I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department of Denison University in Granville, Ohio.  

I grew up in Fairfax, Virginia and went to Fairfax High School.  I earned my B.A. in Journalism and Cinema Studies at New York University and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. 

My dissertation, Localism in American Media, 1920-1934, explores how regulators, the radio industry, and the public used discourses and structures of localism in a range of struggles to shape the media system. 

My publications include articles in Radio Journal, Journal of Popular Culture, Community Media Review, and a forthcoming anthology from Penn, Sound in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, edited by David Suisman and Susan Strasser.

My ongoing research and teaching interests include media history and cultural policy; impacts of popular culture on American public life; theories, practices, and future of citizen-produced media; and media and disability.

I am married to Anna Nekola, an oboist and musicologist.  We live in Granville and have two cats (warning: cat photos!).  

You can reach me at mwkirkpa@gmail.com.