Evan Casey’s journalism career was sparked by a daily ritual he had with his father when he was growing up. Every evening when his father came home from work, the two would watch the 5 o’clock news together.
“It was our routine and one of our favorite things to do,” Casey remembers.
The ritual turned out to be more than just family bonding. As Casey watched foreign correspondents report on events from far flung places like Iraq, he wondered what a job in journalism would be like.
“Watching that really left an impression on me. I really enjoyed the stories and that the reporters were at the scene, in person, reporting on crazy weather events or a war,” he said. “I thought it was really cool that they could do that in person and tell that story.”
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2017, Casey began telling his own stories, first as a freelancer for a variety of Wisconsin outlets and then with jobs at the Shepherd Express and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In 2022, Casey began working for Wisconsin Public Radio as a general assignment reporter based in Milwaukee. He covers breaking, significant and fascinating news that happens anywhere from Kenosha to Sheboygan.
He loves the variety.
“One day I might write about Giannis and the Bucks and the next day how police dispatchers are using AI to respond to calls,” Casey said. One of his favorite stories was an in-depth report on how immigrants are changing life in Whitewater.
His father passed away a few years ago, but Casey remembers him being one of his biggest fans.
“I’ll never forget, in 2022 he randomly called me from a Menards parking lot in Racine and said ‘I heard you on the radio.’”
– Joe Tarr, “Wisconsin Today” producer
