Some radio transactions are about spectrum.
Some are about market position.
Some are about portfolio strategy, revenue projections, real estate, translators, tower sites and whatever other words we use when we’re trying to make this wonderfully emotional business sound like an accounting exercise.
And then there are radio deals that just make you smile.
This is one of those.
Chris Shank’s Ad Astra per Aspera Broadcasting is acquiring silent 1070 KFTI Wichita from SummitMedia for $5,000, giving the longtime Kansas broadcaster the opportunity to breathe life back into an AM frequency that has been off the air since January.
And for me, this isn’t just another station transaction.
I KNOW THESE PEOPLE.
I know these stations.
I know this kind of radio.
And somewhere, I swear I can almost hear Cliff Shank saying, “Well, let’s get the thing back on the air.”
KFTI Has Had One Heck Of A Year
The 1070 signal went silent in mid-January after serious damage at its tower site. Copper theft reportedly compromised critical portions of the facility’s ground system and related infrastructure, while significant transmitter problems created another expensive layer of repairs before regular operation could return.
That’s not changing a bad processor.
That’s not replacing the microphone in Studio B.
That’s the kind of engineering nightmare that can make somebody stare at a transmitter building and reconsider every decision that led them into radio.
But now comes the interesting part.
Chris Shank is buying it.
And if you’re familiar with Kansas radio, the Shank name should immediately mean something.
Ad Astra per Aspera Broadcasting isn’t some newly created company that discovered radio after somebody showed them a spreadsheet.
This family has been doing this.
For decades.
Historical records show Cliff Shank’s Ad Astra operation going back to the 1980s, and by 2000 the company was already operating KSKU, KXKU and KGGG in central Kansas. A Kansas State University profile later highlighted Cliff’s approach to broadcasting, including Ad Astra’s commitment to local sports and severe-weather coverage.
Today, Chris Shank is carrying that broadcasting tradition forward; public business records identify Christofer Shank as the principal contact and Chris Shank as owner of Ad Astra Radio.
And THAT is why this transaction has my attention.
Before Chris And I Were Running Things We Were Playing Records
This is where I’m going to get personal for a minute.
Years ago, I worked for Chris’s father, Cliff Shank.
I did middays and mornings on those Ad Astra stations.
And Chris?
Chris and I were both part-time and full-time DJs on those stations when we were growing up in this crazy business.
We were doing radio.
Real radio.
The kind where everybody did everything.
You weren’t simply an “air personality.”
You were whatever the radio station needed you to be that day.
You cracked the microphone.
You answered the request line.
You probably helped with production.
You learned how to pronounce every tiny Kansas town within listening distance.
You learned that high school sports mattered.
You learned that severe weather REALLY mattered.
You learned that when something happened in the community, people turned on the radio because they expected somebody they knew to be there.
And we were there.
Good times.
Really good times.
Long before corporate strategy decks and digital transformation meetings became part of everybody’s vocabulary, we were just young radio people learning the business from somebody who understood what local broadcasting was supposed to be.
And Cliff absolutely understood it.
The historical record backs that up. Kansas State University’s Huck Boyd National Institute profiled Cliff and specifically highlighted the importance his stations placed on local sports and severe-weather coverage — including stories of listeners crediting that coverage with helping protect their families.
That’s not a format.
THAT’S SERVICE.
That’s what radio was built to do.
And Now Chris Gets A Wichita AM
There’s something beautifully full-circle about this.
The next generation isn’t walking away from radio.
He’s buying more of it.
At a moment when this industry spends an enormous amount of time talking about consolidation, divestitures, cost reductions, layoffs and companies trying to figure out what they no longer want to own…
Chris Shank just looked at a silent AM station in Wichita and apparently saw something worth bringing back.
I LOVE THAT.
Yes, it’s an AM.
Yes, it’s currently silent.
Yes, the physical plant has suffered serious problems.
Yes, there is clearly work ahead.
But here’s something radio people sometimes forget:
A silent frequency isn’t necessarily a dead radio station.
It’s an opportunity waiting for somebody crazy enough — and I use crazy as the highest possible compliment in broadcasting — to believe they can make something happen with it.
Five Thousand Dollars Is Only The Beginning
Let’s also not get carried away by that purchase price.
$5,000.
You can practically hear radio people across America saying:
“WAIT…A WICHITA RADIO STATION FOR FIVE GRAND?”
Not exactly.
The acquisition price may be $5,000, but getting a damaged, silent AM facility healthy and operating is another matter entirely.
There are engineering realities.
Infrastructure.
Equipment.
Repairs.
Operations.
Programming.
Sales.
People.
And then comes the hardest part of all:
Giving listeners a reason to turn 1070 back on.
That’s the real investment.
A transmitter can create RF.
It takes people to create a radio station.
And that’s exactly why I like who is getting this one.
Because The Shanks Know What Local Radio Looks Like
This isn’t theoretical for them.
This is what the family has done for generations.
Ad Astra has operated stations across central Kansas, and the company’s roots stretch back roughly four decades.
They understand Kansas.
They understand communities.
They understand that this state isn’t one giant homogenous market.
Hutchinson isn’t Wichita.
McPherson isn’t Hutchinson.
Salina isn’t Great Bend.
And anybody who has actually done radio here knows that listeners can smell imported, generic programming from approximately three counties away.
Kansas radio works when it sounds like Kansas.
When somebody knows why the storm developing west of town matters.
When somebody knows which high school rivalry will fill the stands Friday night.
When somebody can pronounce the town names.
When somebody understands that a business buying twelve commercials isn’t merely “Account 4732.”
That’s somebody down the street.
That’s the radio Cliff Shank taught.
And now Chris gets another opportunity to write his own chapter.
An On The Dial Perspective
I’ve written plenty about radio companies selling stations.
I’ve written plenty about radio companies cutting people.
I’ve written plenty about stations going silent.
So forgive me if I enjoy writing one where somebody I came up with is essentially saying:
I’ll take that radio station.
Because radio needs people who still want radio stations.
Think about that.
We need operators who see a silent AM and don’t immediately see an obsolete piece of infrastructure.
They see possibilities.
They see Wichita.
They see local advertisers.
They see listeners.
They see programming.
They see something that could matter again.
Nobody knows yet exactly what the next chapter of KFTI will sound like.
But I know this much.
KFTI is in good hands.
I’ve known Chris Shank for a long time.
We were young DJs trying to figure this business out while his dad, Cliff, was showing us what local radio actually meant.
Now we’re older.
Supposedly wiser.
And Chris is the one buying radio stations.
Man, how did THAT happen?
It seems like yesterday we were worried about hitting the post, getting the weather right and making sure the next cart actually fired.
GOOD TIMES.
And there is something incredibly satisfying about watching somebody who grew up inside local radio continue investing in local radio.
So congratulations, Chris.
You’ve got some work ahead of you.
Maybe a LOT of work.
But there is a radio station sitting silent at 1070 in Wichita right now.
And hopefully, before too long…
that dial position starts making noise again.
Not because some enormous corporation decided AM radio suddenly looked fashionable.
But because a Kansas broadcaster looked at another Kansas radio station and decided:
THIS THING DESERVES ANOTHER SHOT.
Now THAT is a radio story worth celebrating.
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