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.
To see more of John's past KUOW work, visit our archive site.
Stories
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One way to watch orcas without disturbing them? On land
LISTEN to giddy-sounding orca vocalizations (are they laughing??)
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Lithium batteries blamed for starting toxic Tacoma fire
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Researcher declares missing orca dead
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'Thinnest killer whale' J-50 may be dead
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Trickling rivers, smoky skies: a taste of future Seattle
This summer, weather stations from Bellingham to Olympia were as dry as they’ve ever been.
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Judge halts Canadian tar sands pipeline
Judge Eleanor Dawson said pipeline regulators failed to meaningfully consult with tribes, and cited potential impacts to Southern resident killer whales.
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Killer whales draw killer crowd
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Will smoky Northwest skies yield America's first carbon tax?
Almost all (99.9 percent) of the $8.7 million dollars raised to block the ballot measure has come from the oil industry.
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Scientists deliver live salmon to sick, endangered young orca
Scientists have taken an unprecedented step to save one of the Salish Sea’s 75 endangered orcas: They tried to feed her in the wild.
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Homeless, and now campless, in Seattle's Ravenna neighborhood
Charlie Blackwood was running off three hours of sleep and seven cups of coffee when he packed up his belongings. He had been living with seven other...