Kodi McKinney was born in the suburban town of Martinsburg, WV, where he was introduced to college radio and underground music at 16 after Sonic Youth’s “Mary-Christ” snuck onto his car stereo from nearby Shepherd University’s WSHC-FM. That led to a fascination with punk, alternative, indie rock and metal…a lot of metal. He eventually found a home at West Virginia University’s WWVU-FM, known locally as U92; as the station’s program director, graduate assistant and ultimately metal director, his involvement with everything left of the dial grew until going after a career outside of the radio world just didn’t feel like an option. So he moved to Brooklyn, and after several months of hustle including an internship at Terrorbird and an extended stay as CMJ’s data manager, The Syndicate gave him a place to keep supporting the college radio world while dealing hands-on with the music he loved.

Now in his second year promoting to loud rock radio at The Syndicate, Kodi continues to push the volume to 11. In his spare time, Kodi enjoys hearing guitarists shred, shredding on his own, and probably not actually shredding hearts. Other areas of moderate-to-severe expertise include photography, blogging, buzz cycles and unnecessarily long adjectives. Available for parties.