After nearly 30 years with Kentucky Educational Television, Renee Shaw is leaving the airwaves at the end of the month. Shaw has covered state politics through legislative sessions, elections and how the state has responded to natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic, among other topics.
Before she leaves her role as director of public affairs and moderator, Shaw spoke to LPM News' Bill Burton to reflect on her career.
This transcript was edited for clarity and length.
Bill Burton: You're a graduate of Western Kentucky University. When you enrolled, what career did you see for yourself?
Renee Shaw: This one. I didn't know it at the time, but I was a double major in broadcasting and government or political science, as it is now. I knew this was going to be the path. I had a lot of great professors who served as mentors, even up till now, who helped me really design a path that worked perfectly and fit, and helped to create what has been a 30-year career at KET.
BB: Much of your career there at KET, you did focus on public policy. What drew you to that coverage? Was that the fact that you were a political science major?
RS: It was. It absolutely was that. I wanted not just to cover politics, but I wanted to cover public policy, and I believed in the power of government and what government could do. I wanted to watch it up close and personal, and help write the first draft of it. I was really drawn to that space and more about how public policy affects us all in our everyday lives. I really wanted to make it accessible for folks and try to explain it in terms that they could relate to and really go into the weeds for those who love the inside baseball.
But at the same time, I hope that I've been able to advance a conversation about civility and civic discourse and and how to do that in a way that can still get to the truth, but in a respectful manner that hopefully causes us to to bridge some of the gaps and the divides that we are currently experiencing.
BB: What are some of the things from your time at KET of which you're most proud?
RS: Oh my goodness, you know it's like asking who's your favorite child. Everything is, you hope, is your best thing. I always say if the last thing turns out to be the last thing I did, I hope it's my best thing. Everything that I've done, whether it's sit down interviews where I've talked to lawmakers or politicians or celebrities or just everyday Kentuckians who are making a tremendous difference in their communities, all of those I put in equal measure and favor and value.
BB: What can audiences expect of Kentucky Tonight and Kentucky Edition once you depart?
RS: Bill, let me put to rest all of the fears. We have an enormous fleet of talent at KET in our spaces and public affairs, in our cultural and arts programming, and I am not the least bit worried, and I hope viewers aren't as well. All of the people who work at KET are committed to the mission of KET, what we try to advance in conversation and in civil discourse, and those values will remain front and center. All of the talent that I will leave behind, but will still have in my heart, they know how to do it.
BB: What's next for you?
RS: I don't know. In the short term, a couple of vacations. I haven't been one to really expend a lot of vacation time, so I'm going to travel quite a bit. There's lots of family memory making time that I've got in store, and to relax and read a few good books that are all stacked up by my nightstand and on the coffee table, and figure out what comes next. I know God will lead me to the place that I need to be.
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