Walt Bodine

With more than 50 years in the media, Walt Bodine's background includes staff announcer, program script writer, television reporter, news anchor and new director and stints as news reporter and news director for WDAF TV and radio. As host of the WHB radio show, "Night Beat," Walt helped pioneer the live, call-in radio show format in Kansas City. He is affectionately known as Kansas City's dean of broadcasting, but describes himself as a multimedia public nuisance. Bodine has also served as a professor of communication studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and has written several books. He has claimed to have "two of the most well-worn ears in this metropolitan area." "I listen to more people in a day than a Menninger psychiatrist, " he said. For his work, Walt has received numerous awards including the Kansas City Spirit Award in 1987, recognizing him as the "voice of the people" and "our community conscience." More recently Bodine was the recipient of the Bishop John J. Sullivan Award for Communications.

The last Walt Bodine Show aired April 27th, 2012, celebrating 72 years of originality and honesty across print, TV and radio platforms, as Walt Bodine retired from KCUR. To hear the final show & community members' reactions to Walt's retirement, visit our Thank You, Walt Bodine page.