LISTEN HERE! Audio plays automatically & may take up to a minute to load.

WEBCAST February 19, 2003 – I grew up in Compton, California and worked at the East Rancho Dominguez Branch of the Los Angeles County Library. I was a theatre major at the University of California – Irvine and after graduation, worked summer stock at a melodrama company in Pismo Beach, California, playing Irish heroines and small children. I pursued an acting career for 10 years, creating a theatre company (Theatre of NOTE, still in existence in Hollywood) and doing a lot of commercials. If you look fast, you can see me in Woody Allen's RADIO DAYS.

I got into radio after entering a contest on a local radio station for a sports talk host. I didn't win, but was one of 10 finalists out of 17 hundred applicants. I took a class and started volunteering at the local NPR (National Public Radio) station. Eventually, I got a job as a reporter. Five years ago, I was offered a shot at a talk show. In 2001, I was offered the Monday­Friday spot as host of KPCC's "Talk of the City."

THE OFFICIAL STORY

Kitty Felde hosts National Public Radio affiliate KPCC's afternoon talk show, Talk of the City in Los Angeles, California. She is a respected journalist with 18 years experience reporting on a variety of topics for National Public Radio, Monitor Radio, the Associated Press, KLON, and KCRW. Her print articles have appeared in USA Weekend, Buzz magazine, The Forward, The Christian Science Monitor, The Texas Observer, The Los Angeles Times, and The Chicago Tribune.

It was the Rodney King beating that led her to courthouse reporting, covering both King beating trials, as well as the Reginald Denny beating trial and the Simpson/Goldman murder trial. She also has worked as a courthouse commentator for CNN, CBS and CNBC, and as legal affairs correspondent for KCRW's "Which Way, L.A." Felde also covered the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, logging more time in the courtroom than any other American reporter.

This year, Felde was named "Radio Journalist of the Year" by both the Los Angeles Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists for her work as host of "Talk of the City." In addition, The Literacy Network of Greater Los Angeles honored her with its Literacy in Media Award for the second year in a row. Felde is the recipient of numerous reporting awards, including ten Golden Mikes (from the Radio and TV News Association of Southern California), six Golden Medallions (from the State Bar of California), two Silver Gavels (from the American Bar Association), and seven Associated Press TV and Radio Association awards.

Felde is also a playwright. Her musical about the Dodgers' move to Los Angeles BUM'S RUSH will premiere in spring of 2003 at Theatre 29 in Twenty-Nine Palms. Her play about Teddy Roosevelt's daughter ALICE premiered at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. Her play A PATCH OF EARTH, based on stories from the Yugoslav war crimes Tribunal, was awarded the Maxim Mazumdar Award for Best New Play of 1999 and premiered in Buffalo, New York. For nearly a decade she has volunteered her time to teach playwriting to inner-city kids through a program called HOLA, the Heart of Los Angeles Youth Theater.

She is married to Tad Daley, a Ph.D. graduate of the RAND Graduate School and former Vice President of the Global Security Institute, working with the late Senator Alan Cranston. He was recently a candidate for the 32nd Congressional seat.