John Ryan
Reporter
About
Environment reporter John Ryan welcomes tips, documents and feedback from listeners. For secure, confidential communication: he's at 1-401-405-1206 on the Signal messaging app, you can use KUOW’s SecureDrop portal, 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 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 spent several years freelancing for most of the major public radio news shows (as well as newspapers including Christian Science Monitor and Los Angeles Times). John also did an award-winning documentary for KUOW on the side from a day gig covering transportation at the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce.
In 2009, John moved back to Seattle to become KUOW’s first investigative reporter after two exciting years covering avalanches, political intrigue and just about everything in between for KTOO, the NPR station in Alaska's capital city. He returned to Alaska for a 4-month stint in the Aleutian Islands in 2015 and won awards for KUOW and KUCB-Unalaska for his coverage of Arctic oil drilling from two states.
John’s stories have won multiple national awards for KUOW, including the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi awards for Public Service in Radio Journalism and for Investigative Reporting and national Edward R. Murrow and PRNDI awards for coverage of breaking news.
John is a shop steward of KUOW’s SAG-AFTRA newsroom union.
He believes democracy only works when journalism holds the powerful accountable for their words and actions.
Stories
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KUOW Newsroom
City officials have known about cracks in West Seattle Bridge since 2013
The cracks in the West Seattle Bridge that led city officials to suddenly close the bridge Monday were nothing new: Bridge inspectors first saw the series of cracks in concrete beneath the main span’s deck back in 2013.
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KUOW Newsroom
Why so hard to be tested for coronavirus? Not enough swabs and confusing government guidelines
Patients hoping to learn if they have fallen prey to the coronavirus continue to be stymied by bottlenecks before they can learn the truth about their health.
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Coronavirus In Seattle
Field hospital being built on Shoreline soccer field as King County preps for more COVID-19 cases
“Honestly the first thing we thought was zombie apocalypse movie. That’s the only time you see a field hospital.”
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KUOW Newsroom
Drive-through COVID-19 testing expands in Seattle
In the far corner of a hospital parking lot in North Seattle, people with coronavirus symptoms – and appointments beforehand – drove up in 15-minute intervals Tuesday morning.
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Coronavirus In Seattle
'If it had to happen somewhere, this is a pretty good place,' says top COVID-19 detective
A 40-person team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working in Seattle to help local officials and hospitals as they struggle to stay on top of the nation’s densest cluster of coronavirus cases.
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Several Seattle-area hospital workers infected with COVID-19
Several hospital workers in the Seattle area have contracted the novel coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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'Volatile and unpredictable': Life Care speaks publicly for the first time since COVID-19 outbreak
The Life Care Center in Kirkland provided insight into the location where most of Washington's COVID-19 deaths have come from. It's the first time the company has communicated publicly about the coronavirus outbreak.
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Person with COVID-19 visited 'multiple' King County buildings in downtown Seattle
A person with a confirmed case of coronavirus has been in "multiple" county buildings in downtown Seattle.
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KUOW Newsroom
You’ve heard of carbon footprints. Meet the carbon paw-print
In a city where dogs outnumber children nearly 2 to 1, and a nation with the most pets on earth, the paw-prints of our beloved little carnivores and omnivores add up.
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The Biggest Carbon Loser
Biggest Carbon Loser contestants are making deep cuts
"Systemic change is absolutely necessary. But I just don't think we get that without individually at least being aware and suffering without the cheese a little bit, you know?"