Nevada Press Association The best in Nevada journalism since 1924
Steve Ranson, retired editor, contributing writer, Lahontan Valley News
by Kim Palchikoff
How did you get into the media business?
I became interested in journalism when I was a teenager in the late 1960s. In high school, I was a disc jockey, newscaster and radio play-by-play sportscaster for KBET Radio in Reno. I covered high school tournaments including state football and basketball championships.
My boss and I reported on D.B. Cooper, an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft while we were working for KBET Radio in 1971. That’s when it was thought Cooper may have jumped out of the plane over Nevada or had remained in the plane, both rumors that were false.
During the summer of 1971 a co-worker of my dad’s knew the legendary World War II Army hero Audie Murphy, who had been killed in an airplane crash. The co-worker asked me if I would be interested in writing a story about it. I met with the editor of the Nevada State Journal, Paul Leonard, and he told me if my story was good enough, he would print it in the newspaper.
That led to me working at the NSJ for two summers and a couple of years covering high-school football and basketball games.
After graduating from UNR in 1974, I worked for Wyoming Game and Fish where I broadcasted a weekly program over the Intermountain Radio Network to 105 stations across the “Cowboy States.” I also compiled media releases and wrote articles for the monthly Wyoming Wildlife.
When I returned to Nevada in 1975, I worked at Reno’s Channel 4 as a producer and on-air weekend newscaster.
I had a difficult time finding full-time work in journalism, so I took a teaching job in Wells, Nevada. I also served on the Wells Volunteer Fire Department fighting wildland fires during the summer for six seasons and was an ambulance attendant with an EMT-II certification. I coached junior varsity football and basketball. In addition to teaching at the high school, I was a Wells councilman for four years.
I taught English at Churchill County High School from1986-1995, and I became the junior high school vice principal in Churchill County from 1995-2005 before retiring in 2005. Then I went to work full time for the Lahontan Valley News.
In 2008, I was named editor, and in 2013, general manager and editor.
In 2017, the Nevada Association of School Boards presented me with one of its top awards, the Media Award for Outstanding Education reporting in a county with a population less than 100,000. I became the fifth media contributor to be inducted into the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
I served as president of the Nevada Press Association in 2016 and of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, 2017-2018. I was the NPA’s Co-Journalist of the Year (small dailies and weekly newspapers) and won the Editorial of the Year in 2014.
Fallon’s a military town. Can you talk about your connection to the military?
I covered military news events in the United States and on four other continents for 26 years with the Nevada Army National Guard, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. I still write about the Naval Air Station for the Lahontan Valley News in Fallon.
Originally I first served as a broadcast officer in the 106th Public Affairs Detachment from 1981-1984. Then I served with the U.S. Army Reserves, including a two-year stint in Panama where I served as a broadcast officer for U.S. Southcom’s SCN TV-Radio Network.
After returning to Nevada, I served as an executive officer and interim commander as well as a battalion adjutant for the Troop Command in Hawthorne, which sent Nevada’s only Army National Guard unit to Operation Desert Storm. I was chief of the Visual Information section, a State Area Command commander and an Army public affairs officer for the Joint Forces Headquarters.
I also served three tours of duty in the Republic of Korea and had short tours in Central and South America and at Fort Jackson, S.C. Since 2008 I have reported on the Naval Air Station (NAS) in Fallon for the Lahontan Valley News.
Knowing the military lingo and the experience being a part of joint exercises helped me establish rapport with individuals at the Station. Having a background in military public affairs with the National Guard helped me at the NAS because I know the military’s information limitations. It’s not been difficult for me to obtain access to the Station for media purposes.
In 2011 and 2012 I traveled to Afghanistan as a journalist after retiring from the National Guard. I was embedded with the troops for almost a month each year. I covered units and soldiers working there from all over Nevada. I was inducted into the Nevada Guard Hall of Fame in 2012 for my work covering units overseas during wartime.
I had more than half a million followers on social media. Military Reports and Editors, a Washington, DC based organization for reporters who write on military issues awarded me a first-place national award for my reporting.
Your biggest media blooper over the years?
For a soccer fundraiser, I once meant to write that the event had a chili cookoff. No one caught the typo, but I wrote “child cookoff.”
Any interesting letters to the editor?
I received maybe nine or 10 letters to the editor each month. Letters were varied. They ranged from comments on water issues and wild horse roundups to thoughts about the NAS.
What do you do in your free time?
In my younger days, I hunted for chukar and went out to the local range for target practice. I explored the backroads of Nevada. I still enjoy photography and writing features on veterans. I have reported on two Honor Flights with Nevada veterans who were flown for free to Washington DC to visit and reflect at their memorials.
I also love to travel, and I have been to five continents. I still want to go to Antarctica and Africa. I enjoy baseball, coached my oldest son’s teams and umpired youth baseball for 17 years. I also like to spend time with the grandkids.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I won the Virginia City National Camel Races in 1970. I interviewed the actress Phyllis Diller in the early 1970s, and she and her husband invited me to share an early dinner before her show at Lake Tahoe. One year I ran (and lost) the Wells mayor’s race by three votes. I twice conducted one-on-one interviews with former President Barack Obama, and met both former secretary of state John Kerry and former president George W. Bush after covering their speeches at the National Guard conference in Las Vegas in 2004.
Steve Ranson is the best! My whole family liked him. I met him when I was stationed in NAS Fallon. My son Alvin played little league baseball with his oldest son. My son was the pitcher and his son was the catcher. Good times!