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 (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, Martinez earned a bachelor's degree in 1997 from

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

Jacksonville, Alabama Jacksonville is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 12,548, which is a 49% increase since 2000. It is included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is home to Jacks ...

. She is of half

Cuban Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a perso ...

and half

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

descent.

Professional career

Martinez began her broadcasting career as a video editor at

WBRC-TV WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power, Class A television ...

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, 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, Talladega, and Cleburne counties in the State of Alabama. The population was 22,069 at the 2020 census,. Oxford is one of two principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area, ...

. 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 WFLI ...

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

. She then rejoined

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 ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

covering the disappearance of

Natalee Holloway Natalee is a female given name. It is a variant of the name Natalie, though uncommon according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Notable people with the name include: *Natalee Caple (born 1970), Canadian author of novels and poetry *Natalee Holloway (born ...

. In May 2006, Martinez was hired by

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...

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 Uptown may refer to: Neighborhoods or regions in several cities United States * Uptown, entertainment district east of Downtown and Midtown Albuquerque, New Mexico * Uptown Charlotte, North Carolina * Uptown, area surrounding the University of C ...

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