Roll Call Explained

Roll Call
Type:	Periodical newspaper
Format:	Newspaper
Foundation:	June 16, 1955
Owners:	FiscalNote
Editor:	Ed Timms
Founder:	Sid Yudain
Language:	American English
Political:	Nonpartisan
Circulation:	30,786 (June 2017)
Headquarters:	1625 Eye Street NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20006
Publishing Country:	United States
Oclc:	44314138

Roll Call is a newspaper and website published in Washington, D.C., United States, when the United States Congress is in session, reporting news of legislative and political maneuverings on Capitol Hill, as well as political coverage of congressional elections across the country.

Roll Call is the flagship publication of CQ Roll Call, which also operates: CQ (formerly Congressional Quarterly), publisher of a subscriber-based service for daily and weekly news about Congress and politics, as well as a weekly magazine. Roll Call's regular columnists are Walter Shapiro, Mary C. Curtis, Patricia Murphy, and Stuart Rothenberg.

History

Roll Call was founded in 1955 by Sid Yudain, a press secretary to Congressman Al Morano (R-Conn.).^{[1] [2]} The inaugural issue of the newspaper was published on June 16, 1955, with an initial printing of 10,000 copies.^[3] Richard Nixon, then Vice President of the United States, wrote a letter to Yudain congratulating him on the new venture. Nixon's letter ran on the front page of the inaugural issue.

In 1986, Yudain sold Roll Call to Arthur Levitt, who was serving as the chairman of the American Stock Exchange at the time of the sale. Yudain continued to work as a columnist at Roll Call after the sale.

The Economist Group acquired Roll Call in 1993.^[4] Roll Call merged with CQ in 2009 after the latter company was purchased by The Economist Group.^[5]

In July 2018, a deal was announced for CQ Roll Call to be acquired by FiscalNote.^[6]

Brand franchises

"Heard on the Hill"

In January 1988, Roll Call launched the "Heard on the Hill" column, which covers the intrigue of life and work in and around Capitol Hill. Alex Gangitano wrote Heard on the Hill from 2014 to 2018 before leaving to cover lobbying for The Hill.^[7] On 30 April 2019, Roll Call announced the current Heard on the Hill writing team of Clyde McGrady and Kathryn Lyons.^[8]

Congressional Baseball Game

See main article: Congressional Baseball Game. In 1962, Roll Call began sponsoring the annual Congressional Baseball Game for Charity. In 1965, the first Roll Call Trophy was awarded—to the Republican team, which was the first team to win three games since Roll Call began its sponsorship. Since then, a new trophy has been awarded to the next team that wins three games (over the next three, four, or five years), following the year in which the most recent trophy was awarded. Roll Call also sponsors the Congressional Baseball Hall of Fame.

Notable Roll Call staff

• Kathryn Lyons, Heard on the Hill reporter
• Camila Dechalus, Immigration Reporter^[9]
• Rebecca Adams, Senior Editor^[10]
• Megan Scully, Senior Editor
• Ed Timms, Investigations Editor
• Herb Jackson, Politics Editor^[11]
• Jason Dick, Deputy Editor
• Lindsey Gilbert, Deputy Editor
• Lindsey McPherson, Senior Writer^{[12] [13]}
• Niels Lesniewski, Senior Writer
• John M. Donnelly, Senior Writer
• Jennifer Shutt, Budget and Appropriations Reporter
• Bridget Bowman, Politics Reporter
• Simone Pathé, Politics Reporter
• Stephanie Akin, Politics Reporter
• Kate Ackley, Lobbying Reporter^[14]

Notable Roll Call alumni

• Mary Ann Akers, staff writer for Politico
• Christina Bellantoni, assistant managing editor for politics for Los Angeles Times
• Chris Cillizza, politics reporter and editor-at-large for CNN
• Tim Curran, Sunday Editor for The Washington Post
• Steven T. Dennis, Senate reporter for Bloomberg
• Matt Fuller, politics editor for The Daily Beast
• Emily Heil, co-author the Reliable Source, The Washington Post
• Ed Henry, chief national correspondent for Fox News Channel
• Paul Kane, senior congressional correspondent for The Washington Post
• Pablo Manriquez, publicist at Center for Investigative Reporting^{[15] [16] [17]}
• Steve Kornacki, national political correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC
• John McArdle, producer and co-host for C-SPAN's Washington Journal
• Norah O'Donnell, co-anchor for CBS This Morning
• Ben Pershing, Managing Editor for National Journal
• Mark Preston, executive editor for CNN Politics
• Glenn R. Simpson, Founder of Fusion GPS
• Jake Tapper, anchor for CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper and State of the Union
• Katherine Tully-McManus, Congressional Reporter for Politico^[18]
• Nina Totenberg, correspondent for National Public Radio
• Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO of Axios; former executive editor and co-founder of Politico
• Rachel Van Dongen, editor of PowerPost for The Washington Post

Political Theater Podcast

Political Theater Podcast is a Roll Call podcast hosted by Jason Dick.^[19]

See also

• List of newspapers in Washington, D.C.

Notes and References

1. News: Bruce. Weber. Sid Yudain, 90, Dies; Created Congress's Community Newspaper . . 2013-10-26 . 2013-11-17.
2. News: Matt. Schudel. Sid Yudain, founder of Roll Call, dies at 90 . . 2013-10-22 . 2013-11-17.
3. News: David. Rapp. Roll Call Founder Sid Yudain Dies at 90 . Roll Call . 2013-10-21 . 2013-11-17.
4. https://www.proquest.com/docview/307675869 Levitt Set To Sell Stake In Roll Call; SEC Pick Said Talking With the Economist
5. The Guardian, "The Economist Group Buys Congressional Quarterly", July 22, 2009
6. News: Economist Group to sell CQ Roll Call to FiscalNote. Calderone, Michael. 2018-07-25. Politico.
7. News: Gangitano . Alex . Lobbying Reporter . 30 April 2019 . The Hill.
8. Web site: Meet Roll Call's New Heard on the Hill Reporters. McKinless. Thomas. 29 April 2019. Roll Call.
9. Web site: Hurricane Maria . . en-us. 2019-09-01.
10. Web site: Energy Legislation. Adams. Rebecca . . 19 November 2017.
11. News: Playbook PM: Trump heading to the border Thursday. Lippmann. Daniel. Politico.
12. Web site: Scanlan. Bill. Research and Development Tax Credit Legislation. . 19 November 2017.
13. Web site: Swain. Susan. Newsmakers with Rep Mark Walker and Roll Call's Lindsey McPherson. C-SPAN Newsmakers. 19 November 2017.
14. News: The Rise of Women Political Donors in the Age of Trump. Ackley. Kate. 23 October 2017 . . 18 Nov 2017.
15. News: The DNC Email Leak Has a Viral Hero: Pablo. Malone Kircher. Madison. 25 July 2016. 19 November 2017 . New York.
16. News: Politics Working at the DNC Sounds Very Cool (Except Not at All). Moore. Jack. 24 July 2016. 19 November 2017 . GQ.
17. News: What to expect when a WikiLeaks dump turns you into an Internet folk hero. Ohlheiser. Abby. The Washington Post. 19 November 2017.
18. News: Velickovich . Alexa . 2021-07-15 . Behind the Byline: Katherine Tully-McManus . . 2022-12-16.
19. News: Dick. Jason. The Most Listenable Political Theater Podcasts of 2018. Roll Call. 2019-12-02. 2018-12-27.