Kids Place Live

Here is a funny thing about Kenny Curtis—he was the last person to see what everyone around him knew all along. He was born to do children’s broadcasting. In college, when he was looking for sane, respectable work, his roommate sent him to audition for the clown/co-host role on a children’s TV show. You’ll be perfect for this, he said. And Kenny got the job. As an undergraduate with serious acting aspirations, Kenny landed a role in a movie for adults called Cry-Baby. Coincidence? We don’t think so. As he pursued his career in children’s programming in both radio and television, Kenny discovered that not growing up could be a valuable asset on the job. It may explain why today, as a father of five, he still has an uncanny knack for finding the way to children’s hearts and minds. Hear his vision of kids’ radio come alive on Kids Place Live.

Jack Forman is a member of Seattle’s Recess Monkey, a band of longtime elementary teachers who have self-released eight LPs for kids and families. The band has earned national acclaim for pitch-perfect understanding of childhood, and their seamless appeal to every member of the family. Jack has been a regular contributor to SiriusXM’s Kids Place Live for four years, most recently producing a series of music education specials called Recess Monkey’s TUNEiversity. Though no longer in the classroom, Jack continues to work tirelessly in the field of education. He has served on nonprofit boards, has spoken on several music and education panels about music’s impact on kids, and is a champion of the kind of high quality “kindie” music being made right this minute across the country. He and his wife have a toddler, two chickens and a cat, though only one has his own room.

For Mindy, the Absolutely Mindy Show is just an excuse to prolong her own childhood, which she spent sitting in her closet playing radio. She had the number one radio station in the whole house, and this gave her confidence to try it after college. When she’s not busy talking into her hairbrush microphone, she can be found playing in the great outdoors, teaching her cat how to smile, trying to learn the banjo, paying parking tickets, or dancing like a hillbilly. Her mom wants her to invest in a “nice pair of black pants” as a sign of sophistication, but Mindy knows better.

DJ Willy Wow is an award-winning children’s songwriter, music producer, voice-over artist, and celebrity DJ! Since 2005, he has been consistently recognized as the best in children’s entertainment. He first gained national attention in 2010 for his work with Michelle Obama by launching the “Let’s Move” program, welcoming families from all across the country with multiple live main-stage performances on the White House lawn. With his wide range of musical knowledge and natural ability to connect with children from around the world, DJ Willy Wow has successfully performed and hosted major family-friendly events for many organizations throughout his career, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Girl Scouts of the United States of America, Target, Delta Airlines, Comic Con Africa, and CBS Radio. In 2020, Parade magazine recognized DJ Willy Wow as one of the top twenty DJs in the country during the pandemic. He has created a world of music and musical friends that embodies more than 200 songs and music videos which can be heard on children’s networks across the globe.
 

Paul Bachmann has been hosting Couch Potato Stew since 2013, but has been a part of satellite radio for more than 20 years. When he got started, listeners used to hear him on satellite radio’s classical and alternative rock channels. Later, he did a ton of traveling for special broadcast events ranging from big shows like the Grammys and Bonnaroo to special occasions in places like London and Austria. But as the 2010s came around, Bachmann found he had an itch to scratch about the technology in your SiriusXM radio—so he became an engineer. Since 2014, his “day job” has been designing the studios and software that more than one-thousand SXM staffers use to bring amazing audio to you. At the same time, he wanted to do: 1) a show his own kids, Grace and Alden, could enjoy, 2) talk to kids nationwide about cool stuff, and 3) hang out with a couple of his best friends, Mindy Thomas and Kenny Curtis. Put it all together and you get a weekly 2-hour blend of what’s amazing about TV, movies, and cartoons—the award-winning Couch Potato Stew.