Mike Shanin is the latest news at WDAF

Mike Shanin, longtime local broadcaster and host of the TV program "Ruckus," is joining Kansas City's top-rated morning radio show. Shanin will be the news anchor for David Lawrence on WDAF-AM (610), replacing Larry Moehlenbrink, who is moving to New Mexico. Shanin currently is a business reporter at KMBZ-AM (980) and will switch to WDAF as soon as KMBZ finds a replacement for him. Both stations are owned by Entercom Communications. As one of the area's most distinct and recognizable voices, Shanin has plied his trade around the dial. From 1997 to 2000 he was afternoon host on KPHN-AM (1190). His new gig comes about as a result of a conversation with WDAF program director Ted Cramer, who first worked with Shanin way back when at KCKN-AM (1340). "I look forward to talking to an audience the size of the one that listens to David Lawrence," Shanin said. "It's a dramatic difference from the audience I was speaking to at KPHN." Shanin will read the news from 5:30 to 10 a.m., which includes an hour of Cramer's "Midday Sandwich" show. He'll continue to anchor a Sunday morning news and interview program on KMBZ. Speaking of KCKN, it's in new hands these days. Carter Broadcast Group, owner of Kansas City's urban powerhouse KPRS-FM (103.3) and gospel KPRT-AM (1590), picked up the station from KPHN owner Bill Johnson for $1.5 million, about twice what Johnson paid for it in 1989. The 1,000-watt station, which first signed on in 1925, was big-band KFEZ until a year ago; in previous lives it was "CNN 1340" and country and western KFKF-AM. The nation's oldest continuously owned African-American radio group hasn't announced its plans for KCKN. "We're playing Christian music until further notice," said KPRS program director Sam Weaver. How far would you go to take a part-time radio job? Probably not as far as new KFKF-FM (94.1) weekend DJ Josh Tamases. After the country station where he was working in Klamath Falls, Ore., changed formats, Tamases found himself out of work. Eager to stay in radio, he scoured the Internet looking for potential employers. One of his e-mails was to KFKF program director Dale Carter, who called him back. As Tamases recalled, "Dale asked me, 'Are you planning a move to Kansas City?' And I said, 'Hire me and I will.' He said, 'Get here and I'll put you on the air.' " And on that promise, Tamases loaded up a U-Haul, hitched his pickup truck to the back and drove 1,894 miles to his new eight-hour workweek. It sounds like a country-music song: the 33-year-old former actor driving across country - just him and his dog Bosco - in search of the American dream. "I love radio," Tamases said. "When you're on-air and talking to somebody, playing their music and entertaining them, that's the best feeling in the world." To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or go to www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Shanin @ART:Photo