(NY, NY – June 21st, 2006) – Students in grades 7-12 across the tri-state area were invited to submit their recording of a Broadway song to “WOR’s Shining Star Talent Search.” After a rigorous internal judging process, listener call-ins and voting by our celebrity panel of judges, WOR Radio 710 HD has announced this year’s winner of “WOR’s Shining Star Talent Search!”

The winner is Jonathan Schwartz, a senior at Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey, who submitted his recording of “This is the Moment” from the Broadway show Jekyll & Hyde. Jonathan will sing his song live in front of 3,000 attendees at “Celebrate America: A Salute to Broadway” on Sunday, June 25th at the Hofstra University Arena in Hempstead, New York, and he will receive a professional recording session with Ghostlight Records. He has also won a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond, an Apple® iPod™ and a Bose® Sound Dock for himself and $5,000 cash for Cranford High School! Jonathan is valedictorian of his senior class, and he will be going to Princeton University this fall.

Other finalists were Laura Soto-Bayomi (10th Grade) from Secaucus High School in Secaucus, New Jersey, who sang “Think of Me” from The Phantom of the Opera, and Erin Gorey (10th Grade) from West Islip High School on Long Island, who sang “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl. They have each won the latest Apple® iPod™ and Bose® Sound Dock, and they will be recognized for their extraordinary talent from the stage at “Celebrate America.”The celebrity judges were legendary performer Neil Sedaka, pianist/singer Michael Feinstein, American Idol’s Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray), and Tony award winners Patti LuPone (Sweeney Todd, Master Class, Anything Goes, Evita) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (Man of a Mancha, Kiss Me Kate). Kurt Deutsch, president of Ghostlight Records, was also a judge and is awarding the “Shining Star” winner a professional recording session.

Last year’s “Shining Star” winner was Alexandra Hausner of Fair Lawn, NJ, who entered the competition with a patriotic song that she had written. Alexandra was introduced by pop icon, Broadway performer, and original “Shining Star” winner Deborah Gibson. Regarding her live performance at Celebrate America 2005, Alexandra told New Jersey’s Bergen Record, “The second I stepped out there you could just feel the crowd and the rush…anything that I’ve ever imagined or dreamed of happened there.”