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A printout of an email from April 2014 with a few case numbers jotted in the margin, stuck in a drawer and forgotten. That was the first step in a ten year journey through roughly 150 banker's boxes of attorney general case files to write the definitive book on the Don Bolles assassination. Jeremy Duda did it with a full time job, and had two kids along the way.

Jeremy is a reporter at Axios Phoenix, the first hire when the morning newsletter launched in June 2022. Most of his 23 year career has been spent covering politics and government in his home state of Arizona, at the Arizona Capitol Times and Yellow Sheet Report and then the Arizona Mirror, which he helped launch. He started out covering high school sports in Hobbs, New Mexico, and reported in Provo, Utah before coming home. He is the author of two books: If This Be Treason (2016) and Murder in the Fourth Estate: The Assassination of Investigative Journalist Don Bolles (2026).

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Jeremy to get into:

• The Friday staff meeting where Don Bolles popped into his head
• Writing the book he wanted to read, and why a treason book came out first
• The attorney general's personal sign-off and 150 boxes of case files photographed one page at a time
• Picking journalism as a college freshman right before the bottom fell out of the industry
• Why he tells every journalism student to cover high school sports in a small town
• Hiring freezes and layoffs that killed every interview, and the plan to deliver pizzas back in Arizona
• The worst feeling in the business: a morning newsletter that is out and not coming back
• Politicians are just people, and the average voter would be stunned by some of them
• The New Mexico developer who offered him a beer at 11:30 in the morning
• Almost cashing in his chips for a PR job in 2018, and the lunch that started the Arizona Mirror
• The Receipt: the April 2014 email that started the Bolles book
• His superpower: institutional knowledge that former House speakers still call him for
• The Shakespeare placeholder headline his editors left in
• Calling the chief of staff when a spokesperson won't call back
• Advice to his first-year self: learn public records early

Follow Jeremy Duda on X: @jeremyduda
Read Axios Phoenix: https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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She was standing alone at a pond with her camera gear, a police helicopter overhead, waiting on a shooter who was moving from house to house. That was the moment Hailey Frances asked herself, what are we doing here? Years later she was leading content at Phoenix's CW station, had just told her husband to go chase his pilot's license while she carried the family, and then the station was sold.

Hailey is an Arizona native and Cronkite School graduate with more than 15 years in broadcast journalism. She anchored and reported in Phoenix, Houston, Grand Rapids and Charlottesville, led content at KASW, Phoenix's CW affiliate, produced a documentary with iHeartRadio that aired in dozens of markets and hosted Positively Arizona. Today she is Director of Operations at STN, The Social Television Network, where the work is community journalism that connects nonprofits and corporate partners. She lives in central Phoenix with her husband, their son and their husky mix, Prin.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Hailey to get into:

• The high school studio audition that made a 14 year old decide this was her life
• Mailing $10 VHS tapes to 30 stations and hearing back from one
• Why she wanted to be a political reporter near D.C., and why that lasted a year and a half
• The Golden Globes red carpet and LA press junkets that never filled her up
• Alone at a pond with a police helicopter overhead: the assignment that broke something
• The station sale that landed a couple of months after her husband left TV to become a pilot
• A Friday call home: I just need some joy, let's go to Disneyland
• Getting typecast as an anchor when she wanted to lead
• Four years away from TV before finding her way to STN
• The introvert who is fine on camera but hates a full room
• The Receipt: a wedding photo and the newsroom coworker she refused to befriend
• Chris Kattan sitting in her lap for an entire interview
• The unwritten rule: put in the time and you earn the respect
• Advice to her first-year self: follow your inner compass, not what is expected

Learn more about STN: https://stntv.com
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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She used to sit in her car after work in tears and could not explain why, because there is no crying in oral surgery. A wellness retreat in Baja California gave her the answer she did not want: she was done being a surgeon. Today Bahar Anooshahr is the restaurant critic for The Arizona Republic, and the first thing with her new title printed on it is her proof of how far that decision carried her.

Born in Iran, Bahar followed the path her family expected and became an oral and maxillofacial surgeon before walking away to write. She freelanced for Eater and Phoenix New Times, joined the Republic as dining and nightlife reporter in 2022, and was recently promoted to restaurant critic. She is a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier, which supports women leaders in food, beverage and hospitality. Her favorite meal is dessert.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Bahar to get into:

• The retreat where she realized she did not want to be an oral surgeon anymore
• How a breakup and a love of Michelin star dinners turned into a food writing career
• Why she ignored the Republic's first email about the job, and what changed her mind
• What her parents said when she left surgery, and what her dad says now
• The negative review of a woman owned restaurant that gave her nightmares
• Learning to sit in discomfort when a critic's opinion gets pushback
• The difference between a dining reporter and a restaurant critic
• Walking 103,000 steps in one day just to beat a stranger on Fitbit
• The Receipt: her new title in print, and the Ruth Reichl book that started it all
• The story she wrote through tears when a restaurant tied to her late husband closed
• The unwritten rule: critics pay for every meal, zero gifts
• Advice to her first-year self: don't take no for an answer

Follow Bahar Anooshahr: @baharcreative
Follow The Arizona Republic dining team: @azcdining | @azcentral
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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He keeps every thank-you note a reader has ever mailed him, because journalists mostly hear the other kind of feedback. Patrick O'Grady has spent 30 years in Valley journalism, from the X-Acto knife and waxer days to tracking newsletter open rates, and he has strong opinions about what it takes for local news to survive.

Patrick began as a reporter covering everything from bake sales to billion dollar economic deals across Glendale, Surprise and the renewable energy beat. Today he is editor in chief of Independent News Media's Arizona division, leading award winning teams through the industry shift from print to digital. Off the clock he is chasing good music and good food, and he has been playing guitar longer than he has been a journalist.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Patrick to get into:

• Starting at Independent in 1993, covering Sun City West, and coming back decades later to run it
• Why everything online should be for sale, and why journalists hate hearing it
• The annual water series his team started before everyone wanted to talk about water
• Writing the data centers and water story a year before it was a big topic
• Digital first, SEO and the stories you wish you could pull back
• How he can tell when a reporter does not care, or does not understand the story
• Forty years of guitar and a college band that played 80s new wave
• The Receipt: a stack of thank-you notes from readers
• Advice to his first-year self: take the meeting, take the call, take the coffee

Follow Independent News Media: @yourvalley | yourvalley.net
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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Sheriff Joe Arpaio spent years telling people he was at her wedding. He was not. Amy Silverman covered him too long and too well for that rumor to survive, and it is not even the strangest story in this episode.

Amy Silverman is a journalist, writer and teacher who has covered her hometown of Phoenix for more than three decades. She spent 25 years at Phoenix New Times and is now executive producer of The Show on KJZZ, the Phoenix NPR station. A three-time Arizona Press Club Journalist of the Year, she has reported on Arizonans with disabilities for ProPublica, with work appearing in The New York Times and on This American Life. Off the clock she co-teaches Mothers Who Write and co-curates the Bar Flies reading series at Valley Bar.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Amy to get into:

• The juvenile corrections investigation two colleagues handed off, which led to a DOJ investigation and real reforms
• Filing that project on July 1 and giving birth to her first daughter on July 10
• The New Year's Day story that broke while she stood in line at Disneyland
• A year with ProPublica on disability services in Arizona, and why that coverage is personal
• Arizona: a great place to be a journalist and a lousy place to be a human being
• The Receipt: a gold heart necklace engraved with a Talking Heads lyric
• The Cost Plus ritual she cannot explain
• The Ronan Farrow DM that surfaced a story she forgot she wrote, headlined Die Hard
• Advice to her first-year self: trust yourself

Follow Amy: @amysilverman on Instagram | amysilverman.com
Follow KJZZ: @kjzzphoenix
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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She was furloughed for three months during Covid, started throwing videos at TikTok for fun, and Arizona Places happened by accident. Six years later she is full time, and the advice she gives anyone chasing it is blunt: a hobby mindset gives you hobby results.

Aiesha Beasley is a Tucson native and Phoenix based content creator, entrepreneur and podcast host who has spent more than a decade building community online. Known to her audience as Arizona Places, she showcases the best of the state, from restaurants and hotels to the hidden gems most locals miss. She co-hosts the Thriving Loudly podcast, and her platforms have grown to 175K on TikTok and 156K on Instagram with partnerships spanning major brands, tourism organizations and media outlets.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Aiesha to get into:

• Why a hobby mindset gives you hobby results, and a business mindset gives you business results
• Signing with management, the 20 percent, and how contracts actually 10X a creator's income
• The early yeses she regrets, including five year usage and one year exclusivity she did not understand
• Working with Wells Fargo, then spending months fighting to get her content pulled when a scandal hit
• Burnout, the hamster wheel, and reinventing after a decade online
• The rumor that she was an Arizona industry plant spreading state propaganda
• The big money brand deals and political campaigns she turned down
• The Receipt: her first camera, and the shy kid who found a creative outlet online
• Her real superpower, a color coded Google Calendar and a filming schedule
• The POV video that got a million views and a pile of hate for nothing

Follow Aiesha: @aieshabeasley and @arizonaplaces_ on Instagram
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip
Learn more about Proof Publicity: https://proofpublicity.com

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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A doctor told him at twelve that if he treated Crohn's disease like a death sentence, it would become one. Twenty years later Joe Huizenga lost 100 pounds during Covid and ran a marathon almost entirely alone, no crowd, no finish line medal. It is still the thing he is proudest of, and it is not on his resume.

Joe Huizenga has been in broadcasting since 2004, the year he graduated from ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. He came to Phoenix from Ann Arbor to call sports, was part of the first crew to broadcast ASU hockey when it was still a club sport, and got pushed into news by a program director who told him he was too smart not to do it. He joined KTAR News in 2008 and has been a producer, executive producer, assistant program director, weekend host and now co-host of Arizona's Evening News alongside Becky Lynn. He is drawn to public safety, the border, housing and the economy, and to the kitchen table version of all of it.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Joe to get into:

• Losing 100 pounds during Covid and the doctor's line he never forgot
• Running a marathon with no crowd and no medal, and why that one counts most
• Why he refuses to play gotcha, even when he admires the interviewers who do
• The Martha Stewart interview that went in a direction he did not want
• Managing on-air talent, or as he calls it, adult babysitting
• The dinner with his boss where he was certain he was about to be fired
• How close he came to leaving radio for a psychology degree
• The Receipt: his medal from his first marathon, on the Las Vegas strip at night
• The unwritten rule of broadcasting: be a Swiss Army knife or be gone
• The comment about his looks that ate at him for years

Twenty-five years in, the part he loves most is not talking. It is listening.

Follow Joe: @joehuizenga on Instagram
Follow KTAR News: @ktarnews
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip

Produced by Turnkey Media: https://www.turnkeymediaaz.com

📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com

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Kyle Unfug blew off radio. She took the internship to get it out of the way, decided radio was the worst, and planned to go do television instead. Twenty-five years later she is still there, and she has co-hosted The Johnjay & Rich Show since 2008.

Kyle went to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State, interned at a Phoenix radio station, and got hired to co-host nights. Overnights, weekends and middays came next. Then the 3 a.m. phone calls started, asking her to fill in on the morning show. She filled in for a full year, working mornings and middays at the same time, before she finally told them to commit. They told her it had always been her. She also appears weekly on Your Life Arizona with entertainment and pop culture updates.

On this episode of Off Deadline, Melissa DiGianfilippo, founder of Proof Publicity, sits down with Kyle to get into:

• Why she wrote radio off during her internship, and the night host who changed her mind
• The year of 3 a.m. phone calls that split her career into a before and an after
• Schwanding: the word she coined for show plus bonding, and why she is proud of it
• Why tension behind the mic is something listeners can hear even when nobody names it
• The Tim Ballard interview on child sex trafficking she still gets sick thinking about
• Getting recognized in her 20s and the accountability that came with it
• Why she never considered quitting work after her kids, and the guilt she almost carried
• The Receipt: a printed photo with Hulk Hogan from the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, her first red carpet alone
• Telling John Cena on that red carpet that she wanted to have his babies
• The celebrity who genuinely surprised her, and the two rumors she had to hear about herself
• The on-air moment she will never live down
• Her advice to her first-year self, and the laptop full of career photos she never got back

Radio makes people feel less alone. That is the whole reason she stayed.

Follow Kyle: @unfug
Follow The Johnjay & Rich Show: @johnjayandrich
Follow the host, Melissa DiGianfilippo: @melissadflip
Learn more about Proof Publicity
Produced by Turnkey Media

#OffDeadline #KyleUnfug #JohnjayAndRich #PhoenixRadio #ProofPublicity

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📺 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@proof-publicity
🔗 Check out Proof Publicity → https://proofpublicity.com