So That's What You Do! WWJ's Dennis Neubacher Talks Traffic, Reporting, Broadcasting Career

(WWJ) People around the office know him as the self-effacing guy with a  ready smile.

To the rest of the world, Dennis Neubacher delivers your traffic reports weekday mornings on WWJ Newsradio 950 -- every 10 minutes for  weather and traffic on the 8s.

Stuck on I-75 or 696? Late for a meeting? Dodging potholes? Dennis always has something to say about it.

What he doesn't do very often is talk about himself.

In a rare moment, he takes listeners behind the scenes in this interview with Dearborn's WDHT TV. In it, Neubacher talks about his  years growing up in Dearborn, the dreams that led him to becoming a pilot, and the college detour that led to broadcasting.

"The first newscast I did in 1976 was to report that Jimmy Carter beat Gerald Ford," Neubacher said.

His career has included twists into teaching, a stint in New York, pilot training, small-market reporting, and eventually a break where he was in exactly the right place at the right time. The lesson he learned was to say yes when opportunity arises because that's the path to future success.

All that led to WWJ, where he's a listener favorite, and yes, we can report he's as nice in person as he is on air. Neubacher sums it up this way: "This is, really, I look forward to every day ... most of the time I look forward to it and I have a wonderful family. I'm a grandfather now. I have two grandkids, one's a year-and-a-half and the other is two months old.

"My little grandson, he's a joy, Jesse, we dance together, he likes to dance, and it's cool. My life has been unbelievable.  I mean it really has, growing up where I did, the people that I've had (in my life,) a roof over my head, I'm a really fortunate person. I love being a reporter. I love looking at the story, trying to communicate it."