He spoke with the San Antonio Report about his most defining moments, the changing media landscape, and what comes next. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7778.jpg\")
KSAT12 news anchors Steve Spriester, Myra Arthur and Ernie Zuniga during a recent newscast. Credit: Courtesy \/ Steve Spriester<\/p>\n
Q: You\u2019ve been with KSAT12 since 1995. Looking back, what are some of your most defining moments in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n A:Gosh, I\u2019ll probably leave that to other people but you know I have celebrated all of the Spurs championships. That\u2019s been awesome. It\u2019s something that I\u2019ve loved to do with the city. I did a homeless special in the early 2000s that led to Haven for Hope. Bill Greehey from Valero and the mayor at the time Phil Hardberger got together with Patti Radle and decided that they needed to do something for San Antonio\u2019s homeless population. That led to Haven for Hope. I did something this April that was very important to me. We documented 50 years after the fall of Saigon in Vietnam and talked to the men and women who fought, many who still feel the effects from the Vietnam War even now and I think the most important thing with that is they finally get a thank you for their service and they get recognized for the sacrifices that they made over there for that controversial war.<\/p>\n Q: Speaking of stories like that, it\u2019s an emotionally taxing job and you\u2019ve done it for 30 years. How did you balance the role of being a journalist and a human being in moments like those?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A:I think you have to be human in those moments. You can\u2019t be somebody that you\u2019re not and that\u2019s kind of how I carry myself in being true to myself in everything. You know to empathize with what they\u2019ve gone through or empathize with somebody who lost their job or somebody who has mental health [problems] or drug or alcohol addiction, and find themselves on the streets of San Antonio. This is gonna sound weird for a guy who talks for a living, but I pride myself on being a good listener if that makes sense.<\/p>\n Q:You\u2019ve been a fixture in San Antonio households for decades. What do you hope your legacy will be?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: You know, I think every journalist\u2019s dream is to make a difference and I hope I\u2019ve made a difference<\/p>\n Q: In your 30 years have you seen the media landscape here in San Antonio change?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: It\u2019s changed a lot. The digital online livestream aspect has changed a lot, but I fell in love with this city as much as I fell in love with KSAT. This is just a city that \u2014 in some corners diversity is a bad word \u2014 but I think it\u2019s one of San Antonio\u2019s strengths. And it\u2019s one of the things that has kept me in San Antonio when I\u2019ve had other opportunities to leave. I feel like San Antonio has taken me in and my family in a way that is special to me.<\/p>\n Q: What inspired you to do projects like Know My Neighborhood and Spriester Sessions that show a different side of journalism?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: There are things that divide us so often that are brought out, but there are also so many things that unite us. I think when you look at different neighborhoods, whether it\u2019s a neighborhood you know Southeast or Northwest we all have the same concerns: we all want good roads and sidewalks. We all want to be safe. We all want quality of life and lower taxes. By showing the different distinct neighborhoods of San Antonio, I hope people realize that we have more in common than we have differences.\u00a0<\/p>\n To me it shows that there\u2019s an appetite out there for uber local news and that\u2019s what I hope KSAT continues to bring out. I know the San Antonio Report brings it out.\u00a0<\/p>\n For me, it came out of a town hall meeting where we had a bunch of different neighborhoods from all over the city talking to us about what they thought we should be covering and that\u2019s when I was like they\u2019re all talking about the same things.<\/p>\n Q: What made you decide that now is the right time to step away?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: You know when a lot of my friends left a year ago for the buyouts, it did not feel like the right time for me. Know My Neighborhood was a part of that, the Vietnam special was part of that, I had the elections coming up for mayor. I just had certain things I wanted to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n I wanted to hit 30 years at KSAT so I didn\u2019t take the buyout. But I think this time with the opportunity at Perfected Claims to do something that still makes a difference, perhaps on a bigger scale than what I was doing at KSAT was just an opportunity that was too good to pass up.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t anything that KSAT did or didn\u2019t do that weighed in on this; it was more me looking at signs that it was time. I\u2019ve had a great run at KSAT, 30 years. A lot of people in my position don\u2019t get to choose when it\u2019s their time to step down and so going out on my own terms is also really attractive for me.<\/p>\n You know today was the first day I\u2019ve been back since I made the decision and so we had a station meeting at 2 o\u2019clock today and I thought I was mentally and emotionally prepared for it. I was not. I teared up and saw people I\u2019ve worked with for decades tear up and it was hard, but I wanted them to hear from me why I made the decision and why you know there was a KSAT before Steve Sprester there will be a KSAT long after.\u00a0<\/p>\n Q: Do you think you\u2019ll miss that fast-paced nature of the newsroom or are you ready for a different rhythm?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Nope, I\u2019ll miss it. Somebody today said \u2018you know when that first big storm hits, are you gonna be sad that you\u2019re not covering it or you\u2019ll be happy that you\u2019re not covering it?\u2019 and I said \u2018No, I think I\u2019ll be sad.\u2019<\/p>\n We did an election night livestream that we started 12 years ago when livestreams weren\u2019t a thing. I flew back on July 5 from Dallas at my in-laws house to cover the flooding in the Hill Country. Just the adrenaline of giving people information that they need in critical times. That\u2019s just the kind of thing that that drives me and that I want to be a part of because I think it\u2019s so important. I will definitely miss those times.<\/p>\n Q: If you could tell yourself back in 1995 one thing, what would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Be patient. I started here as just a general assignment reporter and I did not think when I first started at KSAT that I would be here 30 years. I thought you know I\u2019ll move on to do something else, somewhere else in TV and had opportunities to do that. That\u2019s what speaks to this opportunity with Perfected Claims is I\u2019ve had other opportunities to leave and decided to stay, but this opportunity was to get to pass up. More than anything else I\u2019m grateful to the people of San Antonio and KSAT and more than anything our viewers cause they\u2019ve been awesome.<\/p>\n Q: Do you see yourself ever returning to journalism in a different form maybe behind the scene, through a different medium or even teaching?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Maybe you never say never about anything. I\u2019m excited about the fact that I\u2019m still gonna do storytelling with Perfected Claims.They have an office in California and they advocate for people that had their home burned down. They have an office in Georgia where there\u2019s been toxic chemicals in a stream there and people can\u2019t sell their house or they\u2019re getting sick through no fault of their own so the storytelling aspect of the advocacy journalism is still gonna be there but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever turn my back on journalism. It\u2019s something I feel so strongly about. I\u2019m so passionate about it.<\/p>\n Q: What\u2019s one thing that viewers might be surprised to learn about you?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Oh gosh, probably when I am not on the air, I am perfectly comfortable with a ball cap,shorts and a T-shirt. When I don\u2019t have to wear a suit and tie and makeup five days out of the week, I am not going to. I am very relaxed when I\u2019m not at KSAT, that\u2019s for sure.\u00a0<\/p>\n Q: What\u2019s that first thing you plan to do when you no longer have to prepare for these daily broadcasts?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: I\u2019m just gonna spend some time with my family. It\u2019s gonna be great to be home at night and you know I may fly up and see my Nebraska Cornhuskers play football or just do something I wouldn\u2019t normally be able to do. That\u2019s what I plan on doing is to take full advantage of the fact that my schedule is not as rigid as it used to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n Q: What advice would you give to young journalists starting their careers today?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Be true to yourself and be kind to yourself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After three decades as one of San Antonio\u2019s most familiar faces, news anchor Steve Spriester is signing off…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":127658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,78053,78054,7202,78055,78056,7203,78057,358,7453,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7455],"class_list":{"0":"post-127657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ksat12","10":"tag-q-and-a","11":"tag-san-antonio","12":"tag-san-antonio-media","13":"tag-san-antonio-tv-anchors","14":"tag-sanantonio","15":"tag-steve-spriester","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-top-story","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-typedaily","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa","26":"tag-wc-1500-2000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114990259237642326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IMG_7779.jpg\")
KSAT12 news anchor Steve Spriester at a recent Fiesta event. Credit: Courtesy \/ Steve Spriester<\/p>\n