awards from UPI and the West Augusta Rotary Club. She was subsequently hired by WDEF-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee as co-anchor and co-producer. After joining WSB, Oscar won the State and City Silver Gavel Awards in 1990 for a series on suspended driver’s licenses. She was the station’s primary on-site reporter during the storm of 1993, when she was stranded in a small Georgia town for four days. She subsequently was honored by the Georgia House of Representatives and was interviewed by Joan Lunden on “Good Morning America.” Joyce received Southern Regional Emmy Awards nominations in spot news reporting team coverage for “Sandy Springs Bombing” in 1998; for “Hartsfield Shutdown” in 2002; for “Courthouse Shooting” in 2006, and for “Interstate Crash and Newscast Daily Markets 1-25” in 2008.

A native of Chicago, Oscar was graduated from Western Illinois University with a major in mass communication and a minor in marketing. She was a Western Courier Student Newspaper reporter/writer, a paid position, and was a UNICOM educational television news anchor, writer and producer. She also produced and wrote a children’s program. Oscar was named to Who’s Who in American Women and is involved with many civic and professional organizations.

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Danny O. Snow, founder, Unlimited Publishing LLC; William David, photographer and digital designer; Valerie Clark, author, filmmaker and agent; Don McAfee, New York PD (ret.); Mike and Linda Jones; R. W. Young, PC; Brad Marsh, Betty Marsh, Jennifer Simpson and Angie Smith.

Donald Reichardt gives special thanks to: My parents, Walter and Agnes, for encouraging me to live my dreams; my sons, William David and Mathew Scott (and his wife Zeina and son Lukas Donald), for their support, especially teaching me about the digital age; Dr. Green Wyrick, Ann Arensberg, Roy Moskop, Valerie Clark and all the other mentors and teachers who influenced me over the years. Also, to Maggie the Dobie, who was joined at my hip for almost twelve years and who befriended Joyce and BooBoo during our first “business meeting” in a park.

Joyce Oscar gives special thanks to: My parents, Edward and Gertrude, who taught me to value education and the written word; my husband Jerry and children Jennifer and Jeremy, who inspire me every day. Also, to BooBoo the lab, who got the ball rolling in a chance meeting in the park.