Mr. Thompson Verified

Brian Thompson is a health and medicine reporter for KANU-FM in Lawrence, KS. He is the recipient of the KAB Tony Jewell Award for contributions in the field of alcohol/drug abuse prevention. KAB has selected Thompson as this year's recipient of the Tony Jewell Award for his outstanding contributions to the prevention of alcohol/drug abuse through his Kansas Kids Health radio series. He kicked off his career when he was hired as the news director for a radio station in El Dorado. From there, he served again as news director in Liberal as well as in Salina. Thompson is currently the Children's Health Reporter for KANU and Kansas Public Radio. As such, he travels across Kansas as the station's children's health reporter to communicate health issues facing the state's children. This series of reports is part of a project called Kansas Kids: A Prescription for Change. His reports are carried by a number of public, non-commercial, and commercial radio stations in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado. To date, Thompson has produced more than 50 in-depth radio news feature stories related to the health and well being of Kansas children. Many of these stories have focused specifically on alcohol and drug abuse prevention and treatment efforts. As part of this project, he has maintained a special website for the public where all of the stories in the series can be heard online. He has also helped produce and broadcast several town hall meetings at different Kansas communities where issues like teenage alcohol and drug abuse were discussed with a panel of experts. Thompson is a founding member of the Kansas Sunshine Coalition for Open Government. He serves on the Policy Council for Heartland Programs in Salina. He was a member of the Early Childhood Priority Task Force of Salina's Public Schools and served nine years on the board of directors of the Occupational Center of Central Kansas. A life-long Kansan, Thompson is originally from Bucklin in the southwest region of the state. He graduated cum laude from Wichita State University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in speech-radio/TV/film. He lives in Salina with his wife and their six children.

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