J. Schafer
News DirectorJ. Schafer is the News Director of Kansas Public Radio. He’s also the Managing Editor of the Kansas Public Radio Network, which provides news and information to other public radio stations in Kansas and Missouri.
Before joining KPR in 1995, Schafer spent 10 years as a commercial radio and TV newsman. During his career, he's filed stories for nearly every major radio news network in the nation including ABC, NBC, CBS, AP, UPI, the Mutual Broadcasting System, NPR and the BBC. This seems to impress no one. At KPR, he produces feature stories, interviews and newscast items and edits the work of others. In the fall of 2000, he performed contract work for the U.S. State Department, traveling to central Asia to teach broadcast journalism at newly independent radio stations in the former Soviet Union. One of his passions is Kansas; learning about and promoting the state’s rich heritage, people and accomplishments. Schafer gives presentations about Kansas to various organizations around the state to remind residents about our awesome history and incredible people. A native of Great Bend, he studied journalism and mass communications at Barton County Community College and at the University of Kansas. He was also an exchange student to Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany. The “J.” in J. Schafer stands for Jeremy, but he doesn’t really care for that name. He also enjoys the pretentiousness of using just a single initial for a first name!
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Listen to episode six in KPR's monthly series commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. In this installment, we hear about Susan Shelby Magoffin, who traveled along the trail to Bent's Fort, in present day Colorado, and on to Santa Fe. -
Listen to episode five in KPR's monthly series commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. In this installment, we hear about Josiah Gregg, an early merchant who traveled along the Santa Fe Trail and wrote a book about his experiences. -
Secret Kansas City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure, by Kansas City freelancer Anne Kniggendorf, is now in its third printing. KPR's J. Schafer caught up with her to find out more about the travel guide, which includes more than 80 odd and interesting entries. -
Tune in to HSN, formerly known as the Home Shopping Network, Wednesday when the popular shopping channel features the Willow Domestic Violence Center in Lawrence and matches donations made to Willow on the HSN Cares website. -
Listen to episode four in KPR's monthly series commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Santa Fe Trail. In this installment, we hear about William Becknell who led the first successful trading expedition from Franklin, Missouri, to Santa Fe in 1821. -
The National Weather Service in Topeka has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for eastern Kansas. In addition, a Freeze Warning has been issued for select Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri border counties, as well as for the entire Kansas City metro. -
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has renewed a statewide mask mandate. It's one of several executive orders she issued this (THUR) morning. Another order temporarily prohibits certain evictions and foreclosures. -
There's a new walking path open, not too far south of Lawrence, where visitors can see ruts left behind by freight wagons traveling on the Santa Fe Trail. -
By late February, many Kansans have grown tired of winter, the bitter cold and all that comes with it. Of course, not everyone agrees with that sentiment. KPR News Director J. Schafer is one of them. -
In this second installment of our monthly radio series, Dave Kendall speaks with Pat Traffas, of Overland Park, about commemorative markers put in place along the Santa Fe Trail by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Traffas is a former regent with the Kansas Society of DAR.
