© 2025 Kansas Public Radio

91.5 FM | KANU | Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City
96.1 FM | K241AR | Lawrence (KPR2)
89.7 FM | KANH | Emporia
99.5 FM | K258BT | Manhattan
97.9 FM | K250AY | Manhattan (KPR2)
91.3 FM | KANV | Junction City, Olsburg
89.9 FM | K210CR | Atchison
90.3 FM | KANQ | Chanute

See the Coverage Map for more details

FCC On-line Public Inspection Files:
KANU, KANH, KANV, KANQ

Questions about KPR's Public Inspection Files?
Contact General Manager Feloniz Lovato-Winston at fwinston@ku.edu
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Whirlwind: An Evening With Bill Kurtis

Bill Kurtis in studio.
Photo courtesy of Bill Kurtis and the University Press of Kansas
Bill Kurtis in studio.

Join award-winning journalist, host of Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!, and KANU alumnus Bill Kurtis for the release of his new book, Whirlwind: My Life Reporting the News. Thursday, Sept. 18, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at Maceli's in Lawrence, Kan.

Each ticket grants guests access to an evening with Bill, where he'll discuss his experience in journalism, and includes a copy of his book.

PURCHASE TICKETS


Bill Kurtis in a KANU studio, 1950s.
Photo courtesy of Bill Kurtis and the University Press of Kansas
In the KANU studio (now Kansas Public Radio), the highlight of Bill’s time at the University of Kansas. A place of "academic refinement and classical music", this was where Bill honed in his iconic broadcasting voice.

From his beginnings as a kid from Kansas working at local radio and television stations to pay for college and law school, Bill Kurtis had a hunger for telling stories and finding the truth. With passion, skill, and just the right amount of luck, Kurtis’s reporting of the infamous Topeka Tornado of 1966 launched him into a whirlwind career in broadcast journalism. Only four years later, after passing the Kansas bar exam, Kurtis had already reported four of the largest trials of the twentieth century: Richard Speck, the Chicago Seven, Charles Manson, and Angela Davis.

During his career as a West Coast correspondent for Cronkite’s CBS Evening News, anchorman and foreign correspondent at the revolutionary local newsroom at WBBM-TV Chicago, co-anchor with Dianne Sawyer at CBS Morning News, and beyond, Kurtis brought history to the American people in real time.

Muhammad Ali relaxing with Bill on a couch in between shots for his feature in CBS’s The American Parade. Ali’s familiar, easy-going charisma captured on film helped his fans process the public announcement of his Parkinson’s diagnosis.
Photo courtesy of Bill Kurtis and the University Press of Kansas
Muhammad Ali relaxing with Bill on a couch in between shots for his feature in CBS’s The American Parade. Ali’s familiar, easy-going charisma captured on film helped his fans process the public announcement of his Parkinson’s diagnosis.

Recounting moments in his remarkable career as a television journalist, Kurtis brings us into some of the most iconic moments of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. He was in the streets during the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; he uncovered the truth about the deadly effects of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War; he was the first US television journalist to return to Chernobyl after the infamous nuclear disaster; and much more. Kurtis also offers an insider look at how television evolved from an emerging news source to the dominating force in American media.

A natural storyteller, Kurtis remembers his career with honesty and insight and gives a rare picture of American history and broadcast journalism.

Bill Kurtis and Peter Sagal, laughing at the week’s news during a live taping of Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!
Photo courtesy of Bill Kurtis and the University Press of Kansas
Bill Kurtis and Peter Sagal, laughing at the week’s news during a live taping of Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me!

Bill Kurtis is currently the president of Kurtis Productions and the official judge and scorekeeper of NPR’s Wait, Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me! He lives in Chicago with his wife, Donna.

Biography courtesy of University of Kansas Press.


KPR wishes to thank the University Press of Kansas for helping make this event possible.

Questions about the event may be directed to KPR's Emily DeMarchi at emdemarchi@ku.edu.

Related Content
  • Saturdays at 10 a.m. and Sundays at noon Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is NPR's weekly hour-long quiz program. Each week on the radio you can test your knowledge against some of the best and brightest in the news and entertainment world while figuring out what's real news and what's made up. On the web, you can play along too!