The HPPR Radio Readers Book Club is sad to learn of the passing of Mike Strong of Hays and Kansas City. For more than five years, Mike has been a steady source of Radio Readers BookBytes. We continue to air his thoughts as a tribute to our friend and as a thank you to Mike for sharing his insight, eloquence and broad talent. Radio Readers across the High Plains will long remember you, Mike. Rest well.
Mike Strong was a photographer, videographer, software programmer, tech writer, and Web programmer. Furthermore, he was a former astronomic and geodetic surveyor/ computer (Air Force 1968-1972), former massage therapist at the Kansas City Club, former baker and of course – in his own words, a former bartender and waiter (proudly so!), as well as a newspaper and radio reporter (Nebraska and upstate New York before and after the Air Force - KTTT, WMBO/WRLX, WGVA, Geneva Times) later finishing his BS in Journalism from the University of Kansas.
Excerpts from an Interview
Mike Strong was in the Kansas City dance communities for his dance photography and videography, as well as for his online publication on the Kansas City dance scene, www.KCDance.com. Since 1994 when he took up ballroom, he focused primarily on dance and dance-related photography and video. In an earlier interview with HPPR, Mike shared that he always felt that his own dancing (such as it was, especially tap) fed directly into his camera, informing each photo and each video with knowledge of when and what to shoot. Just as important, he felt a mission to follow all forms of dance in order to educate the public on the importance of dance, the arts and their significance integrated within our daily lives while also seeing dance as an open laboratory of learning-theory.
Radio Readers will find examples of Mike’s work at the following sites:
https://www.kcdance.com (Dance in the Kansas City area)
https://www.mikestrongphoto.com (Photo galleries)
Radio Readers BookBytes contributed by Mike Strong will air during the month of February as part of the 2024 Spring Read – Water, Water Neverwhere.