Bill Goodykoontz

Bill Goodykoontz writes about how television and media shape everyday life, with a particular emphasis on local newscasts, on-air personalities and the viewer’s experience of them. His work at The Arizona Republic combines reporting on broadcast changes with criticism of shows and platforms, giving equal weight to the people on screen and the programs they front. He moves easily between service pieces, opinionated media columns and conversational podcasts, which makes his coverage useful both for tracking industry shifts and for understanding how audiences actually watch.

Local TV news and on-air talent

A large portion of Goodykoontz’s recent work centers on the shifting cast of local television news, treating anchor and meteorologist moves as stories about trust and familiarity as much as employment.

He has covered a new co-anchor joining the “Today in AZ” morning show, framing the change in terms of how viewers start their day with specific personalities. He has written multiple pieces on “Good Morning Arizona,” including columns on an anchor leaving the show and another anchor departure, underscoring how turnover affects a long-running franchise and the audience that relies on it.

He also reports departures behind the weather desk, such as a longtime meteorologist leaving 12 News, drawing out the personal statements from the talent and the connection they have built with viewers over time.

Even when the subject is straightforward - a promotion, a retirement, a move to another role - he tends to quote directly from the on-air figures and their own explanations, keeping the focus on their relationship with the audience rather than internal station politics. The tone in these pieces is more conversational than hard-news, but they are grounded in concrete changes to lineups and schedules, which makes them a reliable guide to who is on screen and where.

Reality TV, streaming and viewing recommendations

Goodykoontz also spends significant time on reality television and streaming series, often from the vantage point of how they reflect or exploit local culture. In a column on “Team Moms: Baseball,” a reality series on Paramount+, he critiques the show’s use of Scottsdale clichés and describes it as “genuinely gross TV,” signaling a willingness to call out exploitative or shallow programming while still engaging closely with it.

He extends this local-media lens in a Valley 101 episode about Arizona’s reality TV roots, discussing a new show filmed in Scottsdale and connecting it to a broader history of the state’s appearances in unscripted television.

Beyond reality TV, he serves as a guide to movies and series, curating lists of upcoming summer releases and must-see holiday films and shows in appearances on Arizona PBS’s “Arizona Horizon.” These segments and columns highlight major studio films alongside television titles, presenting them as a practical watchlist rather than exhaustive criticism.

In his regular work, he promotes a weekly viewing newsletter and cross-publishes columns through entertainment platforms such as Yahoo Entertainment, which extends the reach of his recommendations beyond the newspaper’s own audience.

Media behavior, social platforms and everyday life

His beat frequently reaches beyond program reviews into the behavior of high-profile figures on media platforms, treating social posting itself as part of the entertainment and information ecosystem.

In a column on Donald Trump’s late-night social media activity, he characterizes the posts as a problem, focusing on the implications of constant, unfiltered communication rather than the political content alone. He applies a similar concern for how media intersects with daily life in pieces on extreme heat and seasonal change, including a column on Phoenix hitting 100 degrees in March in which he laments the loss of spring and ties the weather to climate trends.

Goodykoontz’s work on The Republic’s Valley 101 podcast shows this blend of media and lived experience from another angle, such as an episode asking when it actually feels like fall in Arizona, where he talks with the newsroom’s meteorologist and extreme weather reporter about local perceptions of the seasons. He also writes experiential, pop culture–inflected stories like his trip through Buc-ee’s most popular foods, treating a convenience store chain as a media and lifestyle phenomenon worth testing firsthand.

That mix of critique, commentary and first-person reporting gives his coverage a lived-in feel that stays close to how ordinary people encounter media and big brands day to day.

Podcasts, music debates and long-horizon media work

In addition to columns and TV segments, Goodykoontz hosts and appears on podcasts that extend his media beat into local culture and music. On Valley 101 he has led a debate over the biggest band to come out of Arizona, teaming up with The Republic’s pop music critic Ed Masley, which shows an interest in canon-setting conversations as well as current releases.

These audio projects keep the focus on accessible, conversational explanations of culture and entertainment rather than insider industry talk, matching the tone of his columns.

The staff biography at The Arizona Republic describes a long career across multiple desks - including stints as a TV critic, features columnist, sports columnist, city hall reporter and police reporter before his current role as media critic. That breadth comes through in the way he approaches stories: he treats anchors and reality-show participants with the eye of a features writer, tracks station moves with a reporter’s attention to detail, and practices criticism that is grounded in everyday viewing habits. For a subject that touches television news, reality TV, streaming platforms, or the broader ways media and weather frame life in Arizona, his work consistently combines knowledge of the beat with a direct, approachable style.