DAREN DUNN

Daren Dunn ...in the morning

Local radio announcer followed his dream

Jaden Harp | Reporter & Designer

Using an audio drop from the Truman show, Daren Dunn closes out every radio segment with, "In case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening and goodnight."

Dunn is the local 93.1 radio station announcer. His interest in announcing began at the start of his childhood.

Currently, he can be heard broadcasting live across the Hutchinson community every Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. until10 a.m. By the time Dunn graduated from high school he had already accomplished many things. He performed in the school play his junior and senior year acting as the lead role, Steve Martin, in "Cheaper by the Dozen." He was also a three-sport athlete in track, basketball and football. After Dunn attended Hutchinson Community College, he had many different jobs that he actually had little to no interest in. He never gave up his dream of announcing. Dunn’s primary job is being a radio personality for the local 93.1 radio, but he can also be heard announcing the HutchCC football and basketball games.

“First you have to get your foot in the door and very early in your career, you have to say yes a lot,” Dunn said.

Sometimes in one’s life, they have to do things they don't like or don’t want to do, but they have to focus on the future. This is what Dunn focused on that eventually led to his true passion. “I had an initial path of who I wanted to be or who I thought I wanted to be when I had initially graduated high school. I had ideas of going to college, being an architect, a pastor, and performing in plays,” Dunn said. “I felt like I could combine all of those things together and I would build the church, I would preach in the church, and perform all the plays and I would be involved with those and it would be this grand thing. Then life came at me and God was like, ‘no, I have different plans for you.”

He never knew what his next step in life would be or become. According to Dunn, only God knew his true path to his future career.

“People always say that if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. So if you kind of find that thing and stick with it, even when things look bleak, and you feel like where is this going, what am I doing with my life, those doors will open back up,” Dunn said.

Dunn is doing what he loves and fulfilling his passion.

“This journey of knowing where I wanted to go and where I wanted to be, not knowing how I was going to get there, God just kind of opened up the door and said, ‘hey, here it is,” Dunn said.

Jaden Harp | Photo Daren Dunn, 93.1 radio announcer, broadcasts live outside of KHYM-FM hosting the car seat check with Child Passenger Safety (CPS) Technicians. Local Hutchinson residents stopped by during the live broadcast to check if their car seats were installed correctly by CPS.

...in the morning

‹Jaden Harp | Photo

Dunn broadcasts live on the air for 93.1. KHMYFM radio station had a recording room for all 93.1 broadcasters to use.

Saying the word “yes” came in handy for Dunn as he began expanding his career.

“I took a public address gig announcing at a cross country meet. The athletic director at the time, Randy Stange, at HCC was there. He came up to me and said ,'hey get ahold of me after this I might have a job for you.' That job ended up being a fill-in announcer for the non-HCC events at the time like tournaments or pre-season games before the season,” Dunn said. “The public address announcer at the time ended up where he was going to miss some games and then he ended up moving away and then Randy Stange came to me and said, 'hey i got a lot of guys knocking on my door and they want this job, but I wanna offer it to you first.' From that time on I've been the basketball and football public address announcer for HCC and working for the station.”

One of the reasons his voice is so familiar is because of the various jobs he holds. He broadcasts throughout the week on the local 93.1 radio. He can be found in the press box on Saturday nights as he announces the HutchCC football games which currently has a record of 5-0. “I was that kid when mom or dad would drive us by the Sports Arena I was practicing the starting line ups,” Dunn said. This shows that even from a young age a person’s passion stays with them. “You go in as a sponge, kind of like when

Get your foot you're a kid you just absorb so much,” said Dunn. Soaking up as much knowledge from others in in the door and very early in your career, you have any industry is required in to say yes a lot,” order to excel.

Daren Dunn A lot of people in not only the career field, but also in life, say no to things that they are either uncomfortable with or have no knowledge of. From when Dunn was a child, he knew what he desired for his career and the drive he had for announcing. Anything and everything is possible when the right opportunities are in one's reach. Dunn never gave up on his passion of broadcasting until he got it.

Jaden Harp | Photo

As he watches his computer screen, Dunn knows exactly when to speak during the live broadcast. All radio announcers control the timing of previously recording segments from outside sources.