There are days in this business when you receive a piece of news and immediately think:
There is absolutely no way this is real.
For me, that happened on National Radio Day.
Of all days.
I learned that Audacy Kansas City had sent a copyright infringement cease-and-desist notice to my bosses at Murfin Media and The Rock of Kansas.
Yes.
National Radio Day.
You almost have to admire the timing.
Almost.
When I first heard about it, I genuinely thought somebody was messing with me. We are talking about 97.7 KSNP, a small-town Kansas radio station serving the Burlington and Emporia area, with programming that also streams to several other local Kansas stations.
We’re not talking about somebody firing up a 100,000-watt transmitter from the roof of Union Station.
We’re talking about small-market Kansas radio.
But apparently, this is serious enough to become a legal matter.
So starting today, things change.
And since my association with both sides of this situation is impossible to ignore, I think it’s time I say exactly what I think.
When Audacy Let Me Go I Made a Decision
When I was let go from Audacy Kansas City in March 2025 alongside several of my coworkers, the first genuine thought that entered my mind was surprisingly simple:
Well that’s not my problem anymore.
And I didn’t mean that bitterly.
I meant exactly what it sounds like.
Let it go.
Did losing the job suck?
Of course it did.
Anyone who has spent a meaningful part of their life building something only to suddenly discover they aren’t going to be part of it anymore understands that feeling.
But what was I going to accomplish by obsessing over it?
Nothing.
I couldn’t reverse the decision.
I couldn’t change corporate strategy.
And allowing resentment to consume me wasn’t going to build whatever came next.
This may have been the first and possibly last completely Zen reaction of my entire life.
Shame on me.
I Chose Not to Burn the Building Down on My Way Out
And I have stuck with that.
Since March 2025, I’ve made a deliberate effort to remain professional about my former employer.
I haven’t used On The Dial as my personal revenge machine.
I haven’t publicly trashed stations because I once worked there.
I haven’t attacked former coworkers.
In fact, there are people from my former workplace whom I consider friends and will continue to champion whenever I get the opportunity.
That’s how this business should work.
We should be allies.
Radio is already difficult enough without everybody spending their careers collecting enemies.
And when listeners have approached me with incredibly kind words about my time on Kansas City radio, I have thanked them.
That’s it.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for remembering.
Thank you for caring.
I never believed those conversations required me to tear somebody else down.
But This Is Different
Because now something involving my former employer has reached directly into the place where I currently work.
And innocent people are dealing with the consequences.
That’s where my patience ends.
I believe the handful of people driving this issue from the Audacy Kansas City side are behaving in a way that is petty, unnecessary and completely disproportionate to the situation.
That’s my opinion.
I’m the President and Publisher of On The Dial.
I’m also someone directly involved in this situation.
So I’m not going to disguise an editorial as detached reporting.
This is personal commentary.
And I want that distinction to be perfectly clear.
Audacy has every right to protect intellectual property it legally owns.
Of course it does.
If there is a legitimate copyright issue, lawyers can determine what rights exist, what was allegedly infringed and what remedy is appropriate.
I’m not pretending to adjudicate a legal dispute from behind a keyboard.
But I can absolutely question the judgment involved in escalating a matter involving a small-market Kansas operation into this.
And I do.
Look at the Size of the Supposed Threat
This is where the situation becomes almost comical to me.
Audacy is one of the largest audio companies in America.
Murfin Media operates local radio stations serving Kansas communities.
97.7 KSNP isn’t coming for Kansas City.
It isn’t threatening the foundation of Audacy’s Kansas City business.
It isn’t suddenly showing up everywhere across Johnson County.
It isn’t stealing some enormous metropolitan audience.
Depending on where you’re standing, you’re lucky if the relevant small-market signals are meaningfully receivable inside Kansas City at all.
And yet here we are.
Legal correspondence.
Cease and desist.
Copyright infringement allegations.
All of this corporate energy pointed toward a comparatively tiny Kansas radio operation.
Why?
That’s the question I keep coming back to.
Someone Said Something to Me That I Initially Laughed Off
One of my bosses looked at this entire situation and offered his own theory:
Maybe they simply don’t want people hearing your voice in Kansas City anymore.
God love him.
I laughed.
Because surely we’re not doing all of this over me.
Surely not.
I am not Taylor Swift.
There aren’t thousands of people driving around Kansas City desperately scanning the dial hoping Steven Mills suddenly appears from Burlington.
Let’s maintain some perspective.
But the fact that somebody involved looked at this situation and even wondered whether my presence could be contributing to the attention tells you how bizarre this has begun to feel.
Whatever the motivation actually is, the result is the same.
People who had nothing to do with my departure from Audacy are now dealing with a problem connected to programming with which I am associated.
That bothers me.
To the People at Murfin Media I Am Sorry
This is the part that genuinely hurts.
People put work into these stations.
Real work.
Programming.
Sales.
Production.
Engineering.
Promotions.
Community relationships.
Small-market radio doesn’t have endless departments filled with people who can absorb another problem.
Sometimes the same person is doing three jobs before lunch.
When something like this lands on the desk, it creates work for people who didn’t ask for any of it.
And if my association with this situation contributed in any way to bringing unwanted attention onto people simply trying to serve their communities, I’m sorry.
They deserved better than becoming collateral damage in somebody else’s dispute.
And Now Audacy Kansas City Is My Problem Again
I didn’t ask for that.
For nearly a year and a half, I was perfectly content leaving the past where it belonged.
But if my current employer is receiving cease-and-desist correspondence from my former employer over programming being distributed on small Kansas stations, then yes:
Now I’m paying attention.
And because On The Dial covers the radio industry, I’m going to say what I would say if this happened somewhere else.
This looks ridiculous.
Not because intellectual property doesn’t matter.
It absolutely does.
But because proportionality matters too.
Corporate power matters.
Context matters.
And so does the optics of a massive audio company directing legal pressure toward a small-market broadcaster that poses no realistic competitive threat to its Kansas City operation.
Radio Has Bigger Problems Than This
That’s what makes me angry.
Look around our industry.
Radio is fighting for attention against Spotify.
YouTube.
TikTok.
Podcasts.
Satellite radio.
Connected dashboards.
Streaming services.
Gaming.
Every app on somebody’s phone.
Every creator capable of building an audience without owning a transmitter.
Meanwhile, terrestrial radio continues cutting personalities, consolidating operations and asking fewer people to accomplish more.
We have enough problems.
Small-market broadcasters are out there trying to keep local radio alive in communities that major companies aren’t exactly fighting to serve.
They’re covering high-school sports.
Supporting local businesses.
Promoting community events.
Talking about the county fair.
Helping when severe weather comes through.
Doing the unglamorous work that has kept radio relevant for generations.
Maybe that deserves a little respect.
And Since the Timing Was So Perfect
I suppose I owe a belated greeting.
Happy National Radio Day.
Seriously.
What a way to celebrate.
While broadcasters across America were posting pictures of old microphones, remembering their first stations and talking about why they fell in love with this ridiculous business…
we were dealing with a cease-and-desist.
You cannot write comedy that good.
So, Roxanne Marati and JR Ammons, Happy Belated National Radio Day.
I’ve been a little busy.
My apologies for the delayed wishes.
Here Is What I Would Rather See Audacy Kansas City Do
Make incredible Kansas City radio.
That’s it.
Win.
Compete.
Create something people cannot live without.
Give Kansas City personalities worth talking about.
Create moments.
Build community.
Make people laugh.
Break stories.
Own the streets.
Serve advertisers.
Develop young broadcasters.
Make listeners afraid they’ll miss something if they turn the station off.
That’s the fight worth having.
Not this one.
Because Burlington, Kansas isn’t your problem.
Emporia isn’t your problem.
A small broadcaster serving communities outside your core market isn’t your existential threat.
The infinite number of alternatives available to every person carrying a smartphone is your competition.
Fight that battle.
And Here Is My Final Thought
I understand something about corporate radio.
To a large company, any individual personality can eventually become a line on a spreadsheet.
Replaceable.
Reducible.
Expendable.
I’ve made peace with that.
What I haven’t made peace with is seeing unnecessary corporate nonsense spill over onto people who had absolutely nothing to do with whatever happened between me and my former employer.
So here’s the advice I’d offer:
Leave the small-town broadcasters alone and concentrate on making great Kansas City radio.
Let them serve their communities.
Let them work.
Let them compete.
And if there’s a legitimate intellectual-property disagreement, resolve it professionally, proportionately and without turning it into something larger than it needs to be.
Because there is an old lesson about reputation that applies remarkably well here.
Sometimes it is better to let people wonder whether you’re being small and petty…
than to keep handing them evidence for the argument.
I spent the last year and a half believing Audacy Kansas City wasn’t my problem anymore.
I liked it that way.
I sincerely wish they had too.
An On The Dial Editorial
This column represents the personal opinion and perspective of Steven Mills, President and Publisher of On The Dial, who has direct professional connections to the organizations discussed. Nothing in this editorial is intended as a determination regarding the legal merits of any copyright claim. Those questions belong to the parties and their legal counsel. This editorial addresses the proportionality, industry implications and judgment surrounding the dispute.