Emmy and Murrow Award-winning anchor and senior reporter Michael Wooten joined WKBW in October of 2023.
Michael is from a small town in West Virginia. He attended Marshall University on the prestigious Yeager Scholarship and graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors, earning a degree in Broadcast Journalism and minors in Spanish and political science. Michael also completed summer programs at Oxford University in England and at Universidad Antonio de Nebrija in Madrid, Spain.
Michael's first job was at WSAZ-TV, where he started as a producer before becoming a reporter and eventually weekend evening anchor. His most memorable experience was interviewing then-Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the same day. Michael was the station's political reporter, so he spent time with dozens of national politicians from both parties during the 2008 campaign.
Michael moved to Buffalo just before the 2009 crash of Continental Flight 3407. It was the first story he covered in Western New York. In the years that followed, he had the privilege of reporting on the many journeys the families made to Washington, D.C., where they fought for better airline safety rules.
Michael won an Emmy Award for his investigative report on hydro-fracking in New York State. He’s won multiple Associated Press Awards, and in 2015, received the first of several regional Edward R. Murrow awards, including for best investigative reporting for his series on "Cell Phone Spying" at the Erie County Sheriff's Office.
Over his two decades as a journalist, Michael has reported from the scenes of deadly storms in Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arkansas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., North Carolina and Colorado; multiple mass shootings, including in Buffalo, Uvalde, Texas and Aurora, Colorado; and many other man-made and natural disasters across America. He also helped train fellow storytellers at dozens of television stations around the country.
Michael lives in Downtown Buffalo and is very excited to share your stories and help be a voice for everyone in Western New York. If you have a news tip, reach out on social media or send an email to Michael.Wooten@wkbw.com.
