Culinary Confessions with Kim & Don - Independent 1310 KXAM - M-F - 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. MST

10 Years on Radio a Victory for 'Kim and Don'
Naysayers said show about food just wouldn't cook
October 5, 2006 - AZCentral

They said it couldn't be done. Well, some restaurant owners said that, anyway, when Kim Laurie and Don Sandler started their new food-focused radio show in 1996 on KXAM (1310) in Phoenix.

Who's laughing now? Laurie and Sandler, of course, because they still are on the air, making them, in their words, the longest continuously running food and restaurant show in the Valley.

How did they do it?

"We are professional broadcasters who saw a need and didn't let the naysayers discourage us," Laurie said, adding that "we had some restaurants that really believes in us."

Their show, Culinary Confessions with Kim and Don, which airs weekdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., celebrates its 10th anniversary Friday with a "reverse radiothon." They will donate $10 to the United Food Bank for every person who calls the show.

Laurie and Sandler arrived in the Valley from Boston with no job prospects, but they did have radio experience and a good idea, launching a show that asked listeners to call in with restaurant recommendations.

They bought time on KXAM, an independent station, and searched for sponsors. Some, including Roger and Cheryl Wagner from barbecue restaurant Thee Pitts Again, still are sponsors, as is Via Delosantos Mexican Cafe. Others, however, shunned them. But they knew after the first show, when 34 people called in, that there was a place for the format. They now have more than 1,000 pages of restaurant reviews from listeners, plus links and maps, on their www.kimanddon.com website.