Stephan Kaufman

CBS News Radio Correspondent

Stephan Kaufman has covered the Pacific Northwest for CBS News Radio since 1997, having witnessed and described many of the region’s major events. He has won numerous awards, both individually while working across the country in local radio for 28 years and as part of the CBS News team.

Some of Kaufman’s many Northwest assignments include the shooting at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, Idaho’s white supremacist controversy, the eruption of Mt. Saint Helens, wildfires in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Canada and the aftermath of a devastating tornado that roared through a Canadian camping resort. However, his CBS assignments have taken him far beyond the region he calls home. About two years after 9/11, he got behind the wheel of his truck and drove 6,500 miles around the United States asking Americans if they felt safe in their homes and communities.

Shortly after the start of the Iraq war, Kaufman covered the wounded returning from the conflict at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. While in Germany, he was able to secure a seat on board a military C-17 for a brief flight into northern Iraq to cover troop deployment to a secret military base. When the tsunami struck Asia, he went to Thailand to report on the clean-up and rebuilding efforts. He later found himself involved in a similar assignment in New Orleans, reporting on a city and a Gulf coast region attempting to come back to life after hurricane Katrina.

Most recently, Kaufman was sent to Port Au Prince, Haiti, just a few days after the country was torn apart by its most devastating earthquake in more than 200 years. While embedded with a group of Northwest physicians, Kaufman toured Haiti’s capital city and reported not only the destruction, but the human tragedy as well.

Kaufman began his career in local radio, holding news management positions at KCKC, San Bernardino, WORC, Worcester, WHK, Cleveland, KSLQ, St. Louis, KVET/KASE, Austin, as well as News Director for 8 years for country music legend, Buck Owens, at the singer’s’ KNIX, Phoenix. His experience also includes stints as anchor/reporter at WAVZ, New Haven, KLAK, Denver, KIMN, Denver and KTAR, Phoenix.

Kaufman earned an undergraduate degree from California State University at San Diego and attended a masters program at the University of Denver.