Tucson broadcasting legend Bill Buckmaster switching off at end of year

Bill Buckmaster, the longtime local TV and radio journalist whose work landed him spots in both the Arizona and Nevada Broadcaster Halls of Fame, said Monday he will be signing off for the last time at the end of the year.

“I’m very proud of what I’ve done, but I honestly would like to kick back a little bit and spend more time with my fiancée and perhaps travel one week out of every month and do some of these other projects,” said Buckmaster.

His eponymous radio show will continue to air at noon Monday through Friday on KVOI, 1030 AM, through Dec. 30.

Buckmaster’s career has spanned more than half a century, including more than three decades in Tucson. He estimated on Monday that he had interviewed more than 10,000 people.

Politicians, journalists and community leaders all praised Buckmaster’s integrity, balanced approach and institutional memory.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said Buckmaster “is one of our community’s most respected journalists.”

“He is informed, asks tough questions of everyone, is fair and never takes a cheap shot,” said Romero, a Democrat who first won a Tucson City Council seat in 2007. “I admire his class, always taking the time to ask about my family or remember a milestone. I will miss his stories, his sense of humor and his signature voice.”

State Sen. Vince Leach, a Republican from SaddleBrooke, said he knew he had to be prepared when he did an interview on the Buckmaster Show because the host was well informed on issues but did not look for “the ‘gotcha moment’ that we have in so many areas of the press today.”

“The respect that Bill had in the community was earned,” Leach said.

Dan Shearer, the editor of the Green Valley News and Sahuarita Sun, said that Buckmaster “had the best Rolodex in the business.”

Guests were willing to come on the show, Shearer said, “because they knew that he would stick to the topic at hand. He was fair. And just like him, they wanted to have accurate information out in the community so people could make up their own minds on issues, period. And man, the Tucson journalism scene is going to be much the poorer for him not being around.”

Beyond being a dedicated journalist, Buckmaster “is a friend, and I learned so much from him,” Shearer added. “And to be handed the reins of his show on occasion when he was on vacation was such a privilege.”

‘A fine journalist’

A native of the Chicago suburbs, Buckmaster, 77, was drawn to broadcasting in childhood. He recalled playing with his father’s shortwave radio.

“My father had an incredible shortwave, one of those big shortwave radios,” he said. “They had this golden glow. And I would spin the dial at night listening to all these faraway places and I dreamed of going to them. And I went to a lot of them, because I’ve been to over 100 different countries.”

As a kid, he pretended to do play-by-play announcing.

“I used to throw the ball against the brick garage in my backyard and play imaginary announcer of Chicago Cubs baseball,” Buckmaster said. “I would do imaginary announcing for football games as well. And I had a basketball hoop, of course, and I would do imaginary basketball.”

Buckmaster first came to Tucson in 1965 to attend the University of Arizona.

“I’d heard it was a highly rated party school,” Buckmaster said. “Top 10, really.”

He met his future wife, Ann Buckmaster, during a broadcast class at the UA. They were married 51 years before she died of cancer in 2023.

Buckmaster earned a degree in speech arts (radio and TV) in 1969 and set off on a career that would take him across Arizona as the editor of construction trade magazines before he landed a broadcast job in Sierra Vista, which led to a gig with the Associated Press in Phoenix.

In 1973, he went to work for a television station in Visalia, Calif., where he covered Cesar Chavez’s labor efforts, and a year later, he went to work for a TV station in Las Vegas for a five-year stint. He recalled being ringside when Leon Spinks defeated Muhammad Ali.

“That was the days before Las Vegas became family friendly,” Buckmaster said. “They were making the change from a mob-oriented town to a family town.”

While working TV and radio in Las Vegas, he also earned a master’s degree in education at UNLV. 

After five years, Buckmaster moved on to the Bay Area, where he worked until 1988, when he landed a position in Tucson as the anchor at KUAT-TV’s Arizona Illustrated, which was then a five-night-a-week news program. 

Over his 22 years at the station, he earned five Emmy award nominations, was awarded the Golden Mic Award from the Tucson Chapter of the American Advertising Federation and had an asteroid named for him by comet hunter and author David Levy.

“I had a great run at AZPM,” Buckmaster said.

Former AZPM reporter and news director Christopher Conover, who left the station earlier this year to launch a podcast, remembers Buckmaster as a mentor after he joined the Tucson outlet in 2005.

“He welcomed me to Tucson more than two decades ago and made sure I succeeded, and for that I will always be grateful,” Conover said. “He made sure that when he did an interview with someone, he let them have their say. He didn’t interrupt but calmly did a fact check if needed and let the person explain their position. He expected the same of us working on the nightly version of Arizona Illustrated.”

Mark Kimble, a former Tucson Citizen editor who regularly appeared on the Friday Reporter’s Roundtable segment that Buckmaster moderated on Arizona Illustrated, said he would “miss him and his commitment to educating the public in whatever forum he has embraced.”

“Over the decades Bill has been committed to bringing the truth and the facts to his viewers and listeners,” said Kimble, who now serves on the Citizens Clean Elections Commission. “Southern Arizonans who have heard his voice for years know to trust him. He is a fine journalist.”

Buckmaster left Arizona Illustrated at the end of 2010 to return to his roots in radio, launching his independent Buckmaster Show.

“I felt this might just be a great time to go out on my own, take the Buckmaster brand, and become a small businessman, basically starting my own communications company and then starting the radio show,” Buckmaster said.

The Buckmaster Show has featured politicians, journalists, scientists, business leaders, police chiefs, government administrators, travel experts, authors and many others involved in Tucson’s civic and cultural life.

He said making the decision to end the radio show after 15 years was not easy, but he was ready for something new.

“Everything in life is timing,” he said. “It’s finding the right time to write the next chapter. And I felt this was really the right time.”

He plans to marry Darlene Brady, a retired CPA whom he met on a blind date one year ago Monday.

He said he would stay in the storytelling business and work with clients to help them tell stories via interviews that could be posted to their websites.

‘An objective & knowledgeable voice’

Current and former politicians praised Buckmaster on Monday.

Ron Barber, a Democrat who represented Southern Arizona in Congress from 2014 to 2017, said that Buckmaster’s decision to retire means “an objective and knowledgeable voice will be gone from our airwaves.”

“He was always well prepared, asked great questions and was courteous to his guests,” Barber said. “I join with his many listeners to thanks for a job well done.”

Rex Scott, the chairman of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, said he was “sad for the community, because he’s been such a presence on both TV and radio.”

“But I’m really happy for him,” Scott continued. “This is going to be not only a terrific new professional opportunity for him, but he’s also going to have more time with his fiancée. At the place he’s at right now, he’s making the right decision for himself, although I do think it is a loss for the community and the conversations within the community.”

Pima County Justice of the Peace Ray Carroll called Buckmaster “a local legend.”

“I can’t think of anyone who could replace Bill Buckmaster,” said Carroll, a Republican who previously served on the Pima County Board of Supervisors for nearly two decades.

Tucson City Councilmember Nikki Lee said that Buckmaster “has spent decades bringing local leaders, elected officials and everyday Tucsonans to the table, always asking the tough questions with a deep love for our city.”

“His dedication to honest dialogue has helped shape Tucson’s story and strengthen our community in countless ways,” said Lee, a Democrat who represents Ward 4. “It’s hard to imagine Tucson without his show as part of our daily conversation.”

“Bill has been a staple in the local journalism field for decades,” said Steve Kozachik, a former Tucson City Council member who now heads up Pima Animal Care Center. “He treats his guests with dignity but never shies away from asking the questions that need to be asked. Bill’s departure will be a loss for the community.”

Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher said the community was losing a repository of institutional memory.

“It’s hard to imagine a time when Buckmaster wasn’t reporting on the happenings of Southern Arizona,” Lesher said. “He remembers the history and why we do things this way because he remembers what we were doing in the ’80s, why things changed, and what all that history looks like. It’s amazing to think about the volume of knowledge and history that we’re losing when Bill retires.”

Southern Arizona Leadership Council President and CEO Ted Maxwell said that Buckmaster’s “longevity speaks for itself.”

“He has the ability to interview anybody on any subject and keep it light and interesting,” said Maxwell, a frequent guest who also hosts his own show on KVOI. “And he’s really made no enemies through his time on the radio, which is not easy, right?”

Buckmaster said he’d seen a lot of change in the media landscape since he began his career, including the number of outlets that have sprouted via the internet.

“There are just so many outlets for people, and social media has changed everything, as far as how people get their news ,” he said. “Some people only get their news through social media. That’s really a shame.”

He said the biggest change he’s seen was the rise of “advocacy journalism.”

“I came up from the old school,” he said. “Walter Cronkite was one of my heroes. And I believe that a news person gathers facts and presents the facts, and then the reader, listener, viewer is then smart enough to make their own decision about what they believe is the best choice for them.”