Kimberly Ann Komando (born 1967) is the host of two daily radio shows and one weekend radio show about consumer technology. On her weekly call-in show, she provides advice about technology gadgets, websites, smartphone apps, and internet security.
The Kim Komando Show is broadcast and syndicated on over 435 radio stations in the United States and two stations in Ontario, Canada, to an estimated 6.5+ million listeners. Her Consumer Tech Update and Digital Life Hack airs on more than 390 stations seven days a week.
Her radio shows are also heard internationally on the Armed Forces Radio Network, covering 177 countries. She hosts podcasts served to over 300,000 listeners per week. The Kim Komando Television Show premiered globally on Bloomberg TV on January 5, 2019. Kim Komando also hosts a weekly radio show on SiriusXM’s Business Channel 130 called Tech Insights.
Komando refers to herself on her web page as “America’s Digital Goddess”. As of May 2018, her website, Komando.com, serves 2.7 million unique visitors each month and she sends 500 million newsletters per year to subscribers.
Komando and her husband own Phoenix-based WestStar TalkRadio Network, which distributes the Komando radio program.
Komando has appeared on CNN, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, BBC, and Fox News, and her syndicated columns appear in USA Today and other newspapers. She has been a columnist for USA Today since February 2002. She won the Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media for Outstanding Program Host in 2007[1] and in April 2016 was the keynote speaker at the NAB Show Radio Luncheon to an audience of industry leaders. In January 2017, she was appointed to Forbes Magazine Tech Council. On October 9, 2019, she presented a keynote speech about cybersecurity at the John Glenn NASA Research Center in Cleveland that was broadcast to all 60,000 NASA employees. In 2020, she was nominated to the National Radio Hall of Fame. In 2021, Kim was nominated again and this time inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.
In the mid-1990s, Komando started the WestStar TalkRadio Network (now WestStar Multimedia) with her husband. They built their first studio in 1994. In 1994, ABC and CBS Radio passed on the show, saying a national radio show on the subject would be unsuccessful, as computers and the Internet were a fad.[18]
In 2015, the staff of WestStar moved into a $7.5 million, 24,000-square-foot multimedia facility with radio studios and production facilities for TV shows and podcasts.
In 2016, Komando was the Keynote Speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.
In 2017, Komando was nominated for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Marconi Radio Award in the Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year category.[19]
In 2021, Komando was nominated and inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame.[20] She had previously been nominated in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The Kim Komando radio show airs on more than 435 radio stations in the U.S. and in 177 countries on Armed Forces Radio. The Kim Komando television show premiered globally on Bloomberg TV on January 5, 2019.
WestStar’s radio offerings diversified into a number of other radio formats, among them: Your Weekend, an adult contemporary music program hosted by pianist Jim Brickman; Quiet Music, a smooth jazz program hosted by Nick Francis; Goddard’s Gold and The ’70s, classic hits/oldies programs hosted by Phoenix-area disc jockey Steve Goddard; and The Other Side with Steve Godfrey, a call-in talk show in which the title host attempted to communicate with spirits. As of 2020, WestStar continues to distribute Komando’s two daily national radio shows and the weekend show and An American Christmas, an annual Christmas special produced by Mannheim Steamroller.
2001: Arizona State University College of Business and SRP Spirit of the Enterprise Award
2006: Judy Jarvis Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions by a Woman to Talk Radio, also known as “Woman of the Year” by Talkers Magazine.
2007: Gracie Individual Achievement Award for Outstanding Program Host.
2009: speaker at Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit.
2016: Keynote Speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention in Las Vegas
2021: Radio Hall of Fame Inductee
