Ari Odzer is a nine-time Emmy® award-winning journalist and is currently the NBC 6 education reporter. Odzer joined the station in January of 1990 as a general assignment reporter. In 1994, he briefly worked for sister station WNBC in New York and returned to WTVJ in 1995. Odzer joined WTVJ from WPEC-TV in West Palm Beach where he was an anchor and reporter for three years.
During his time at WTVJ, Odzer has covered all major hurricanes since Andrew in 1992. Some of the big stories he’s covered include: the Elian Gonzalez controversy, 2000 presidential elections recount, the murder of Gianni Versace and the manhunt for his murderer, Andrew Cunanan, the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, COVID-19 pandemic and the Surfside tragedy.
In 2014, Odzer established Education on 6 as a brand, with a focus on education features and issues. Throughout the pandemic, he covered all facets of distance learning, mask mandates, safety protocols, teacher and parent concerns, and learning deficits. Odzer says he finds education stories to be particularly rewarding, especially when highlighting the achievements of outstanding students.
Odzer, whose father was in the Air Force, was born in Izmir, Turkey. A self-proclaimed Air Force brat, his family finally settled in Pompano Beach when he was in the 5th grade.
Graduating from Deerfield Beach High School in 1982, Odzer received his Bachelor of Science in broadcast news with a minor in political science in 1987 from the University of Florida. He also began his broadcast career while in college, working as a reporter and anchor at WUFT-FM, in Gainesville. While in Gainesville, he also worked as a reporter and anchor at the CBS affiliate WRUF-AM and made the crossover into television by working as a reporter, anchor and photographer at the PBS affiliate WUFT-TV.
Today, Odzer lives with his wife, Dr. Shari-Lynn Odzer, in northeast Miami-Dade County. He has two daughters, Jamie and Nicole, who are currently medical students and a son, Michael, who is currently entering his sophomore year of college. A high school basketball player, he still plays a weekly full court pickup game.
The Latest
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Miami Heat gets the youth vote out
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New security system with anti-aircraft guns deployed at Mar-a-Lago
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Bodycam shows 2025 police shooting that killed gunman and bystander in Wynwood
A memo released this month by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said the officers’ use of deadly force in the shooting was legally justified.
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Inspiring through empathy, Kyla is a Student Working at Greatness
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South Florida Ukrainians dismayed by Trump stance on Russia's war on Ukraine
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Fort Lauderdale cracks down on Himmarshee entertainment area
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Broward drivers generate a flood of school bus citations
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State spending more on private school kids than public school students in Miami-Dade
Statewide, more than 500,000 students use taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private schools, at a cost of more than $4 billion.
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Broward Teachers Union president threatens to sue school board chair after being removed from meeting
The school district said in a statement “The individual removed from yesterday’s meeting was given multiple warnings for repeatedly disrupting the proceedings, the decision was based on conduct, not viewpoint.”
