Kyle Felling was born in the rugged northwest Missouri hamlet of St. Joseph (where the Pony Express began and Jesse James ended). Inspired from a young age by the spirit of the early settlers who used St. Joseph as an embarkation point in their journey westward, Kyle developed the heart of an explorer and yearned to leave for adventures of his own. Perhaps as a result of attending John Glenn elementary school, young Kyle dreamed of becoming an astronaut, but was disheartened when someone told him that astronauts had to be good at math. He also considered being a tow truck driver, and like the heroes of his favorite childhood television shows (The A-Team and The Incredible Hulk) he saw himself traveling the country, helping people in trouble and getting into wacky adventures. He still harbors that dream.

Kyle’s love of television also brought him into contact with a show called WKRP in Cincinnati. That show’s fun depiction of a small Cincinnati radio station coupled with frequently being told that he had a “face for radio,” planted the seeds of a broadcasting career in Kyle’s head. (To this day Kyle considers WKRP’s vision of radio to be eerily accurate, most notably in its depiction of sales staff.) Kyle began volunteering at KBIA during his first semester at the University of Missouri, and has been on the air on a regular basis ever since. His first air shift was 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., playing the Smooth Jazz likes of Kenny G, Russ Freeman and Candy Dulfer. In 1999 he began serving as the local host of All Things Considered, and has recently taken on added responsibility as KBIA’s Program Director.

In his spare time, Kyle enjoys reading H.L. Mencken and T.S. Eliot, listening to the Violent Femmes, watching the Power Puff Girls and spending time with his niece Kylee Johnson. Kyle is a St. Louis Cardinals fan, a Macintosh partisan and can recite from memory Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (I Feel Fine),” and the St. Crispen’s Day Speech from Henry V. He hopes to one day be an astronaut, Senator, or to marry the monarch of a small principality.