A B O U T
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Welcome to the Web site
of the Metro Voice

Metro Voice News is the on-line edition of the Metro Voice newspaper, Kansas City's only local newspaper serving the Christian community. For the past 16 years, thousands of believers have turned to the Metro Voice for that coverage, and many advertisers have used the Metro Voice as the preferred medium to reach a targeted Christian audience.

ADDRESS:
Metro Voice Newspaper
305 SW Market, Suite 4
Lee's Summit, MO 64063
TELEPHONE:
816-524-4522
FAX:
816-282-0010
E-MAIL
metrovoice@kcweb.net

Dwight Widaman

Dwight Widaman is president of Widaman Communications, Inc., and co-publisher, with his wife, Anita, of the Metro Voice newspaper.

Dwight has overseen the growth of Metro Voice from a small publication to a full-color newspaper with distribution in 700 churches. Metro Voice newspaper is in its 15th year of publishing and currently has a circulation of 25,000 across greater Kansas City. The paper is distributed to the congregations of 700 churches along with bookstores, libraries, supermarkets and various restaurants and offices. Widaman Communications also publishes the Greater Kansas City Christian Education Resource Guide. It has an annual circulation of 30,000 and features information on Christian private education, homeschooling and colleges. In conjunction with this publication, the Metro Voice sponsors an education fair of the same name which draws more than 5,000 people.

Only two years after graduation from Central Missouri State University, Dwight became the youngest junior executive at one of Kansas City’s only Fortune 500 corporations - H & R Block, where he served as director of marketing. At Block, Dwight was responsible for the corporation’s marketing, which included broadcast and print media. A major project was the annual report (which won several national awards) and the corporate magazine with a circulation of over 125,000. Dwight left Block to serve in the private sector and took charge of marketing for Avila College. During that time, Avila saw its greatest one-year increase in enrollment, as well as its most successful capital campaign for new buildings and infrastructure. He left Avila in 1991 and started Widaman Communications, Inc., which then purchased the Kansas City Christian Newspaper - renamed Metro Voice in 1994.

With his wife, Dwight founded the Lee's Summit Tribune newspaper in 1995. The Tribune has since been purchased by Knight Ridder, owner of the Kansas City Star. Dwight's marketing experiences also included serving as an adjunct faculty member of Central Missouri State University, where he taught logo and trademark design.

Dwight continues to be the most public representative of Christian media in Kansas City, which includes hosting a weekly radio news program, "The Metro Voice Newshour," heard weekly on KCWJ AM1030. He has often been called upon to be a spokesman for the Christian community on area TV stations as well as numerous radio stations, including KMBZ, KCMO, KCWJ, KLJC and KCCV. Feature stories have been published on Dwight and the paper in publications as varied as the Kansas City Star and Focus on the Family's Family Policy Center magazine. Dwight served on President Bush's Faith Liaison for the State of Missouri in 2000.

Anita Widaman, in addition to serving as co-publisher, is the Arts & Entertainment Calendar Editor. Anita was a school teacher and guidance counselor for 16 years before leaving her work to become a mom. She has a bachelor's degree from Central Missouri State University and a master's from the University of Missouri in Columbia. She also went on to receive a Specialist Degree in Education and Adolescent Counseling from MU. She has served as President of her professional counseling organization and is Deacon of Education at Deerbrook Covenant Church in Lee's Summit.
Dwight and Anita have two children, Hannah and Emma.