John Ryan
ReporterYear started with KUOW: 2009
KUOW environment reporter John Ryan welcomes story ideas and feedback from listeners. Email him at jryan@kuow.org or call him at 206-543-0637. For secure, confidential communication, he's at 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app, or you can send snail mail (but don't put your return address on the outside) to John Ryan, KUOW, 4518 Univ. Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
Good thing John was a clumsy traveler.
Otherwise his cheap microcassette recorder wouldn't have fallen out of his pocket in an Indonesian taxi, a generous BBC stringer wouldn't have lent him some professional recording gear, and he wouldn't have gotten the radio bug. But after pointing a mic at rare jungle songbirds and gong–playing grandmothers for his first radio story, there was no turning back.
He then freelanced for shows such as All Things Considered, Living on Earth, Marketplace and The World. He also continued his print career by reporting for newspapers including the Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times and Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
In 2009, John moved back to Seattle after two exciting years covering avalanches, political intrigue and just about everything in between for KTOO FM, the NPR station in Alaska's capital city.
John has won national awards for KUOW as a freelancer (check out "As the Sound Churns") and now as a staff reporter, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi awards for Public Service in Radio Journalism and for Investigative Reporting. He believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
To see more of John's KUOW portfolio, visit our current site.
In addition to the stories below, John's KUOW stories from September 2012 and before are archived here.
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If you look at your voters' pamphlet and see page after page of candidates trying to win your vote, you might think democracy is strong in Washington… -
A nearly six-year-long legal battle drew to a close Thursday when attorneys made their final arguments on whether Texas oil company Tesoro is responsible… -
Texas oil company Tesoro and the purchaser of one of its refineries have agreed to spend $403 million to reduce air pollution at oil refineries in six… -
Seabirds have been washing up dead on beaches in Washington and British Columbia this summer, and scientists can't say why.Rhinoceros auklets are one of… -
The vast majority of money going into initiative campaigns this year in Washington state has come in lumps of $10,000 or more, from a small number of… -
Backers of I-1515, the initiative to restrict which bathrooms transgender people can use, have told Washington state officials they will not turn in… -
The launch party for the two light rail stations was, in hindsight, “too much.”The consultants, tote bags, security and ads – it added up to $858,000 of… -
Seattle-based Sound Transit has made its plan to expand regional transit slightly faster and slightly more expensive.With revisions approved by the Sound… -
Everett could get light rail in 20 years instead of 25 under a new plan discussed by the Sound Transit board Thursday afternoon.Light rail would reach…
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State officials are investigating the causes of two forest fires northeast of Seattle.With no lightning reported in the Oso or Gold Bar areas where the…