Moody’s storyteller calls it a night

Mike Kellogg

Mike Kellogg

Listeners to Moody Radio’s WMBI FM 90.1 will have to make it through night without Mike Kellogg to inspire their spirits and soothe their souls.

After 42 years of broadcast ministry in Chicago, Kellogg is stepping down as senior announcer at the Christian talk station and host of “Music Thru the Night” from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday. His retirement is effective May 31 (although his final show for WMBI aired earlier this week).

“There will never be another Mike Kellogg; he is irreplaceable,” Collin Lambert, vice president of Moody Radio, said in a statement. “We honor him and thank God for his years of faithful service at Moody Radio. Mike is an encourager, a gifted storyteller and an extraordinarily gifted on-air talent. He will be missed dearly by those he served with at Moody and the countless listeners he ministered to daily.”

As host of "Music Thru the Night" since its inception in 1982, Kellogg combined biblical insight, encouraging stories and warm inspirational music. He also hosted the two-minute daily broadcast “Today in the Word.”

“When I came to Moody in 1972, my wife, Nancy, and I decided that this was the place where we wanted to invest our lives,” Kellogg said in a statement. “I've been surrounded by some of the most talented people a man could ever work with. They have Christian commitment, enthusiasm and wit and have made every working day a joy.”

Kurt Goff

Kurt Goff

Succeeding Kellogg in the time period is Moody Radio’s “Kurt Goff Live,” a new show described as capturing “the heart and music of ‘Music Thru the Night,’ ” while also including live interaction with listeners. It will expand to national distribution July 6.

Goff joins Moody Radio after hosting a daily, three-hour afternoon talk show for WDCX FM, a Christian station in Buffalo, New York. “My prayer for this program is that listeners will be reminded they are not alone and that Christ loves them through the ups and downs of real life,” he said. “That’s something we all need every single day. I know I do.”

The overnight change at Moody Radio’s flagship station follows the unexpected departure last fall of Mark Elfstrand after 15 years as morning host on WMBI.

Saying it was “time for a new direction,” Lambert explained at the time: “The population in Chicagoland is rapidly changing, which presents an opportunity for a wider, more diverse ministry in order to reach more people with God’s Word.”