Every once in a while, radio reminds everybody exactly why this medium still matters.
Not because of a ratings point. Not because somebody played a massive record first. Not because of a contest, a benchmark bit or a perfectly executed morning-show clock.
Sometimes eight minutes of radio can potentially change the rest of somebody’s life.
That is exactly what happened this morning in Kansas City.
On WDAF-FM 106.5 The Wolf, the Jenny and Jagger Morning Show with Matt Gapske opened its microphones for an approximately eight-minute conversation with fellow broadcaster, programmer and On The Dial President and Publisher Steven Mills, along with Minneapolis kindness creator Josh Liljenquist.
The subject wasn’t radio ratings.
It wasn’t programming.
It wasn’t the latest format change.
It was finding Steven a kidney.
And for eight incredibly important minutes, one of Kansas City’s major radio stations helped make that search a whole lot louder.
Eight Minutes Can Be Enormous When You Only Need to Find One Person
Think about what happened.
Steven doesn’t need every person listening to become a kidney donor.
He doesn’t need 10,000 people.
He doesn’t need 1,000.
Ultimately, he needs one compatible donor.
One.
That means every additional person who hears this story matters.
Someone heard it driving to work.
Someone heard it getting the kids ready for school.
Someone heard it sitting in Kansas City traffic.
Someone may have turned the radio up when they heard the words kidney donor.
And someone may have immediately thought:
Could I help?
Or perhaps even more importantly:
I know somebody who needs to hear this.
That’s why eight minutes matters.
This Was Radio Taking Care of One of Its Own
There’s another layer to this story that makes it particularly meaningful at On The Dial.
Steven Mills is a radio guy.
He’s spent decades behind microphones, programming radio stations and working inside this wonderfully unpredictable business. Today, he’s President and Publisher of On The Dial, where the mission is to champion the personalities, programmers, executives and companies continuing to build broadcast radio.
But this morning Steven wasn’t talking about somebody else’s radio story.
He was the story.
And instead of talking about transmitters, talent changes or formats, he was talking about the fight for his life.
Fellow radio people gave him the microphone.
That’s something we will never forget.
The Journey Started More Than a Decade Ago
For listeners discovering Steven’s story for the first time this morning, kidney failure isn’t where this journey began.
It stretches back to 2013, when Steven was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The battle ultimately required a bone marrow transplant before he finally defeated the cancer.
Then came another devastating diagnosis.
Colon cancer.
Another fight.
Another treatment.
Another chapter nobody volunteers to live through.
Then, in 2023, came the diagnosis that changed everything again:
Total renal failure.
Today Steven undergoes dialysis while searching for the kidney transplant that could give him something most of us take completely for granted:
A chance to simply live life without dialysis controlling it.
And Steven Is Not an Easy Match
This is where the story becomes extraordinarily complicated.
Steven’s previous bone marrow transplant makes the transplant journey considerably more complex because of the immune system and Human Leukocyte Antigen HLA considerations involved in finding a compatible kidney.
Finding somebody willing to donate is only the beginning.
Finding compatibility is the mountain.
That’s why this campaign has become a search far beyond Steven’s immediate family, church, friends or radio community.
The circle has to become enormous.
Kansas City.
Kansas.
Missouri.
The Midwest.
America.
Social media.
Radio.
Television.
Everybody.
Because somewhere inside that enormous circle may be the one.
Then Josh Liljenquist Heard the Story
And this is where everything changed.
Josh Liljenquist is a Minneapolis-based kindness content creator and the force behind Live to Love, a nonprofit built around helping people through acts of humanity.
Josh’s work is centered around something that sounds incredibly simple but has become increasingly rare:
Seeing people.
Not engagement numbers.
Not views.
Not algorithms.
People.
And when Steven’s story reached Josh, he didn’t simply share it and move on.
He got involved.
He amplified it.
He brought his community into the fight.
And this morning, Jenny, Jagger and Matt gave Josh the microphone to explain why.
Josh was able to tell Kansas City the story from the perspective of the man who decided Steven’s search deserved to become everybody’s search.
And that matters.
This Is What Kindness Content Should Become
The internet is full of “kindness content.”
You watch.
You smile.
Maybe you cry.
Then you scroll.
Josh’s work asks people to do something else.
Act.
That’s exactly what has happened with Steven’s story.
Watch the story.
Understand the need.
Share it.
Tell somebody.
Consider becoming a donor.
Help financially if you can.
Pray.
Do something.
Because when somebody is searching for a living kidney donor, sharing isn’t meaningless social-media engagement.
Every share makes the search geographically larger.
Every share creates another chance.
And This Morning WDAF FM Became Part of the Ripple
That’s what makes what happened on 106.5 The Wolf so special.
Jenny.
Jagger.
Matt Gapske.
The producers.
The programmers.
The people behind the scenes.
Everybody who helped make those eight minutes possible.
They took something moving across social media and through news coverage and put it directly into the ears of Kansas City morning-radio listeners.
Eight minutes in morning drive is valuable real estate.
Every broadcaster knows it.
There are songs that could have played there.
Commercial inventory.
Features.
Entertainment.
Phone calls.
Instead, for those minutes, they gave the floor to two people trying to accomplish something infinitely more important.
Find a kidney.
Thank you.
Seriously.
This Is What Radio Can Do That Spotify Never Will
Spotify can create an incredible playlist.
Apple Music can learn exactly what songs somebody loves.
An algorithm can predict the next record remarkably well.
But an algorithm doesn’t wake up in Kansas City and say:
One of our people needs help Give him the microphone
Human beings do that.
Local personalities do that.
Radio does that.
And THAT is why those of us who love this industry continue fighting so hard for it.
Radio’s greatest competitive advantage was never the transmitter.
It is human connection.
This morning was eight minutes of human connection.
Now We Need You
Hearing Steven’s story is wonderful.
Sharing encouragement is wonderful.
Praying for him is deeply appreciated.
But somebody reading this may be able to take another step.
If you are interested in seeing whether you could potentially become Steven’s living kidney donor, the process begins with the HCA Midwest Health Living Donor Program.
Steven Mills’ date of birth is 12/23/1977, which will be needed when contacting the program.
LIVING KIDNEY DONOR INFORMATION
https://www.hcamidwest.com/patient-resources/living-donor-program
You don’t have to determine whether you’re compatible yourself.
Let the transplant professionals do that.
Your job is simply deciding whether you’re willing to ask the question.
Could I be the one?
If You Cannot Donate There Is Another Way to Help
Josh and the community surrounding this story are also helping Steven through the enormous financial realities accompanying dialysis, transplant preparation and the other expenses associated with this journey.
STEVEN MILLS GOFUNDME
Donate if you’re able.
Share if you’re able.
Pray if that’s how you support people.
But most importantly:
Please don’t allow the story to stop with you.
Because the person who ultimately changes everything may not have heard 106.5 The Wolf this morning.
They may hear about Steven because YOU shared this article.
An On The Dial Perspective
This one is personal.
Our President and Publisher is fighting for his life while continuing to work every day covering and championing the radio industry he has loved for decades.
And this morning, that same industry gave something back.
A microphone.
An audience.
Eight minutes.
A chance.
That’s radio at its absolute best.
Not corporate radio.
Not independent radio.
Not Country radio.
Not Talk radio.
Not major-market radio.
Not small-market radio.
Human radio.
The kind of radio where somebody discovers another human being needs help and simply says:
Come tell people.
Eight minutes.
Eight minutes for Steven Mills to explain why he needs a kidney.
Eight minutes for Josh Liljenquist to explain why he decided to stand beside him.
Eight minutes for Jenny, Jagger and Matt Gapske to put that story into automobiles, offices, kitchens and homes throughout Kansas City.
And somewhere…
Maybe in Kansas City.
Maybe somewhere else in Kansas or Missouri.
Maybe hundreds or thousands of miles away after somebody shares this story…
Steven’s match could be hearing his name for the very first time.
That’s why we keep telling it.
That’s why Josh keeps pushing it.
That’s why the media coverage matters.
That’s why every single share matters.
And that’s why those eight minutes on Kansas City radio mattered so damn much.
To Jenny, Jagger, Matt Gapske, WDAF-FM and 106.5 The Wolf:
From all of us at On The Dial…
Thank you for loving out loud.
Now let’s finish this story.
Let’s get the link everywhere.
Let’s get people tested.
Let’s make so much noise that this search becomes impossible to ignore.
Kansas City let’s find the one.
LIVING DONOR PROGRAM:
https://www.hcamidwest.com/patient-resources/living-donor-program
STEVEN’S GOFUNDME:
https://gofund.me/aa5c1b617
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