In 1991, I got mentioned in the Kansas City Star. Brian McTavish interviewed me over the phone. The article was called, ” Their Two cents worth.” It was a piece about those who called into radio stations, wrote letters to the editors of newspapers, or contributed in some way to voice their concerns to the public. I usually called in a public Radio station to voice my views, and on occasion, I put down my thoughts in the letters to the editor section of a newspaper. I usually called Walt Bodine. But not all my calls were to state my political beliefs. Rather, I enjoyed his program and contributed whenever possible, staying on topic. This made me one of his favorite callers. He called us “The Regulars”, of course, there were those who were not so welcome, and he just left that at that. in fact, one day he invited his favorite callers to come visit the studio. We filled the room.
Walt was a Kansas City native, he grew up in the city, and knew it well. He was a special reporter for the Star and made Kansas City, Missouri his base. He did a program called “As It was”; referring to the Kansas City, Missouri he recalled as a kid. Many places had changed hands or completely disappeared. He had a special guest for these segments, the President of the Kansas City Historical Society. Her name was Jane Flynn. She and Walt would discuss people, places and things from a by-gone era. She died, and one of Walt’s favorite segments went with her. Another favorite show he had was “Note the Quote”. It was a game, and was not easy. There was also the name game, where he stripped titles from names, and the caller had to identify the individual. For instance, If I asked who Dwight David Eisenhower was, the correct response would be General, and President of the United States of America. That one was easy.
Walt was of a dying breed. His type of programming was for the thinking person.
