Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Wright.
Hi Dana, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Dana and I am a career story teller, and story saver. I’ve lived my entire life in Kansas and I have been blessed with a 32 year broadcasting career in my home state. Here’s the “story teller” part of my journey: I graduated with my journalism degree from the University of Kansas, took a news anchor job in Topeka for a few years, and then took I-70 back the other way to settle in Kansas City where I raised my four children. I spent 13 years as a news anchor and investigative reporter at the CBS affiliate in town and covered thousands and thousands of stories: tornadoes, fires, elections, corruption, court- I covered it all. It was meaningful and impactful, and absolutely exhausting. One day I got a phone call from a fellow lifelong story teller named Scott Parks. He wanted me to leave my television career and jump to talk radio. I told him he had lost his mind. Back then, radio was a bunch of angry white guys screaming all the time. About what? I wasn’t sure. Ronald Reagan? I told him absolutely not. And then he changed my mind. When “Dana and Parks” debuted on KMBZ 14 years ago, I had only two requirements: That we would start including women in the news/talk space (which had never been done) and we would never, ever talk about politics. Ever. Scott agreed. I said goodbye to the 3 am wake up calls and 11 pm breaking news assignments, tossed my entire wardrobe of blazers and never looked back. Now to the “story saver” part of my journey: Like so many of you, my grandpa was a farmer. He was a World War II veteran and was the very best of all of us. Before he died, I handed him an old Dictaphone from my days at KU and asked him to record some stories. How did he met grandma? What it was like growing up in Onaga, Kansas and going to school in a one-room schoolhouse? You cannot put a price on that recording for our family. I hear his voice and I just smile. I miss him so much. And then I decided to come up with a way to extend that gift to others. I assembled a team of fellow career broadcasters and launched MyLegacyRecording.com. I have personally interviewed countless farmers, farm wives, war survivors, innovators, and anyone who wants to preserve their story for their families. Securing these stories, these living love letters, has become my passion. While it’s interesting to interview rock stars and first ladies, and movers and shakers in my role as a broadcaster, it is far more meaningful to interview the living witnesses to history all around us. One of my favorites was Dorothy from Sugar Creek, Missouri. She was a World War II bride who left England and traveled to Kansas City at age 17- by herself- because she met and fell in love with an American soldier. I can still hear her accent. She sent me off with “a proper cup of tea” and a tea towel she crocheted herself. I have learned so much from our clients about the world and our place in it. Story telling has been an amazing career. But Story *Saving* is where my heart belongs.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh my. I raised my four babies while working full time as a news anchor and reporter. I remember trying to juggle all of the things women juggle to be the best version of ourselves for everyone. While getting up at 3 in the morning to anchor the morning show. While breastfeeding. Once we were sent out to a lake where a fisherman, sadly, had gone missing the day before. As rescuers searched for some sign of him, my boobs literally were about to explode. I plugged the breast pump into an outlet inside of the live truck and pumped for 15 minutes before I hopped back out to deliver my live report. I will never forget (or forgive) one photographer, about 2 weeks after I started my new job in Kansas City. He asked about the machine I was hauling around. When I told him it was a breast pump, he rolled his eyes and said “that is NEVER going to work, this is already causing problems.” I went home sobbing. I wish I could go back in time and hug that 20 something version of myself. And punch him squarely in the nuts. Truly. I share that story with young women all of the time. Do not ever, ever let anyone treat you that way- at any point in your career. Hold your head high. I’ve just about outlasted them all.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
With respect to my career, I am the most proud of the fact that I am an extremely rare female voice on news/talk radio and we’ve built a successful show that’s outlasted almost everyone. In the beginning everyone said “This will never work”… It would make me so mad. Why not? Women have opinions, and ALL of our beautiful female listeners certainly have them, and share them. I’ll never forget a few months into our show, Scott looked over at the call board and said “Oh my gosh look at the callers?!?!? It’s all women!!! It was Deborah and Rita and Shelly all sitting on hold to weigh in on the topic. Scott said “We’ve never had women callers.” Think about that for a minute. It makes me smile. We have a long way to go, but I do believe we’ve created a powerful space for thought and dialogue where we can disagree without being disagreeable. I would like to think that’s what “I’m known for.” I also peed my pants on stage a few years ago when I won the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right. But I’d rather be known for the space we’ve created for ALL of our listeners who care about what’s happening around them. Personally, I am just over-the-moon proud of my four young adult children. As women we juggle all of these things our entire lives and try to be the best and do the best as we’re raising the babies. Watching them grow and fly the nest these past few years has been one of life’s greatest gifts. My fifties have just been so full of joy. My life partner Johnny and I recently moved into a World War I era cottage in Northern Johnson County. It is our sanctuary- I joke that you’ll pull me out of our home the day I take my last breath. We knew it the second we saw it- and we just love being home.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
We. Read. Everything. Constantly. My brain is a rolodex of topics big, small, good, and bad. Sometimes that’s great and sometimes it’s not. When I’m in my car, I have to unplug. Usually with Taylor Swift, 49 Winchester, or Charles Wesley Godwin. I’ve spent 30 years in the news business and I don’t watch cable news at home. I can’t anymore. America would be a much, much better place if everyone stopped screaming at each other in 2 boxes on cable news. It’s just awful, it isn’t helpful, and it isn’t moving us forward. We are all much more alike than we are different. And with very few exceptions, we can still be respectful to those with whom we disagree.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://MyLegacyRecording.com
- Facebook: Dana Wright KMBZ
- Twitter: @RadioDana
