KCUR Kansas City, Mo.
1983 - present

Going Public

On January 17, 1983, Bodine moved to KCUR-FM and settled into public radio, a niche he's found quite comfortable.

"I was a financial contributor to (public radio) before I ever came here," Bodine says. "I felt like, in commercial radio, we were filling a gap and we were providing a service, but it was still sort of shallow and lightweight. A medium as wonderful as radio ought to be able to do more than that."

After six years in an evening time slot, Bodine's show moved to its morning time in January 1989. According to KCUR station manager Patricia Cahill, the change was beneficial for both the station and for Bodine's show.

"It's been positive in terms of the number of phone calls, in terms of listener ratings, in terms of fund raising and (also) in terms of morale at the station," Cahill said in a 1990 interview. "In the evenings, Walt was kind of here by himself. Now he's more a part of us."

Read: A description of Walt's show, circa 1990.
From: The View, March 14-20, 1990

More: Memorable moments
From: The Walt Bodine Show on KCUR