Walt Bodine has been a journalist for nearly 60 years working in many different mediums.

Walt Bodine: a long life of journalism

By: Kelley Kates

Posted: 6/1/09

Some consider Walt Bodine a journalism legend.

Many recognize Bodine from his show heard on 89.3 KCUR, but that is just one aspect of his long-lasting career.

Bodine has been a regular in the journalism business for nearly 60 years. He has worked for news stations such as Fox 4 and Channel 9, as well as various radio stations.

As for writing for newspapers, Bodine said, "You write everything that someone asks you to write if you can, and I did and I do, I still do even now. Now, right now in my older age, I'm blind. But that doesn't stop me from working or from doing what I do."

His current run at KCUR has lasted for 25 years and his show is broadcasted from 10-11 a.m. Monday through Friday.

Bodine got his start in journalism through broadcasting and announcing, but moved into news reporting.

"I just hired on as an announcer, and that's okay, except that very soon after that I found out that news was much more important and much more interesting, and I managed to work my way into the news room and from there on I've just gone step-by-step and here I am," Bodine explained.

"I've been interested in every job I've had I think with the possible exception of the first one," Bodine said.

Bodine had been going from radio station to radio station trying to get a job when he was tipped off about an opening at KDRO in Sedalia. He immediately went to the station and was given the job.

The unfortunate part of it for Bodine was that a portion of his show involved sports announcing.

"I remember the first day I was there, I came to my horror. I was looking at the log and I saw at the end of the log I was to preside over 15 minutes of sports. For a week, I struggled with it and on the final day of the week, on a Friday, they came out and presented me with my paycheck and said, 'That's all we'll need, thank you.'"

Bodine's father picked him up from Sedalia. Bodine said he looked off into the distance and thought, "Boy, for two years I've been trying to get a job and here I am, I finally got one and I'm canned in one week."

From there, Bodine received a position with better pay in Atchinson, Kan., where he soon became the program director at the station.

He remembers hearing reports of a place called Pearl Harbor (somewhere he had never heard of) on his train ride to work in Atchinson.

"Everywhere I was going I was hearing the voices of the big network stations, NBC and ABC and others, talking about the war and everything about it, the death toll and things like that. And I got to the station, I went upstairs and called in the staff and said 'Look, we've got to do something. We're here playing music off of records that are mailed to us free of charge, and now here we are, there isn't a person in Atchinson listening to us today. I'm sure 'cause they're all listening to the network shows. So let's get some talk going instead of a lot of music.'"

So Bodine got a long distance microphone on a wire and had a staff member drop it out the window of the station to where he would be at on the street.

Bodine's idea was to interview the people on the street about how they felt about what happened at Pearl Harbor. Not many people were on the street, Bodine said, they were all inside listening to what was going on, therefore he ad-libbed until a little, old lady came along.

He asked her how she felt about what has happened at Pearl Harbor and the fact that we were now in a war.

"She said, 'Well I'll tell you something, Sonny, I've got two nephews in the Philippines, and the Japanese was supposed to be closing in on the Philippines. I'll tell you this much, if those Japanese lay a hand one of those boys, I'm gonna go out there and break their blank blank blank.' Upon that saying the microphone went out of my hand, someone slowly pulled it back upstairs, and I was standing there with my hand still up in the shape it was when I was holding the mic, and she was talking to my hand!"

Bodine said World War II was a fascinating time to be in journalism. He also said he views the two-front war we are in now just as everyone else does.

"I hope we know what we're doing."

Bodine said he has worked at various places along the way, but he loves and is committed to NPR.

After every show he does, he returns to his home, turns on NPR and listens through supper time.

He said it prepares him for the next day and for what's coming up.

"I'm an old man, I've been around a long time but I've learned a lot, lot, lot just listening what comes over our network to us and to our audience," Bodine said.

Bodine said he has covered many issues in his years, such as tornadoes and massive floods in Kansas City, and has also had some amazing interviews with people such as Bobby Kennedy and Harry S. Truman.

He had an unplanned interview with Truman in a booth at a restaurant downtown while Truman was waiting for Lyndon B. Johnson to meet him there.

As far as staying in one place goes, Bodine said, "In broadcasting, you have to have a wonderful roost to stay on."

Such as the one he has had at NPR.

kkates@unews.com