Walt Buteau

Walt’s Rhode Island roots date back to 1880 when his family started migrating here from Italy and Canada. He arrived at WPRI in 1994 and now reports on just about every newscast.

“I still run into distant cousins and not so distant relatives on stories. I love it.”

Over the years, Walt has covered many of Rhode Island’s most historic events. He anchored the station’s daily coverage of the Plunderdome trial and won an Emmy as the first reporter to the scene of The Station fire tragedy. The historic flooding of 2010, the 2008 snow storm that shut down the state, the Cape oil spill and every election you can imagine are also part of that rich mix of local history that Walt has covered.

On September 11th, Walt was the first Rhode Island reporter to make it to ground zero, arriving only a few hours after the attack and filing live reports for the next week. He returned to New York to cover the progress and changes a month later and on the one year memorial.

“I will always remember the hope on the faces of the first responders who expected to find survivors. It was horrible to see but we did our best to profile several Southern New Englanders who witnessed the attack and tried to help.”

One of Walt’s favorite assignments is the series called "Street Stories". The weekly reports have won several Emmy and Associated Press awards.

"These stories are usually about what your neighbors do after the worst day of their lives and how they handle that adversity. The awards are great but the people who allow us into their lives make the stories what they are."

Outside of journalism, Walt loves to write, read, bike and spend as much time as possible with his wife and family. But, of course, he still looks forward to being there the next time a big story breaks.

“It is an unbelievable opportunity to cover what happens in the state that’s been home to my family for over a century.”