Job: Investigative, business and RAGBRAI editor. And whatever else fills 12-hour days.
Years at the Register: Six, as of this month.
I grew up in: Crosley Field and Riverfront Stadium. Cincinnati, in other words.
I live in: Cycling distance to work.
I graduated from: The University of Kentucky and Georgia State University (30 years apart).
Family: My wife and I share a blue house, a gray cat and an appreciation for neighbors of various hues (I personally range from pasty to mottled, depending on the season). Our son is in Atlanta, where he grew up, with our daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The rest are in Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. And Oregon. And Tennessee. And Chicago. And Poland, Ireland and the Czech Republic. We get around.
Email: wsteiden@registermedia.com.
Why journalism? Because when I was 18 (cue Alice Cooper song), there were too many rocks in my head to concentrate on geochemistry. But for a geology major, I was a pretty good writer. So I went over to the student newspaper office and tried my hand at news. That led to stints at the Columbus Dispatch, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After a brief, doomed attempt to survive outside a newsroom, I landed at the Des Moines Register.
My major responsibilities are: Backstopping talented journalists. I advise them on the pitches, but it’s up to them to throw strikes. I am their biggest fan.
I like my job because: I can say a ridiculous, hackneyed-sounding thing like “it’s a new adventure every day” and mean it.
When I’m not working, I’m: checking my work email and Microsoft Teams messages. But I also find time to pedal the metro’s superb bike trail system, watch cool local bands at the Greenwood, Rumble Room and xBk and persuade the people who run Des Moines sports bars to tune in out-of-town games nobody else wants to watch. I also yearn to travel with my recently retired wife.
Fun fact about me: Vivek Ramaswamy and I were classmates at St. X High in Cincinnati. Or, we would have been if I were a couple of decades younger.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Meet Des Moines Register Investigative and Business Editor Bill Steiden
Reporting by Bill Steiden, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
