An icon on the airwaves for over thirty years, Kitty Kinnin has been known as the golden voice of Triangle radio.

 

Born and raised in Miami, Fla., Kitty gave college a whirl at Santa Fe Junior College and the University of Florida. She spent a year as a flight attendant for National Airlines.  Then, being a hippie at heart, she moved to a one-room cabin in Golden, Colo. with no running water, an outhouse and a stunning view of the Rocky Mountains. 

 

Kitty was first introduced to radio answering phones at a local station while attending college in Gainesville, Fla. She landed her first job as an assistant at WKZL in Winston-Salem, N.C. She soon talked her way into the studio after a jock quit and never left. Kitty hosted nights and produced A Touch of Jazz series where she interviewed various top jazz artists around the country, a program she loved and would reprise throughout her career.  

 

In 1985, Kitty moved to Raleigh and began a 13-year stint at The Original Home of Rock & Roll, WRDU 106.1, hosting middays as well as a popular Sunday Jazz Brunch program. The latter is when she started interviewing local chefs. Kitty comes by her interest in food honestly; her former husband was a chef and owned a restaurant in Winston-Salem. She herself had always been an avid cook thanks to growing up in the kitchen with her Mom’s amazing culinary skills. 

 

Since then, Kitty became a freelance voiceover artist, and worked as a TV anchor for The Hometown Show at WWAY in Wilmington, N.C. She continued as a deejay at a variety of stations across the region, including WZZU and FOXY 107/104 in Raleigh, The Pengiun in Wilmington, NC., WNCU in Durham, N.C. where she hosted Tell Mama - Saturday Night Blues and was morning host at 100.7 The River. She currently hosts middays on 96.1 BBB.

 

Over the years, Kitty has interviewed such celebrity chefs as Bobby Flay, Eric Ripert and Thomas Keller, and such North Carolina culinary stars as Bill Smith of Crookís Corner, Scott Howell of Nanaís, Scott Crawford of Crawford and Son, Walter Royal of The Angus Barn, Cheetie Kumar of Garland, Vivian Howard of Chef and The Farmer, Katie Button at Curate and many more.

 

In 2022, she launched her own podcast, Sound Palate with Kitty Kinnin, intertwining food and music. The first podcast episode features an interview with her longtime friend, Van Eure, owner of The Angus Barn. Other interviews include chef Ricky Moore, owner of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, N.C. (2022 James Beard Award winner for best chef in the southeast) and coming soon, chef Dean Neff, owner of Seabird in Wilmington, N.C., Jake Wood of Lawrence BBQ & more surprise guests.

 

Kitty spends her free time with her son, Lucas, and his two daughters, Izzy and Kate, as well as her rescue, Billie Holiday. She's also a buy, shop, eat local girl, enjoys live music, Broadway, and constantly discovering the vast culinary options in North Carolina. She also offers her emcee skills to various nonprofits and HAS volunteered her time and services with Interact and various animal rescues. In 2010, she created The Bad Kitty Blend coffee in collaboration with Larry's Coffee. Ten percent of purchases are donated to Foundation of Hope, which funds N.C.- based critical research focused on understanding the root causes of, and potential treatments for, mental illness.