Raised in Kansas City, Jon Niccum has lived in Lawrence since 1983. While securing his degree in film studies from Kansas University, he earned a full-time living as a musician by teaching guitar/bass lessons at Mass Street Music, playing in a variety of working bands (The Budinskis, Easterday, Groovehead, Bobby and the Chuxx) and toiling as a sound engineer/producer.
In 1993, Niccum embarked on a career in journalism via a seven-year stint as music/film editor at The Pitch, a Kansas City weekly newspaper, where he co-founded and produced the KLAMMIES (the Kansas City/Lawrence Area Music Awards). Additionally, he hosted "Nightlife," a music/sketch comedy segment of the weekly series "KC Roundabout" on Time Warner Cable.
He joined the Journal-World in 2000, first as editor of its weekly entertainment publication, The Mag, then later as the daily's entertainment editor.
In addition to Niccum's journalistic endeavors, he served four years as president of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, wrote/produced the films "Zero the Counter," "Merriman's Circle," "Paint Shaker," "Misfortune Smiles" and the upcoming "Stuck!," and composed the official record label bios for artists such as Evanescence, Jeff Beck, Leon Redbone and Joe Satriani.
He shares a house with his wife Ann, director of video media for the World Company, and daughter Lola.
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