NEWS TEAM

Radio Iowa is a statewide news network serving more than 70 commercial radio stations with hourly newscasts as well as morning and afternoon sportscasts. Learfield launched the network in 1987 with an original roster of 30 affiliate stations. The Radio Iowa newsroom team coordinates coverage of news throughout the state as well as in state government and the Iowa campaign trail.

O.Kay Henderson

O.Kay Henderson

News Director

Covering politicians was apparently Kay’s destiny from day one. She was born on Election Day. Her parents, considering their age, were relieved the baby was O. Kay, so they named her Onette Kay. She grew up on the family farm near Lenox, Iowa; joined the Platte Peppy Pals and Calvary Go-Getters 4-H Clubs and was named an Outstanding Alum by the Iowa 4-H Foundation in 2023.

During her years at Iowa State University, Kay served as a statehouse correspondent for WOI-AM, the NPR affiliate in Ames, and did a three month summertime stint as managing editor of her hometown newspaper. In 1987, Kay became one of the three founding members of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. Kay has been the host of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS since October of 2021. She’d been featured as a panelist on the program for over three decades. In 2002, Kay received the IBNA’s Jack Shelley Award for her dedication to broadcast journalism and service to Iowans.

Todd Kimm

Todd Kimm

Sports Director

A founding member of Radio Iowa, Todd is a lifelong Iowan and sports fan. After graduating from the University of Iowa, Todd worked for a Minneapolis- based cable television station while attending Brown Institute. He did play-by-play of hockey, football and basketball in Bloomington before returning to Iowa’s capital city to work in the KIOA newsroom. A former umpire and referee, Todd has also served as the voice of Drake University Bulldogs and the USHL Des Moines Buccaneers. Todd’s claim to fame is being thrown against the wall by an angry Andre the Giant after a brief stint as ring announcer for the WWF.

Matt Kelley

Matt Kelley

Anchor/Reporter

Matt got his start in journalism as a reporter on his high school newspaper in his hometown of Davenport. After graduating from the University of Iowa, his career led him to newspapers, radio stations and TV newsrooms in multiple states, finally returning to Iowa as Radio Iowa’s morning anchor in 1996.

Matt’s won a variety of national awards for his reporting and anchoring, including seven “Best Newscast” plaques, an Edward R. Murrow with the NC News Network team, and he has been named Iowa Journalist of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Swear you’ve heard Matt elsewhere? He does frequent voicework on Iowa PBS, plus he’s the go-to fill-in anchor on Learfield’s three other news properties, Minnesota News Network, Missourinet, and Wisconsin Radio Network.

Outside the newsroom, Matt plays and builds guitars, he’s a racquetball player, an avid cyclist, and he strives to get out of Iowa at least once a year to SCUBA dive. The “urge to submerge” has taken him to many exotic locales as far away as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Dar Danielson

Dar Danielson

News Reporter

Dar Danielson joined Radio Iowa in March 1997. Dar is a northeast Iowa native and graduate of Janesville High School and the University of Northern Iowa. He began his career in journalism as a writer and editor for the UNI student newspaper and student radio station. He worked at KCFI in Cedar Falls and then moved to nearby Oelwein where he was a news reporter and sports director at KOEL. In 1989 he moved to Cedar Rapids where he was heard across the country as one of the news and sports voices for the Telecom USA talking phone book. He moved to Ames in 1991 where he was the assistant news/sports director at KASI. While in Ames Dar was the play-by-play voice of the Iowa State baseball team and the Ames High Little Cyclones.

One of the highlights of his career came when the station won an Edward R. Murrow Award and a commendation from the Mayor of Ames for its coverage of the 1993 floods. Dar anchored the coverage in the middle of the rain and flooding. In his spare time, Dar does play-by-play for the Girl’s State basketball, soccer, wrestling, volleyball, and softball tournaments. He is also the Executive Director of the Iowa Broadcast News Association.