Claire Aiello is happy to be part of the WHNT News 19 team. She joined the station in October 2001 as a news producer. Claire produced various newscasts until 2005, when the web job opened up. She jumped at it and has been Web Content Manager ever since. She oversees the content on WHNT.com as well as our social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter. It takes a team effort to keep our interactive world going!
In 2011 and 2009, Claire won the award for Best Web Journalism by the Alabama Associated Press Broadcasters Association. She was also nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for her web updates on the April 27 tornado outbreak and aftermath. In 2013, she won an Emmy for her work on 'Reflections: After The Storm', a team perspective on the tornadoes.
Prior to her career with WHNT, Claire worked at WJRD-TV in Tuscaloosa (now WVUA-TV). There, she produced newscasts, ran the assignment desk from time to time, shot breaking news, and even a football game or two. During her time there, the Associated Press awarded her with Best Newscast honors.
Claire is a 1997 graduate of the University of Alabama, where she majored in broadcast journalism and minored in political science. She and her husband Joey met there and love to cheer on the Crimson Tide.
Claire doesn't have much time for TV, but one program she makes time for is Downton Abbey. What a show! Her kids mostly control the remote, though. Her hobbies include cooking and trying to grow vegetables and flowers. Gardening gets a little more fun every year.
Claire is also a runner - she survived the Huntsville Half Marathon in 2012. Training for that burned her out, though, so she took some time off. Currently, she's working to get back up to 10K distance for the 2013 Cotton Row Run. She is also a soccer referee with AYSO.
Claire also enjoys singing at church and helping in her children's school. She and her husband also help coach their sports teams. Claire is a board of management member at the Southeast Family YMCA.
Her favorite movies include the Indiana Jones and Star Wars trilogies, Love Actually, Bridget Jones' Diary and Pride and Prejudice. She also loves to attend Broadway Theatre League shows.
Claire is originally from northeast Florida, where her family still lives. That's Gator country, but she grew up a Seminoles fan. She loves to fish when she visits home (saltwater especially).
Claire and her husband Joey have been married since June 2001, and have a son, a daughter a Corgi. That dog makes kids look easy. :)
