Welcome back to the Besties, 518ers. If you’re new here, welcome. In this post, we’re sharing the results from our annual online best-of-everything survey, in which Capital Region customers voted for their all-time favorites in a slew of categories spanning from People & Places to Food & Drink. In this post: the People and Media categories! Meet the rest of the winners of our People & Places categories here, and stay tuned for our Besties Food & Drink issue, out in May!
ARTIST
iCandy Designs Face Painting
icandydesignsfacepainting.com
Daniel Fairley
@poemdexter on Instagram
Premo Designs
Schenectady
518.952.1328
facepaint518.com
AUTHOR
John Gray
johngraywriter.com
Patricia Crandall
patriciacrandall.com
Liza Frenette
lizafrenette.com
AFTERNOON ANCHOR
Christina Arangio
NEWS10 ABC
Rachel Tiede
NEWSCHANNEL 13
Lara Bryn
CBS 6
BAND/MUSICIAN/ENTERTAINER
Lacey Allen
Ed Vining
Michael Panza
EVENING ANCHOR
John Gray
NEWS10 ABC
Subrina Dhammi
NEWSCHANNEL 13
Lydia Kulbida
NEWS10 ABC
EVENING TEAM
The NEWS10 ABC team
The NEWSCHANNEL 13 team
The CBS 6 ALBANY team
MORNING ANCHOR
Ryan Peterson
NEWS10 ABC
Christina Arangio
NEWS10 ABC
Giuliana Bruno
NEWS10 ABC
MORNING TEAM
The NEWS10 ABC team
For the last three years, NEWS10 ABC’s morning team has dominated the Besties, winning not just the Morning Team category, but top honors for Morning Achor, too. When two-time Morning Anchor winner Stephanie Rivas left the station in February 2025, though, that category was ripe for the taking. Not only did her former co-host, Ryan Peterson, claim the crown, but his current co-anchors, Christina Arangio and Giuliana Bruno, trailed close behind for a WTEN clean sweep of the Morning Anchor category.
“This News10 ABC In The Morning team is second to none,” says Peterson. “Christina and I have been side by side for 10 years, co-anchoring a morning newscast that has seen several key members come and go. It’s a real testament to the talent in our newsroom, our consistency in the strong product we put on the air, and the strength of the overall team that our morning show continues to be the favorite of CRL readers.”
The NEWSCHANNEL 13 team
The CBS 6 ALBANY team
METEOROLOGIST
Paul Caiano
NEWSCHANNEL 13
Rob Lindenmuth
NEWS10 ABC
Alyssa Caroprese
NEWS10 ABC
MUSIC RADIO
FLY 92.3
fly92.com
WEXT 97.7
wextradio.org
107.7 WGNA
wgna.com
NEWS RADIO
WAMC
wamc.org
TALK1300
talk1300.com
PODCAST
Onorato & Company
PRINT JOURNALIST
John Gray, Capital Region Living
Steve Barnes, Times Union
Paul Grondahl, Times Union
RADIO PERSONALITY
Jake Allen, FLY 92.3
Chrissy Cavotta, 107.7 WGNA
Ally Reid, FLY 92.3
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER
Saucy Suraci
@saucysuraci on Instagram
Ashlee Rose Hartley
@ashleerosehartley on Instagram
Michella Hand
@michellahand on Instagram
SPORTSCASTER
Rodger Wyland
NewsChannel 13
Chris Onorato
NewsChannel 13
Griffin Haas
News10 ABC
