KXEL IowaFest on August 2

Tuesday, June 24th, 2025 | Book Signing, Books, Other, Radio | No Comments

Mike and Bev will be among the special guests at IowaFest, “A Celebration of Food, Friends, and Fellowship” presented by News/Talk 1540 KXEL of Waterloo, on August 2.  The event is an annual celebration hosted by the popular radio station and there is no admission fee. All are welcome! 

The event will be held from noon to 3 p.m. at the National Cattle Congress Pavilion in Waterloo. Snacks, soda and water are also free.

Mike has appeared on KXEL numerous times with Jeff Stein, station manager and well-known talk show host. He will have some of the 32 books he has written for sale, and will have several very unique items on display, including the framed letter that Ronald Reagan wrote to him back in 1990 when Mike was executive editor of the daily newspaper in Dixon, Illinois, the hometown of President Reagan. The letter was featured on Antique Roadshow earlier this year. He will also have items related to Waterloo legends such as the five Sullivan brothers, Fred Becker and Dan Gable.

Another special guest will be Van Harden, the retired legendary voice of radio station WHO in Des Moines, who has written several books and will have them available for purchase too.

Remembering Two Great Iowans on Veterans Day

Monday, November 11th, 2024 | Radio | No Comments

To help celebrate Veterans’ Day, Mike was a guest on the KXEL radio show in Waterloo with Jeff Stein, program director, talking about the legends of Fred Becker and Nile Kinnick. A graduate of East High School in Waterloo, Becker became the first All-American football player at the University of Iowa in 1916 as a sophomore and then volunteered to serve his country in World War I. He died fighting along the Western Front in France on July 18, 1918, and is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Waterloo. Kinnick, from Adel, won the Heisman Trophy for the Hawkeyes in 1939 and lost his life on June 2, 1943, as a pilot off the coast of Venezuela. Mike, a Navy veteran himself, has written extensively about both Becker and Kinnick and his book “Triumph and Tragedy” tells their stories, along with the stories of Jack Trice and Johnny Bright.

Listen to the show here: https://on.soundcloud.com/2Zmx1

Tags: East High School Waterloo, Fred Becker, Jeff Stein, KXEL, Nile Kinnick

USA Takedown Radio Appearance

Thursday, October 20th, 2022 | Documentary, Podcast, Radio, Wrestling | No Comments

On Saturday, October 29, Mike will be a guest host on the USA Takedown radio show in the studio in Des Moines. Host Scott Casber is the founder of this 30-year-old program, and the entire show will be devoted to the new documentary “For the Love of Catch”. Curran Jacobs, producer and narrator of the documentary, will be interviewed along with several other stars that appeared in the documentary. The show is carried live from 8 to 10 AM central time each Saturday morning on 106.3 FM and 1460 KXNO. Fans can also listen online or on their mobile devices using the iHeart Radio app, free of charge, by searching USA Takedown.

Tags: Catch Wrestling, Curran Jacobs, Scott Casber

Podcast Appearance: The History of Wrestling with Mike Chapman on Landry.Audio

Monday, May 10th, 2021 | Radio, Wrestling | No Comments

Mike appeared on the podcast Landry.Audio to talk about the history of wrestling. Take a listen with the embedded video above or following the link here: The History Of Wrestling With Historian Mike Chapman – YouTube