Wednesday MidDay Medley
Produced and Hosted by Mark Manning
90.1 FM KKFI – Kansas City Community Radio
TEN to NOON Wednesdays – Streaming at KKFI.org

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Sara Swenson + Chuck Haddix & Barry Lee + The Talking Trees

Mark spins more New & MidCoastal Releases from: The Whips, Run With It, Sara Swenson, The Freedom Affair, Mitzi McKee & The Precious Cargo, The Talking Trees, Liam Kazar, Jay Som, Louis Jordan, keiyaA, and The Beths.

At 10:30am Sara Swenson shares new singles “Phantoms” and “Go On Free” from her new full length album to be released in February 2026. In 2009 Sara’s self titled debut ended up at #1 on WMM’s 100 Best Recordings of 2009. In 2010 Sara Swenson released her second album, ALL THINGS BIG AND SMALL, followed by her 5-song EP, NEVER LEFT MY MIND from November of 2011. In that time, she won two Kansas City Singer-Songwriter of the Year Awards, performed with Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and placed a song on the season finale of ABC’s “Private Practice.” In 2012, Sara Swenson left her job as an English and Journalism Teacher in Platte County High School, and flew to the United Kingdom, where she got married. After returning to KC and Sara released her 4th album, RUNWAY LIGHTS on July 18, 2014 that captures snapshots of her 18-month experience of living abroad, getting married and sorting through transitions and emotions. Sara Swenson released the single, “I Wont Let You Feel Alone” on March 26, 2021 and is featured in her husband Michael Price’s film “The Hidden Pandemic.” Sara Swenson plays recordBar, 1520 Grand BLVD. KCMO, on Sunday, November 30 at 6:30pm with Tyler Chiarelli and John Flynn. More info at: http://www.saraswenson.com

At 11:00am, Mark talks with the Kansas City based band The Talking Trees. The band is working on their first full length album called, LIVING ON MARS which has just gone into mixing and mastering production. They have released the singles: “Warm Clean Plate” on September 5, 2025 and “I Don’t Wanna Know” on October 24, 2025. The indie rock trio was co-founded by Tommy Lee Capps and Dirk Liebert in early 2019, with Tommy Capps on vocal, guitars & keyboards; Dirk Liebert on vocals, guitar, & bass; and Graham Stone on drums. The Talking Trees released the 5-song EP, ARE YOU OK? on October 1, 2022, and the 5-song EP, ONCE I WAS BORN on April 22, 2022. The band has released multiple singles in 2020 through 2022, and their debut EP, THE TALKING TREES on August 19, 2019. More info at: https://thetalkingtreesmusic.com

At 11:30am we welcome Chuck Haddix and Barry Lee, two longtime veterans of Kansas City radio. Chuck Haddix recently celebrated 40 years on the air with his popular radio show, FISH FRY on 89.3 KCUR. Barry Lee recently celebrated 1000 shows of his program SIGNAL TO NOISE on 90.1 FM KKFI. Barry and Chuck will share details about CHUCK HADDIX – A FEW MORE FISH TO FRY, on Saturday, December 6, at 7:00pm presented by Center For Recorded Music, at the UMKC Student Union Theatre, 5100 Cherry Street, KCMO.

The evening celebrates the remarkable career of Chuck Haddix who along with serving as radio host, recently retired as Director of the Marr Sound Archives, a collection of 340,000 historic sound recordings housed in the Miller Nichols Library at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. Over the years, Haddix has contributed to a wide variety of theatrical, recording, video and film projects including Cronkite Remembers a biography of Walter Cronkite, Robert Altman’s Kansas City and Merchant and Ivory’s Mr. and Mrs. Bridge. His articles have appeared in Down Beat and Living Blues Magazine. Haddix is the coauthor of Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop published by Oxford University Press and the author of Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker published by the University of Illinois Press.

On your local radio dial 90.1 FM or
STREAMING LIVE at: kkfi.org

Show #1122