Jim Battagliese is the man in charge of WTOP’s entire traffic and transit department.

A Philadelphia native, Battagliese has spent 28 years in the broadcast industry, on-air as a reporter and behind the scenes leading traffic operations’ centers nationally. He pioneered the use of traffic cameras and suburban traffic bureaus in the early 1990’s for Shadow Traffic and the use of roadside speed sensors with Traffic.com in the 2000’s to collect traffic flow data and traffic times.

Battagliese was instrumental in opening new markets for Shadow Traffic including Washington, D.C., Detroit, Dallas, Miami, Baltimore and Minneapolis. He left Shadow in 1999 to launch a new service, Traffic.com.

When Washington, D.C. based XM Satellite Radio wanted to leap into the traffic business, he saw an opportunity and launched 21 Instant Traffic and Weather Channels, serving the top markets across the U.S.

Battagliese joined WTOP in September of 2010. He has five children and divides his time between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

You can email Jim at jbattagliese@wtop.com.