This is what you need to know about Wendy Rieger, an American News anchor, Radio host, and reporter currently working at News 4 at 5, the No. 1 newscast in Washington at 5 p.m. Rieger joined News4 in 1988 as a general assignment reporter, mostly covering breaking news for News4 at 11 p.m. She began anchoring the weekend evening newscasts in 1996, then News4 at 5 in 2001.
Rieger was born on April 18, 1956, in Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America. She celebrates her birthday on 18th April every year.
Little is known about Rieger’s parents, also there are no details about her siblings, therefore this information will be updated as soon as it’s available.
Rieger was happily married to her husband Sol Levine. The couple tied the knot happily but in September 1993 but they later separated with reasons of the separation unclear. Currently, she has not revealed any details about her current love life.
Rieger receives an annual average salary of $61159. This is according to News 4 News anchors/reporters’ salaries.
Rieger has an estimated Net Worth of $10k to $100k dollars. Her career as an actor is her primary source of income.
Rieger graduated from American University with a degree in broadcast journalism.
Rieger is currently an American News anchor, Radio host, and reporter currently working at News 4 at 5, the No. 1 newscast in Washington at 5 p.m. Rieger joined News4 in 1988 as a general assignment reporter, mostly covering breaking news for News4 at 11 p.m. She began anchoring the weekend evening newscasts in 1996, then News4 at 5 in 2001.
Wendy started her career as a short tenure as a writer at WAMU, Washington’s NPR station, which led to a stint as host of the station’s Morning Edition. She later anchored newscasts for NPR and WTOP Radio. Her television career began in CNN’s Washington Bureau.
In April 2008, Washingtonian magazine readers presented Rieger with one of its inaugural Green Awards in recognition of her dedication to “preserving our environment through education.” Rieger has received three Emmy Awards, including one for a special report she shot in Vietnam on home video 20 years after the war.
Longtime News4 anchor Wendy Rieger has been missing from our broadcasts. Why? She recently had open-heart surgery.
Wendy spoke with News4’s Doreen Gentzler before and after the procedure to share what she’s learned from the experience — and which warning signs she missed.
“The doctor said, ‘Your heart is racing,” Wendy recently recalled from her mountain home in Virginia. “He said, ‘It’s going 130 beats a minute.’”
That’s how Wendy’s journey began at a routine checkup a couple of years ago. She had atrial fibrillation, also known as AFib. When she saw a cardiologist, she learned it could dislodge a blood clot and cause a stroke.
There was a procedure to re-establish her heart rhythm, plus blood-thinning medication and cardiology checkups after that. Everything was OK until recently.
“I’m sitting here after broadcasting from home and all of a sudden I felt PA-PUM! It’s like the drum solo in “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.”
It turned out Wendy’s mitral valve was in bad shape. “Shredded” was how she described it. She’s known since she was a teenager that she had mitral valve prolapse, which is uncommon but not exactly rare.
After yet another AFib episode, Wendy learned she needed surgery. Minimally invasive surgery wasn’t an option.
Dr. Paul Massimiano was one of two surgeons who repaired Wendy’s heart.
“It’s sort of a well-choreographed ballet between the electrical part of the operation and the structural part, repairing the mitral valve,” he said.
The surgery took four hours and recovery will take time, but Wendy is walking around and feeling stronger every day.
She realizes now that she ignored some warning signs. When her heart felt “fluttery,” she assumed it was hormones. Her annual physicals and mammograms did not identify her serious issue.
“The things that make us female are what we worry about. We don’t worry about the universal systems that we all have. And that’s the wake-up call. This is, listen to your heart. If it’s doing something weird, it doesn’t take anything for a doctor to diagnose a weird rhythm,” she said.
Wendy’s longterm prognosis is excellent, Massimiano said.
“Wendy is a terrific patient. She’s very smart and she’s enormously entertaining,” he added.
She has every reason to expect her heart repairs will lead to a stronger future.
“I feel like there’s me before. And then there will be me after. I feel like this is not something I’m afraid of,” she said. “This is actually something I’m excited about, because I feel like it’s going to repair something I never knew needed repairing.”
The American Heart Association says about 2% of us have mitral valve prolapse, in which the flaps on one of the heart valves don’t close smoothly. For most of us, it will never a cause a problem requiring surgery. But it is something to be aware of and talk about with your doctor.
