Mike Shanin is a veteran Kansas City broadcaster with extensive experience in both radio and television. Mike is known foremost as a political analyst, commentator, and talk host for KMBZ ("Shanin’s Side").
Mike is also the Managing Editor and Host of the popular "Ruckus" public affairs program on Kansas City’s public television station.
A native of St. Joseph, MO, Mike was educated at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, and Park University in Parkville, MO, where he graduated summa cum laude. He holds degrees in Social Science and Public Administration.
Mike and his wife Joyce live in Kansas City, KS ("God’s Country"). Their feline family includes Miss Piggy and William of Orange Tabby.
Scott Parks, the son of a career military officer, was born at Fort Benning, Georgia where he lived a whole 6 weeks before his father was given orders to move to Amarillo, Texas. During his formative 18 years of receiving non-stop parental welfare Scott lived in Georgia, Texas, Alaska, Germany, and Kansas.
He attended three high schools as a teenager -- two of them in Europe --- and is a 1989 graduate of Lansing High School near Leavenworth. Scott always dreamed of having a career in radio and began his pursuit of that dream by attending the University of Nebraska in the Fall of 1989. That tour of duty lasted only one year before he transferred to the University of Kansas where he received a degree in Broadcast Journalism in May, 1994.
Scott's career began at a tiny radio station (KOFO) in Ottawa, Kansas where he served, literally, as a one man news department. After that it was off to KLWN in Lawrence before his arrival at KMBZ in February, 1997. Since then Scott has cut his teeth as a reporter, anchor, Assistant News Director, and now News Director. He has received scores of awards for his reporting from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, the Missouri Broadcasters Association, and the Radio Television News Directors Association of America. He also earned a prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award in 2006.
In his spare time Scott enjoys hanging out with his two young daughters, playing soccer, and engaging in his endless pursuit of someday being a semi-decent drummer. He is an avid fan of all things musical and credits among his favorite acts: Thin Lizzy, Prince, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, and a relatively obscure band known as the Marvelous 3.
Scott is a member of Knox Presbyterian Church in Overland Park and a volunteer coach with the Shawnee Soccer Club.
Scott Parks' Blog
Mike Shanin is a veteran Kansas City broadcaster with extensive experience in both radio and television. Mike is known foremost as a political analyst, commentator, and talk host for KMBZ ("Shanin’s Side").
Scott Parks, the son of a career military officer, was born at Fort Benning, Georgia where he lived a whole 6 weeks before his father was given orders to move to Amarillo, Texas. During his formative 18 years of receiving non-stop parental welfare Scott lived in Georgia, Texas, Alaska, Germany, and Kansas.
