Welcome to RTOmedia.com!

Welcome to the professional Web site of Ryan Olson, a journalist located in Chico, Calif. I have been working in journalism for nearly a decade, recently as the Web content editor for the Chico Enterprise-Record.

This site features links to different areas of my expertise, including photography, pagination as well as reporting. I've written hundreds of stories covering politicians, schools, cities, deaths, the census, fires and more.

Thanks for visiting. Please take a look around and let me know what you think. ryan -at- rtomedia.com.


-PRINT: Most-viewed story of 2009

In November, I covered the expulsion hearing of a Willows High School student for storing unloaded weapons in his pickup parked immediately off campus. Within days, it was the most-viewed news article on ChicoER.com for 2009 with links from FARK and Reddit.

Read the story here.


-On Assignment

Since Februrary 2005, I have been at the Enterprise-Record in Chico, Calif. I was promoted to the new position of Web content editor in Sept. 2006.

I have also been working on new initiatives for the newspaper's Web site -- ChicoER.com. These include news blogs covering Labor Day and Halloween to provide more immediate coverage of these formerly large party holidays for college students before a police crackdown.

To read the Enterprise-Record online, please click on the banner: For more updates, please visit my pro blog.

Chico Enterprise-Record banner


-PRINT: The award winners

During my professional career, my writing has been honored with a number of awards for spot news, sustained coverage, sports enterprise and news column. A listing of the award-winning stories can be found here.

In October 2004, the Michigan Press Association announced first place and third place awards for my work in spot news stories. More on my specific awards. General award info is on my pro blog.


-PHOTOS: The Gundlach fire

On the morning of April 26, 2004, the century-old Herman Gundlach building burned on the Houghton waterfront. I took the photos.

More


-PRINT: High-wire writing

Over the years, I've written stories that have been featured numerous times on the Michigan wire of The Associated Press. Stories with my byline have run in many Michigan and Wisconsin newspapers such as the Detroit News, The Flint Journal and the Menominee EagleHerald, among others. More


-DESIGN: Pica passion

I've paginated dozens of pages for the newspaper, including wire pages and section fronts.

Check out a sampling of section fronts, here.


-ABOUT: Web logs

I have a number of weblogs to provide quick and easily updatable information about my career, journalism and life in general. In August, I wrote a blog from UNITY, the nation's largest gathering of journalists of color.

For updates on my professional career and commentary on journalism, please visit my pro blog.

Recent Entries

Seasons greetings with the 2009 Christmas card
Another Christmas is upon us. To celebrate 2009, I created a new card for friends and family.I sent most of…
The four stages of listening to Christmas music
It can be fun to deck the halls, roast chestnuts or go on sleigh rides, but when it comes to…
As Christmas shopping days tick away, check this tip list twice
With Christmas just days away, I'm offering some holiday shopping advice. Thinking of gifts can be pretty stressful, so my…

Recent Actions

  • Ryan Olson tweeted, “wonders why the restaurant gave him a dozen paper towels to go with his bowl of chicken enchilada soup and pint on Saturday.” 12:55 2010-02-08
  • Ryan Olson saved Alltop’s tweet, “How to be more productive in the am http://om.ly/fCex” as a favorite 11:00 2010-02-08
  • Ryan Olson tweeted, “was surprised Jay Leno in a David Letterman commercial (with Oprah). NY Times has the story. http://tinyurl.com/y9do4ac 20:19 2010-02-07
  • Ryan Olson tweeted, “is going over the Super Bowl ads at http://www.hulu.com/adzone/ I’m hard pressed to pick a favorite…maybe the Doritos samurai one.” 19:36 2010-02-07
  • Ryan Olson tweeted, “felt like CBS handled the team introduction videos poorly. Were we supposed to hear the players talking? Their mouths were moving.” 15:12 2010-02-07
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