Darren Hellwege

Darren Hellwege has hosted “Morning Edition” for over 27 years on KBIA, and serves as the station’s Sports Director and as host/producer of the “Thinking Out Loud” programs. The series has won a Missouri Broadcasters Association award and recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.

As Sports Director, Darren reports on Tiger athletics both for the station and the KBIA Sports website. He has also served for several years as the “Mizzou Insider” for the “Fescoe in the Morning” show on 610 Sports in Kansas City. Darren is a member of the Football Writers Association of America, United States Basketball Writers Association, and National Collegiate Baseball Writers. His reports from the 2009 NCAA Women’s Final Four basketball tournament were heard nationwide on NPR, he has appeared on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” and is a regular guest with Chris Gervino on KOMU-TV’s Sunday night sports program. He previously reported on Mizzou athletics for the Official Sports Report and was the Sports Editor of his high school newspaper for four years, being named in 1984 to the Edmond Memorial Journalism Hall of Fame.

Darren’s commitment to the Mid-Missouri community can be seen in his outreach activities for the station, including work with CanStruction, the Voluntary Action Center, Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri, American Red Cross, Boone County Historical Society, Columbia Public Schools and many other charitable organizations. He’s also been active in community theatre, performing with Maplewood Barn Community Theatre, Theatre NXS, and MoHip. Darren coached youth sports for several years with Boys/Girls Club of Columbia, Columbia Diamond Council and Columbia Youth Basketball Association. Darren currently serves on the Board of Directors for ACT (www.actservices.org) and the Missouri River Cultural Conservancy (www.morivcc.org) and is a member of the Boone County Democratic Central Committee. In the past he’s been a member of the Columbia/Boone County Board of Health and the Boone County Mental Health Board of Trustees, and was a board member for the Central Missouri Humane Society and Rock Bridge Christian Church. 

Darren was born in Stillwater, Oklahoma and grew up in Edmond, Oklahoma where he attended the University of Central Oklahoma. Darren and his wife Bonnie have two grown children. Their son Kristian lives in Columbia and daughter Janie Lavelock lives in Pleasant Hill with her husband Jake and is a student at UMKC.

Prior to coming to KBIA, Darren worked for public radio station KCSC (now KUCO, www.kucofm.com) in Edmond and at Oklahoma City radio stations WKY and WWLS. He’s also worked for KFRU and KFMZ in Columbia and KWRT in Boonville.

Darren is an avid genealogist, and enjoys playing guitar, chess, all kinds of music, and - of course - sports. 

Darren is on Twitter at @kbiamorning and his reports on Tiger sports are at @kbiahellwege. Both “Morning Edition” and “Thinking Out Loud” also have Facebook pages.