If you would like to e-mail a member of our staff please send your message to info@kmuw.org.
+ volunteer
Jon Cyphers We
recently welcomed Jon Cyphers as Director of Engineering for KMUW and
WRRS (Wichita Radio Reading Service). However, Jon is a familiar
face for several staff members because his first encounter with the
station was in 1994. As a WSU student, Jon co-produced and hosted
New Counterpoint, a show which featured an eclectic selection of music
and spoken word. The show was on the air almost three years. Jon's
technical career in broadcasting actually started by assisting with the
studio construction of the Pourtales (now owned by Entercom) station
group at Brittany Center in 1994. He also assisted with the equipment
upgrade at the KMUW studios in 1996. Jon helped initiate New Settlers'
Radio Hour with Lu Anne Stephens more than 10 years ago. To this
day, he still records the various artists performing around Kansas for
this locally-produced program. Jon has recorded over 200 studio
sessions and live concerts, along with working on various national
broadcast events that have originated from Wichita. He most
recently worked in commercial TV at the local Fox affiliate, KSAS-TV
and MyTV affiliate KMTW-TV. Besides putting KMTW-TV (then
KSCC-TV) on the air at inception, also played a major part in the HDTV
conversions of both KSAS-TV and KMTW-TV. Jon is certified by the
Society of Broadcast Engineers in television and radio broadcast
engineering. Jon is happy to be back at Wichita Public Radio and
says his favorite NPR shows are Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me, Car
Talk, and Science Friday. Jon and his wife, Alissa, built their
own straw bale home on the banks of the Arkansas River, and live there
with their cat, Bella.
Frank Dudgeon
Frank Dudgeon has worked in radio
for over 30 years, beginning in commercial radio. He began his public radio
career in 1989 at WUMB in Boston. Frank worked at KMUW several years ago, went
back to Boston for a few years, came to his senses, and returned to KMUW in
July, 2003 to host Morning Edition and conduct news interviews. Frank finds the
mix of local hosting and researching and conducting interviews an ideal job. In
addition to saying nasty things to his alarm clock when it rings at 3 A.M.,
Frank enjoys watching the Boston Red Sox (yeah, despite everything), collecting
historical items dealing with magic and magicians, reading, viewing old episodes
of the TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000, and getting trounced at chess by
his 13 year-old nephew.
Carla Eckels
Carla Eckels, a graduate of Wichita
State University, is a News Producer at KMUW. As part of KMUW's Kansas
Association of Broadcasters award winning news department, Carla produces daily
newscasts, and files stories statewide and with NPR. Prior to her work at KMUW
(and KSJM, where she is Gospel Program Director), Carla was the host of Morning
Edition at WYSO Public Radio in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She also hosted a gospel
program on WCSU in Wilberforce, Ohio, and was co-host of the nationally
syndicated Gospel Top 20 Countdown. Before moving to Ohio, Carla was Program
Director of KIBN, The Inspirational Black Network in Wichita. Carla is an
advisory board member for WSU's Center for Women's Studies, and a committee
member of the Gospel Music Workshop of America's Gospel Announcer's Guild. Carla
also hosts and produces a local gospel video program on KTQW TV, Channel 53. She
has been married for twenty years to Wichita State Football Hall of Famer, Rev.
Reuben Eckels. She and her husband are the founders of New Day Christian Church.
They have two children, Samuel Isaiah Eckels and
Lauren Elizabeth Eckels.
Jim Erickson
Jim Erickson has
been KMUW's film reviewer since 1974. He was born on December 14, 1931 during
the Hoover administration. Jim served an honorable, but indistinguished term in
the US Marine Reserve in Korea in 1951 and got the GI Bill and a BA degree as a
result. Jim got his PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1960. He studied
English literature and specialized in the neoclassical period (Gulliver's
Travels, Robinson Crusoe, French revolution). He says this is an unpopular
period because of an enormous emphasis on reason, fear of emotion, neglect of
the individual in favor of the stability of society as a whole, yet timidity
about abandoning Christianity of the most fumdamentalist kind. Jim says this
neoclassical orientation has always done a lot to alienate him from the trends
of his times. Jim came to Wichita State University in 1964, after being
publish-or-perished out of the University of Texas in Austin. He began at WSU as
director of composition, but his major mission was to help found a department of
film study at the university. Unfortunately, financing was never found for the
program. Jim taught Narrrative in Literature and Film from 1966 until his
retirement in 1997. He also taught film courses on cowboys, detectives and the
films of John Ford. Jim's favorite film is Citizen Kane. Distant runners-up
include La Dolce Vita, Dr. Strangelove, The Music Man and Plan Nine from
Outerspace.
Barry Gaston
Barry Gaston has
come full circle in his broadcasting career. Gaston worked at KMUW while a
student at WSU. His radio career took him from Wichita to Pennsylvania and Ohio,
then home again to Wichita. He recently formed a new company, Gaston Marketing,
which consults with clients nationwide. Barry's ties to the university run
through his entire family. His wife, Connie, is a multiple graduate and his
three sons have all attended and/or graduated from WSU. Barry loves to travel.
He's an avid photographer and has enjoyed jazz all of his life. As the host of
KMUW's Jazz Cafe and Moonglow With Gaston, he has the opportunity to not only
present the music, but also interview nationally known jazz artists.
Pat Hayes
Pat Hayes began at KMUW in 1978 as the station's sole development
person. As KMUW's Volunteer and Listener Services Coordinator, she has
a Bachelor's degree in Speech Communication from the Municipal
University in Wichita (WSU), and a Master's in Theatre Arts from the
University of Kansas. After completing her B.A., Pat taught English,
speech, drama, and debate at Goddard High School. She has served as the
Special Education Principal at the Institute of Logopedics, and was a
speech lecturer for several years at WSU. Along with her daily routine
at KMUW, Pat also supervises the Wichita Radio Reading Service, which
is KMUW's subcarrier for the print-handicapped in south central Kansas.
She is probably best known by KMUW listeners as the friendly face that
coordinates the station's membership drives.
Chris Heim
Until arriving in Wichita last year, Chris
had managed not to venture very far from her home town of Chicago. She attended the University of Chicago
and while there, thanks to an unexpected opening at the campus station, began a
lifelong love affair with radio. She got her first job in radio at one of the
area's last “free form” stations, later joined the city's only progressive rock
station and eventually became part of the staff at the NPR affiliate in
Chicago, hosting jazz and world music shows (the latter one of the longest
running in public radio) and serving as music director and executive producer for
national broadcasts of the city's jazz and blues festivals. Chris
is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Utne and Option, and currently in several national jazz and world music publications. She joins KMUW
as a producer and announcer, hosting Global Village,
a nightly world and roots music show, and producing a variety of music
and feature pieces. When not eating, sleeping and breathing radio, she
loves to be out on the tennis court or slowly making her way through
German
texts in the hope of one day being able to at least semi-intelligibly
order a
cup of coffee at a café in Berlin.
Denise Irwin
Denise
M. Irwin is an arts activist. She comes to KMUW from Cowley
County Community College in Arkansas City where she served as Creative
Director. She worked at length with the Arkansas City community to
revitalize its downtown through public art initiatives that involved a
downtown walking tour brochure, creation of a visual identity system,
funding of and creation of four community murals. She also worked
extensively with the Arkansas City Area Arts Council in Arkansas City,
serving on its Board of Directors, as well as on its annual arts
festival, PraireFest. A long time listener and contributor to
public radio, Denise is excited to work with those magical voices she
has known through the radio. She is a graduate of Emporia State
University (BS) and Wichita State University (MS). She is married to
her best friend Rex. They have a daughter, Jaccie, who is a
professor of rhetoric at California State University, Sacramento.
Mark McCain
Mark first tuned in to public radio in the late 70s, listening to
Ken Krehbiel on KHCC, while attending Marymount College in Salina. He
completed a Masters degree at the University of Georgia at Athens, and
started working as a classical music announcer and jazz producer at
WUGA when it signed on in 1987. That part time job grew to a full time
position as an announcer and producer. He came to Wichita in 1989, and
during his time at KMUW, has served as Program Assistant, Program
Director, and as General Manager since 1994. By virtue of serving as
manager of KMUW, Mark is a member of the Kansas Public Broadcasting
Council, a quasi-state agency that exists to advocate for public
broadcasting radio and TV in Kansas. Mark has served as the KPBC
treasurer for several years, and he welcomes your comments about how
public broadcasting serves your needs and your suggestions about ways
to make it better. Mark is married to fellow public radio fan Dana, and
they live on the beautiful west side of Wichita with their daughter
Sydney.
Lu Anne Stephens
Lu Anne has held many positions at
KMUW, including local Morning Edition host and reporter/editor. In addition to
her current duties as Program Director, Lu Anne produces KMUW's "New Settler's
Radio Hour" and countless special
productions. After studying Music Performance and Journalism at Pittsburg State
University, Lu completed her degree at Wichita State University in 1995. She has
won several awards for journalistic excellence since she has been at KMUW.
