Kathy Ritchie

Kathy Ritchie's picture
Senior Field Correspondent - Tempe

Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets -- nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.

Most recently, she was the health and caregiving editor at Next Avenue, a national digital publication geared toward people 50-plus. While there, she oversaw a team of contributors, identified opportunities for new feature stories and series, and oversaw the completion of the 2021 John A. Hartford Foundation grant, one of Next Avenue’s largest active grants to date. Ritchie was also responsible for Next Avenue's 2022 series entitled Aging with Disabilities in America. Next Avenue is part of the Twin Cities PBS system.

Ritchie has spent most of her public media career in radio as a senior field correspondent at NPR member station, KJZZ in Phoenix. While there, Ritchie was responsible for the station’s largest newsroom collaboration, a 10-part series The State of Aging in the Valley. She also pitched and produced a four-part podcast, The Recovering Caregiver, based on her own personal experience with her mother who had frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and what life is like after dementia. The final episode was nominated for a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

Her latest podcast aims to set the record straight when it comes to menopause. Period, The End (But Not Really) debuted in September 2023.

Over the years, Ritchie has reported on the challenges facing LGBT elders, the topic of aging and intimacy, senior homelessness, ambiguous loss and grief, grandfamilies, and what it means to age in our society. Many of these stories have aired on NPR’s national magazine show, Here & Now.

And throughout the Coronavirus pandemic, Ritchie reported on the myriad challenges facing families, older adults and caregivers. That work led her to create a miniseries called, Caring in Crisis, in which she documented the experiences of “the helpers.”

Besides her professional experience in the aging space, Ritchie wrote about her mother’s journey living with dementia in a blog

Ritchie got her start in television at ABC News and later at FOX News in New York City.

Title Author(s) Publication Date
La Paz Assessor's $15M Error To Cost School District Kathy Ritchie Sept. 20, 2018
Trump To Take Action On Immigration Following Visit To Shanksville 9/11 Memorial Kathy Ritchie Sept. 19, 2018
Ducey Open To Reform Of Charter School Regulations Kathy Ritchie
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Sept. 19, 2018
Tucson Community For Adults 55+ Features Brewery Kathy Ritchie Sept. 17, 2018
National Faculty Association Investigates MCCCD Kathy Ritchie Sept. 7, 2018
Mayo Clinic's North Phoenix Campus To Double By 2023 Kathy Ritchie Sept. 6, 2018
Hoover Dam Tours To Be Limited Due To Renovations Kathy Ritchie Aug. 31, 2018
ADOT Honors Late Arizona Sen. John McCain Kathy Ritchie Aug. 29, 2018
Dementia Drugs Often Prescribed Longer Than Needed Kathy Ritchie Aug. 27, 2018
More Teens Receiving HPV Vaccinations Kathy Ritchie Aug. 23, 2018
Bennett Considers Legal Action Over Elections Funding Kathy Ritchie Aug. 23, 2018
Battle Over Renewable Energy Ballot Measure Getting Expensive Kathy Ritchie Aug. 22, 2018
DPS: Body Cams Are Not Crucial To Department's Mission Kathy Ritchie Aug. 17, 2018
Trial Date Set For Women Who Burglarized Tempe Mosque Kathy Ritchie Aug. 17, 2018
Arizonans For Affordable Electricity Trying To Block Clean Energy Initiative Kathy Ritchie Aug. 17, 2018
ADOT Training Officers To Respond To Opioid Overdoses Kathy Ritchie Aug. 16, 2018
California Asking Arizona For More Help With Wildfires Kathy Ritchie Aug. 8, 2018
Silver Alert Expands To Include People With Disabilities Kathy Ritchie Aug. 3, 2018
Democratic Candidates For Gov. Refute Ducey's Job Performance Claim Kathy Ritchie
Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services
Aug. 3, 2018
Arizona AG's Office Files Fraud Lawsuit Against Travel Company Kathy Ritchie, Stina Sieg Aug. 2, 2018
Court: Maricopa County Must Continue With Jail Overhaul Kathy Ritchie Aug. 2, 2018
Judge Rejects Bid By Family Trust To Block Johnson Utilities Takeover Kathy Ritchie Aug. 2, 2018
ADOT Testing Wrong-Way Detection System Kathy Ritchie Aug. 1, 2018
UA To Start Selling Beer, Wine At Football Games Kathy Ritchie July 26, 2018
Waymo, Walmart Launch Self-Driving Cars For Groceries Kathy Ritchie July 26, 2018

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