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Ryan Famuliner

Former KBIA News Director (Aug 2014 - Aug 2023); Assistant News Director (2011 - Aug 2014)

Ryan served as the KBIA News Director from February 2011 to September 2023

Ryan Famuliner joined KBIA in February 2011. Ryan previously worked as a general assignment reporter and videographer at WNDU-TV in South Bend, Ind. and as a reporter and anchor at the Missourinet radio network in Jefferson City, MO. He’s reported nationally on NPR and WNYC’s The Takeaway.

In addition to scores of state and regional awards, he’s won multiple national Sigma Delta Chi, Edward R. Murrow and PRNDI Awards for his reporting and editing work. Under his guidance as News Director, KBIA also won the General Excellence Award in the Online News Association’s Online Journalism Awards in 2015.

Ryan created the state government data project Access Missouri, using grant funding from the University of Missouri, the Knight Foundation Prototype Fund, and the Reynolds Journalism Institute. He’s overseen or contributed to numerous collaborative projects across the University newsrooms, including the short documentary project My Life, My Town and partnerships with VOX Magazine and Missouri Business Alert. He’s also overseen KBIA’s participation in numerous external partnerships, including the multi-state, multi-station NPR reporting collaborations Harvest Public Media and Side Effects Public Media.

Ryan and his wife, Kelly, hail from the Kansas City and St. Louis areas, respectively, finding Columbia is a fantastic place to compromise. They spend an unhealthy amount of time at flea markets and junk shops, and they’re about a halfway through their MLB ballpark tour. 

  • This is Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan, a podcast where we take apart the song covers we love and take a deep dive into the stories behind them. Today, I'm chatting with Tomiwa Shonekan about “I Believe in You and Me” by the Four Tops and Whitney Houston.
  • A roundup of regional headlines from the KBIA Newsroom.
  • Here's a roundup of regional headlines from the KBIA Newsroom
  • Officials are urging caution on the roads starting today and into this weekend due to frigid cold temperatures and some expected snowfall today. KOMU 8 meteorologists are expecting snow starting this morning in Mid-Missouri, and the snowfall should end around 6:00 pm, leaving an anticipated 2-4 inches of snow. Temperatures are expected to drop sharply this morning down to the 10s, and down below zero overnight. The strong arctic front that will bring those cold temperatures will also bring wind speeds between 35-45 miles per hour, and potentially as high as 50 miles per hour. That will create wind chill factors between -25 and -28 degrees between this evening and lasting into Saturday morning.
  • Here is a look at the candidates and issues in Tuesday's election for Columbia mayor, city council and school board.
  • This is Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan, a podcast where we take apart the song covers we love and take a deep dive into the stories behind them. Today, I’m chatting with my good friend, Dr. Brandon Boyd, who is, up to this point, the only professional musician I’ve had on this show. And the song we’ll be discussing is one of my favorites, actually, one I had in mind when I first conceived of the idea behind the show. And that song? I Will Always Love You
  • This is Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan, a podcast where we take apart the song covers we love and take a deep dive into the stories behind them. Today, I’m chatting with my daughter Faremala Shonekan to talk about a song we both love…Before I Let Go, first released by Frankie Beverly and Maze and covered by Beyonce.
  • This is Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan, a podcast where we take apart the song covers we love and take a deep dive into the stories behind them. Today's guest is a good friend and colleague, Dr. Keona Ervin. She’s a professor in the Department of History at the University of Missouri, and also someone I’ve talked with at length about music. And so when I came up with the concept of the show, I knew she had to be one of my first guests. And so I reached out and asked her to choose a song to chat about. And that choice? Donny Hathaway’s live cover of Yesterday by the Beatles.
  • This is Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan, a podcast where we take apart the song covers we love and take a deep dive into the stories behind them. Janis Joplin’s Piece of My Heart remains one of the most iconic songs of the ‘60s. Released in 1968, it reached #12 on Billboard Hot 100, thanks in part to Joplin’s impassioned and unique vocal delivery. At the time, Billboard called it “dynamite”. It’s remembered as one of her most popular songs. And yet, it wasn’t hers at all. Just a year earlier, Erma Franklin -- as in older sister to Aretha Franklin -- released her version. It didn’t do nearly as well, peaking at #62 on Billboard’s Pop Singles Chart. So which one’s the better version?
  • This is Cover Story with Stephanie Shonekan, a podcast where we take apart the song covers we love and take a deep dive into the stories behind them. Nothing Compares 2 U was written by Prince in 1984 for his band, the Family. One version was recorded in 1984, but wasn’t actually released until only recently...in 2018. Instead, the song debuted on the Family’s 1985 self-titled album, released under the Paisley Park Records label. Neither version had much of a splash. Fast forward 5 years when, in 1990, a 24 year old Irish singer-songwriter by the name of Sinéad O'Connor released her version, and it became a breakout hit, thanks in part to the song’s music video, made up almost entirely of a closeup shot of the singer’s face. So, which one is the better version? Stephanie talks to her good friend Jeremy Root...about the songs... how they compare to one another, and by the end, they’ll reveal their top pick.