This just in…
Kansas City’s prominent sports personality the past 20-plus years – Kevin Kietzman – has settled his issues with Sports Radio WHB, the station he all but singlehandedly put on the map, and will announce his return to local broadcasting in the next two weeks.
Just not on the radio…
“I’m going to start a podcast in September,” Kietzman says. “I won’t give away the name yet, but I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks.”
Ready for the shocker?
“It’s going to be about sports, politics and life,” Kietzman says. “I’m going to do a daily podcast that I hope to upload every day at 10 am.”
Just in time to spare Chiefs fans and sports talk listeners the drudgery of mediocre midday radio.
Kietzman hopes to make the podcast available on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, “I’ll be everywhere,” he says. “I called my past radio sponsors and they are all in – Buck Roofing, Joslin Jewelry, Smoke ‘n’ Fire. Five years ago 12 percent of the people on Spotify listened to a podcast every week. Now 39 percent of them do.”
And the prospect of Kietzman returning to the airwaves?
“I’d like to be back on the radio in Kansas City someday, absolutely,” he says. “If I was going anywhere else I’d be long gone by now. We love it here.”
Kietzman’s take on Coronavirus: waaaaay overblown by the media.
“I’ve been working at MAWD Pathology part time, a medical lab in Lenexa,” he says. “I’m what they call a stat driver. I drive and I pick up COVID tests. I can’t think of anything in my life that’s been more rewarding.
“I go into these nursing homes and pick up coronavirus tests, bring ’em back to the lab and they turn them around in 24 hours. Which is the fastest in the country unless you’re a sports team – but don’t get me started on that. There is no doubt that lives in this city have been saved by these people.”
Is Kietzman fearful at all for his health?
“Not really, I’m not afraid to get it,” he says. “I’m healthy as a horse. I’m 55 and that’s not young, but it’s not old. And most people that get it are asymptomatic – they don’t even know it – they have no symptoms and it’s gone in 24 hours.”
Trouble is the media – local and national – have overplayed it.
Oh my god, have they overplayed it,” Kietzman says. “They can’t wait to scare you. It’s unbelievable. To lock everything down was just insane. Looking back, we shouldn’t have locked everything down.”
It’s really about protecting seniors and folks with underlying conditions, Kietzman says.
“I haven’t hugged my mom in months,” he adds. “She’s 87, so I’m not going to hug her because I’m picking up COVID tests.”
Speaking of Kietzman telling it like it is, teachers, skip the politics and get back to work.
“Teachers are one of the most essential careers in the country,” he says. “Cops and fire fighters aren’t staying home, they’ve got to open the schools. Do teachers really want to say they’re not essential workers?”