As of April, 166,703 people follow Whats Up Tucson on X, formerly Twitter. Each day these tens of thousands of people tune in for live updates on car crashes, police activity, fires, emergencies and other pressing breaking news to keep them connected to Tucson.

On its website, Whats Up Tucson is described as “a leading source of local Tucson info and events, news and emergency incidents,” curated by longtime Tucson radio personality Ken Carr, who puts nearly every waking hour into single-handedly running the show.

Carr took over the Twitter account that became Whats Up Tucson in 2009 when it had a little over 1,000 followers. Fifteen years later, he has amassed a following equal to over a quarter of the city’s population. 

The account started out simple. With a $99 scanner from Radio Shack, Carr would tune into anything happening locally and tweet it out. 

“It took five years to get to the first 10,000 followers,” Carr said.

After that, things grew exponentially. He began to add more and more to his regular coverage, tweeting out lost dog alerts or photos sent to him by his loyal audience. The most common alerts are car crashes, fires and police activity. 

Carr trusts his gut about what should be shared on his account and what shouldn’t, adapting over the years. One thing he has steered clear of is politics, preferring to avoid the inevitable criticism and negative comments that would come with the territory. 

The account has its own distinct brand and following; Carr noted that it’s important for him to work his personality into the account, such as through his coined term “car-b-cue,” tweeted whenever there’s a car on fire. 

Carr, who is from Kearney, Nebraska, has worked in radio since 1987. As a kid, he recalled listening to the local radio announce fires, which inspired Whats Up Tucson. Carr moved to Tucson in 2001 for his radio career, and is currently the on-air personality on KDRI The Drive 101.7 FM. He’s come to love the city, and he’s learned a lot about it through his tweets. 

One thing he’s learned a lot over the years is to be cautious about verifying information before tweeting it. He doesn’t consider himself a reporter but called the account a “public service.”

“I know I have a large enough audience at this point that I owe them being thoughtful about what I post,” he said.

Whats Up Tucson has been so successful mainly due to Carr’s dedication and persistence. He sleeps from about midnight to 7:30, and spends nearly every other second of the day tweeting out any major news or incidents he hears on the five scanners he owns, tuned into various police departments and jurisdictions. 

“I used to be way more obsessive about it,” he said. “I have taken that down a notch, because setting my alarm to wake up every two hours in the middle of the night, it turned out to be kind of counterproductive.” 

Another change was the rebranding from Twitter to X, which Carr said led to a drop in users, but the platform has largely rebounded and is still a major source of information. People also can now follow Whats Up Tucson on Facebook and Instagram. 

Through all these changes, Whats Up Tucson has remained a solo project. Carr prefers to handle things himself rather than deal with the challenges of hiring any outside help. And since he has more X followers than the Arizona Daily Star and all three major local news stations, he doesn’t feel too much pressure. 

The hardest part, Carr said, was becoming a credible source and he’s very grateful he has the trust of his audience. He’s even helped provide information to local TV reporters on breaking news stories.

“It definitely was a helpful tool just to stay more connected with the community,” said Jesse Tellez, former digital editor at the Daily Star.

Tellez said that the newspaper would keep tabs on Whats Up Tucson and occasionally use it as a source of inspiration for stories or “an extra set of eyes.”

Carr is also able to make money off his account, and recently began to sell advertising spots to the Tucson Roadrunners and injury lawyers Grabb and Durando. He also accepts donations. All in all, Whats Up Tucson contributes about half of Carr’s annual income in addition to his radio work.

“Even after 15 years, I’m so stupidly obsessed with this,” Carr said. “I work on it 365 days a year.”

And he means it. He works even on holidays, noting that Halloween is the wildest night of the year, and Christmas and Thanksgiving see lots of house fires. 

Carr’s longtime friend Brandon Hall lives in Stockton, California, but keeps up with Whats Up Tucson and is impressed by Carr’s dedication.  

“It interests me because I wish I had something like that where I lived,” Hall said. 

Hall met Carr through his radio career, when Carr was working for a station in Stockton and helped Hall get his foot in the door. They’ve been friends for over 30 years. Hall said that even when they visit each other’s cities, Carr is often checking his phone and tweeting out the latest updates around the clock. 

“When he commits to something, he goes all in,” Hall said.

Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.