Chris Heim

Chicago native Chris Heim began a lifelong love affair with radio after wandering into her campus station at the University of Chicago and was unexpectedly offered a music show. She got her first job in radio at one of the area’s last “free-form” stations, worked at Chicago’s only progressive rock station, and then joined Chicago’s NPR affiliate. There she hosted both a jazz and world music show (the latter being one of the longest running world music shows in public radio). She also served as a Music Director and produced and anchored national broadcasts of the city’s jazz, blues, and Latin music festivals, as well as a long-running series done in partnership with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater.

At KMUW, Chris produces and hosts Global Village, a nationally and internationally distributed world music show that has aired to date on over 500 stations in 46 states and heard in some 190 countries; the nightly jazz show Night Train, and Crossroads, KMUW’s twice-weekly blues and R&B show.

Chris has a Master of Arts in communication from Wichita State University. She is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune (where she had a weekly column), Utne, Global Rhythm, Dirty Linen, and Option, among others. She serves as a participating critic in several Best of the Year polls, including DownBeat, Jazz Critics, and the Transglobal World Music Chart.

Chris received first place in the Special Program category from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters for Global Village at the Savannah Music Festival, as well as first place in the DJ Personality Air Check category for Night Train.

Chris can be reached by email at heim@kmuw.org.