Chris Heim

Chicago native Chris Heim began a lifelong love affair with radio after wandering into the campus station at the University of Chicago and being unexpectedly offered a music show. She got her first job in radio at one of the area’s last “free-form” stations, worked at Chicago’s only progressive rock station and then joined Chicago’s NPR affiliate. It was here where she hosted a jazz show and a world music show (the latter being one of the longest running world music shows in public radio). She has also served as a Music Director and produced and anchored national broadcasts of the city’s jazz, blues, and Latin music festivals, as well as a long-running series done in partnership with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater.

Now based at KMUW in Wichita, Chris produces and hosts GLOBAL VILLAGE, a nationally and internationally distributed world music show heard in more than 40 states and nearly 40 countries. In 2020, Chris received first place in Special Program from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters for Global Village at the Savannah Music Festival, as well as first place in DJ Personality Air Check for Night Train.

Chris received a Master of Arts in communication from Wichita State University. Chris is also a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune (where she had a weekly column), Utne, Global Rhythm, Dirty Linen, and Option, among others. She serves as a participating critic in several Best of the Year polls, including DownBeat, NPR Jazz, Transglobal World Music Chart and fRoots.