Ryan Warner

Colorado Matters Senior Host

[email protected]

Ryan Warner is senior host of Colorado Matters, the flagship daily interview program from CPR News. His voice is heard on frequencies around the state as he talks with Coloradans from all walks of life — politicians, scientists, artists, activists and others. Ryan's interviews with Colorado's governor now span four administrations. During his tenure, Colorado Matters has consistently been recognized as the best major market public radio talk show in the country. He speaks French, geeks out on commercial aviation, adores and tolerates his tuxedo cat Bob, and owns too many shoes.

Professional background:
Ryan came to CPR from WGCU in Fort Myers, Fla. He was the founding host of that station's daily call-in talk show, Gulf Coast Live. Ryan served as assistant news director and local host of NPR's "All Things Considered" and filed stories for NPR during Hurricane Charley in 2004. Ryan previously hosted "Morning Edition" on WYSO Public Radio in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and co-created a weekend news magazine there. Prior to that, he served as news director of KOPN Community Radio in Columbia, Missouri. For two years, Ryan left public radio to report and anchor weekend news at KTIV-TV, the NBC affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa.

Education:
Bachelor's degrees in political science and French, University of Missouri-Columbia; Master's degree in broadcast journalism, Boston University.

Awards:
Ryan has won numerous awards from Public Media Journalists Association for his interviews. He's also been honored by The Associated Press. Westword named Ryan the Best Talk-Radio Host for 2021, and the editors of 5280 Magazine voted him Top Radio Talk Show Host of 2009.


Contact:

Bluesky: @ryanhasaquestion

Instagram: @oddryhepburn

Colorado Warns Voters Over Ballot Write-Ins, Columbus Day Conflict, Carbondale Non-Profit Helping Hurricane Ravaged Haiti

Three prominent Colorado Republicans withdrew their support for Donald Trump over the weekend to mixed reactions from voters. And Colorado’s Secretary of State has a warning for those wanting to write-in their choice for President. Plus, Columbus Day or Indigenous People’s Day? It’s a question Denver’s been grappling with for years. Also, a Colorado non-profit is on the ground working with abandoned children in Haiti following hurricane Matthew. Denver International Airport is “embracing the unbelievable” with conspiracy theory tours and exhibits.

A Debate On Colorado’s Universal Health Care Initiative; And The Artisanal Cider Craze

Amendment 69 on the ballot would provide taxpayer-funded universal healthcare in Colorado. A supporter and opponent debate the proposal. Then, why the oil and gas industry is getting involved in another issue facing voters, Amendment 71, which would make it harder to put initiatives on the ballot. And, in a state where beer is king, artisanal cider is the new darling of the craft alcohol scene.

Grand Junction Financial Woes, Denver’s Church Of Sinners And Saints

The economic situation is bleak in Grand Junction, the largest community on Colorado’s Western Slope. So bleak that the city government is asking employees if some of them are willing to quit their jobs. Then, it’s not something you expect to hear from a pastor — that there are many reasons to steer clear of Christianity. But Nadia Bolz-Weber hopes to lure believers, and non-believers, to her Church of All Sinners And Saints in Denver.

Gov. Hickenlooper Endorses Key Ballot Issues, A School Superintendent On A Mission

Gov. John Hickenlooper explains why he’s decided to support three of Colorado’s ballot measures: a minimum wage increase, medically assisted death and a tobacco tax hike. He also addresses a political fundraising video he made in front of the state seal, which he removed after a complaint. And, how he’s planning for tectonic policy shifts that could come if Donald Trump is elected. Then, RE-1 Valley School District Superintendent Jan DeLay is on a mission to educate average citizens on the fiscal challenges rural districts like hers face.

Debate On Proposition 106: Coloradans Vote On A Matter Of Life And Death This Election

Today, a debate. Proposition 106 would allow people who are terminally ill to get a prescription and end their own lives. Denver attorney Julie Selsberg supports the measure, saying she wishes her late father, who had ALS, had the option. Carrie Ann Lucas is a lawyer and disability rights activist who opposes it. Lucas says the law would infringe on her rights and affect her care as well as that of other people who are already marginalized.

Political Primaries May Make A Comeback In Colorado, And Chris Thile’s Approach To A Prairie Home Companion

More than one million Coloradans have rejected political parties and are registered unaffiliated, but they still want a say in picking presidential candidates. This November voters will decide whether to create an open primary and get rid of presidential caucuses in Colorado. Then, one phone call, from Garrison Keillor, changed musician Chris Thile’s life. It was an offer to become the new host of the public radio mainstay A Prairie Home Companion. Thile accepted and talked with us about the direction of the show, which will tape in Denver in November. Plus, what voters need to know about a ballot proposal to renew a cultural tax for Metro Denver; how Colorado influenced writer Vladimir Nabokov; and listener feedback to a recent interview with Denver’s first pedestrian planner.

Denver Filmmaker Profiles Gang Member Turned Youth Mentor, Brain Injuries In Extreme Sports, Colorado’s Wayward Wealthy

The film “Clever” tells the story of Gerardo Lopez, a former Los Angeles gang member who now mentors Denver youths in an anti-gang group called Homies Unidos. Then, Colorado is becoming a mecca for extreme sports medicine at a time when extreme athletes are grappling with the potential implications of the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encepalothapy, or CTE. And, writer Dick Kreck chronicles the wayward wealthy of Colorado in his book “Rich People Behaving Badly.”

Denver’s Pedestrian Planner, New Colorado Christian President, Down Syndrome And Mental Health

Denver is walking into new territory by hiring its first full-time pedestrian planner, and listeners expressed their thoughts on the city’s streets. Then, the new president of Colorado Christian University is a pastor and an academic — a very different background from his predecessor, who was a politician. What that means for the school’s role on hot button issues. Plus, a vexing problem for people with Down Syndrome and their families: Regression means for some young people with Down Syndrome, the ability to talk and move deteriorates. How the Sie Down Center in Denver is trying to fight it.

Athlete Protests Not New To Denver, Gay Bishop’s First Colorado Sermon, Cottages Sold To National Park, ‘Those Who Can’t’

Decades before San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem, a Denver Nugget launched a similar protest. Colorado’s universal healthcare proposal spurs economic debate. The first openly gay bishop of the United Methodist Church reflects on her first Denver sermon. The family-owned Cascade Cottages have been sold to Rocky Mountain National Park. TruTV’s “Those Who Can’t,” features a Denver comedy trio.

Chalkbeat On STEM, Matthew Shepard Oratorio, New West Slope Thriller

STEM is a buzzword in education circles these days, meaning science, technology, engineering and math. But few schools here actually teach it, according to Chalkbeat Colorado, which surveyed the state’s 30 largest districts. Then, a new choral work is dedicated to Matthew Shepard, the gay teen who was murdered outside Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. It draws on his diary entries. And, the western slope is the backdrop for the new thriller, “Nothing Short of Dying.” We meet the author, who wrote it while living in his small hometown of Rangely. Lastly, we examine the merger between Colorado Springs’ Fine Art Center and Colorado College.

The Appeal Of Formula One, A Willy Wonka Remembrance, Life Post-Olympics, And Painting In The Sky

Colorado-based Liberty Media is buying Formula One Racing. It’s popular abroad, but in the U.S. where NASCAR has the poll position, what’s the appeal? Then, two Colorado Olympians — cyclist Mara Abbot and wrestler Adeline Gray — on how they’re moving on from losses at the Rio Olympics. Plus, the actress who played the grating, gum-chewing girl “Violet Beauregard” in the original Willy Wonka movie lives in Denver. She remembers Gene Wilder at an event in Littleton this week. Also, an artist has nearly completed her goal of painting from the top of all of Colorado’s 14,000 foot peaks.