There's some kind of big football game going on in the Valley this weekend.
KJZZ Senior Field Correspondent Steve Shadley is no stranger to the issues shaping Arizona.
Shadley started his public radio career more than 30 years ago while pursuing a journalism degree at Northern Arizona University. Since then, he's worked as a reporter and news director at public radio stations in Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Santa Cruz, Sacramento and Madison. He also served as an All Things Considered host for WBEZ, Chicago and a capital reporter for California's statewide public radio network. He was serving as a producer and Morning Edition host in Tucson before joining the KJZZ team.
Shadley enjoys covering environmental stories, the arts and politics. When he was a state capital correspondent in California, he produced a series of reports about the state's 23 billion-dollar budget deficit as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger worked with lawmakers to approve state employee furloughs and deep spending cuts.
One of the most remarkable events he covered was the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake that struck during game three of the San Francisco World Series on October 17, 1989. Shadley's home, which was near the quake's epicenter in Santa Cruz, CA was severely damaged. "I didn't have running water or electricity for about a week after the quake and one of my clearest memories was sleeping under a tree in the yard because we weren't sure if the aftershocks would take the house down." In the weeks following the quake, Shadley sent reports to NPR and he helped organize town hall meetings as the community recovered from the disaster.
Arizona's colorful political scene has also kept Shadley busy through the years. He's covered some of the state's most high-profile political corruption scandals, including a 1990's sting operation when some lawmakers were videotaped accepting bribes in exchange for votes supporting casino gambling legislation.
Shadley says, "There's never a shortage of interesting issues to cover in Arizona and that's where public radio really shines. We get to provide rich sound, and three-dimensional reports that go beyond the headlines."
Arizona’s landscape also has an allure for Shadley, who has hiked across the Grand Canyon three times.
Shadley is an avid reader, an aspiring oil painter and science fiction fan.
Contact Steve Shadley at sshadley@rioradio.org.
