This One Is Close to Home and It Opens Up Some Very Interesting Questions
Every once in a while, a radio transaction lands differently because you actually know the people, the company and the territory involved, and this is absolutely one of those stories for us at On The Dial. Steckline Communications is expanding its Wichita footprint with an agreement to acquire Classic Hits 92.7 KWME in Wellington from Murfin Media for $275,000, adding another FM signal to a locally based company whose radio footprint stretches from Wichita across western Kansas and into Oklahoma. And because Steckline isn’t some distant collection of call letters on a spreadsheet to us — they’re operating right here in our Kansas backyard — we’re immediately looking beyond the purchase price. What happens to Classic Hits 92.7? What happens to the people? What happens to the morning show? And perhaps most intriguing of all, what happens to longtime Wichita radio legend Jack Oliver and the morning program he’s been doing on KWME?
Because buying the frequency is the easy part.
What Steckline does with 92.7 could be the really fun part.
First This Is a Significant Move for Steckline
Steckline already has quite a collection of chess pieces on the Wichita radio board.
There’s 99.7 Hank FM KGHF with Classic Country.
There’s La Raza 102.5 serving Wichita’s Spanish-language audience.
There’s KGSO 1410 and 93.9, providing Sports programming.
There’s 1480 KQAM The Big Talker on the News/Talk side.
Now add:
92.7 KWME.
More importantly, add an FM signal with an established Classic Hits identity.
Steckline describes itself as a family-owned and locally based multimedia company, led by President and CEO Greg Steckline, with operations in Wichita, Garden City, Dodge City and Scott City, Kansas, along with Guymon, Oklahoma. It also operates the Mid America Network, extending agricultural, market, news and sports programming across a multistate region.
That’s why this isn’t some enormous national company dropping into Kansas.
This is Kansas radio buying more Kansas radio.
And there’s something we still like about that.
Now Everybody Is Going to Ask the Obvious Question
What happens to Classic Hits 92.7?
That’s the million-dollar question.
Well…
The $275,000 question, technically.
Sorry.
We had to.
There has been no announced format change associated with the transaction, so anything beyond the acquisition itself would be speculation.
And frankly, keeping Classic Hits would make plenty of sense.
Wichita already has an established appetite for familiar music, and KWME comes with an existing brand rather than an empty frequency requiring Steckline to invent something from scratch.
But ownership changes create possibilities.
Could Steckline retain the station largely as it exists?
Absolutely.
Could it tweak the music?
Sure.
Could it use 92.7 to create something completely different from the rest of the cluster?
Possible.
Could there eventually be more cross-promotion, shared programming, sales integration or personalities moving among the properties?
Now we’re getting interesting.
Greg Steckline just bought another FM chess piece.
We’re waiting to see where he puts it.
But We Have a Much More Personal Question
What happens to Jack Oliver?
Because if you’re going to talk Wichita radio history, you don’t simply skip over Jack Oliver.
You can’t.
Jack’s Kansas radio career stretches all the way back to 1969, including KLEO in Wichita, KGNO in Dodge City, KAKE Radio and an extraordinary run at KKRD before spending roughly two decades with KEYN. Following the death of Don Hall in 2020, Oliver moved into mornings at KEYN. His career ultimately earned him induction into the Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
That’s not merely an aircheck collection.
That’s Wichita radio history walking around in human form.
So when the station he’s currently associated with changes ownership, we’re naturally going to ask what happens next.
And What About the Morning Show
That’s another unanswered question.
Does the existing morning program remain intact?
Does Jack remain?
Does his co-host remain?
Does Steckline want to keep the personalities already associated with KWME?
Could Oliver potentially find an expanded role within the Steckline organization?
Could there be programming responsibilities?
Could the morning show evolve?
We don’t know.
And until Steckline or the people involved tell us, we aren’t going to manufacture an answer.
But we’re absolutely asking the questions.
Because listeners don’t experience radio acquisitions as FCC paperwork.
They experience them at 6:07 tomorrow morning.
They push the same preset.
They expect the same voices.
That’s where ownership changes become real.
And Jack Oliver Is Exactly the Kind of Broadcaster Radio Should Want to Keep Around
Think about this man’s career for a second.
Do the math.
Jack has been doing this through records, carts, reel-to-reel, CDs, hard drives, automation, satellite delivery, streaming and whatever artificial-intelligence contraption somebody invents before we finish writing this paragraph.
He’s watched Wichita radio ownership change.
Formats change.
Call letters change.
Technology change.
Entire companies disappear.
And Jack Oliver kept doing radio.
There’s a wonderful piece of advice attributed to him in his Kansas Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame biography: young broadcasters should find a community that appreciates them and stick around.
He certainly practiced the philosophy.
And that’s why we’d love to see a place for Jack in whatever comes next.
Then There Is the Steckline Name
If you’re outside Kansas, you may look at Steckline Communications as another independent regional broadcaster.
Around here?
That name means considerably more.
The Steckline broadcasting story is deeply tied to Kansas agriculture and local radio.
Today the company says it has been operating in its current form for more than two decades, but the family’s broadcasting legacy reaches considerably further back through legendary Kansas farm broadcaster Larry Steckline and the agricultural information operation that became synonymous with the name. The modern company continues that agricultural and regional information tradition through Mid America Network.
That’s an important distinction.
Because local ownership doesn’t automatically guarantee great local radio.
But local ownership at least means the person making the decision understands that Wellington isn’t Wichita, Wichita isn’t Garden City, Garden City isn’t Dodge City, and western Kansas isn’t simply empty space between Wichita and Colorado.
Those distinctions matter.
Steckline Has Quietly Built Something Pretty Interesting
Look at the company’s footprint today.
Wichita.
Garden City.
Dodge City.
Scott City.
Guymon.
Radio.
Sports.
Talk.
Country.
Spanish-language programming.
Agricultural information.
Digital.
Steckline’s own description emphasizes something we’ve been screaming about at On The Dial:
local radio.
The company remains independently owned in an industry increasingly dominated by enormous groups, syndicated programming and centralized operations.
Now it gets another opportunity to demonstrate what independent ownership can do.
Meanwhile Murfin Media Isn’t Leaving Wichita
That’s important too.
This transaction isn’t Murfin simply turning off the lights.
Murfin retains a significant group of stations serving the market, including 97.1 Bob FM KIBB, 100.5 The Twister KVWF, Thunder 1130/104.1 KLEY, and 1550 KKLE The Rock of Kansas.
So the competitive landscape remains interesting.
And that’s healthy.
Local companies competing against one another can create some damn good radio.
One tweaks the music.
Another improves mornings.
Somebody launches a promotion.
Somebody else responds.
Sales teams battle.
Programmers battle.
Listeners win.
Competition is supposed to be fun.
But Please Don’t Lose the People in the Transaction
This is where On The Dial will always come back.
We understand radio acquisitions.
Properties move.
Companies expand.
Strategies change.
Formats evolve.
But somewhere underneath the $275,000 figure are human beings wondering:
Do I still have a job?
That’s the part of these stories a purchase agreement never adequately communicates.
So our hope is simple.
We hope Steckline looks carefully at the people already contributing to KWME.
Keep the good ones.
Use the institutional knowledge.
Give talented people opportunities.
If changes are necessary, handle them with humanity.
Because a station isn’t the transmitter.
The transmitter doesn’t tell a joke.
The tower doesn’t answer the request line.
The antenna doesn’t show up at the county fair.
People make radio.
And Steckline Has an Opportunity Here
Not merely to own another frequency.
To make 92.7 matter.
Invest in it.
Promote it.
Put personalities on it.
Take it into Wellington.
Take it into Wichita.
Give advertisers reasons to use it.
Give listeners reasons to choose it instead of another Spotify playlist.
And whatever format eventually lives there, make it unmistakably Kansas.
That’s how you turn a $275,000 acquisition into something considerably more valuable than another license hanging on the wall.
Welcome to the Family KWME
This one is fun for us.
It’s close.
We know these communities.
We know these names.
We’ve watched Kansas radio change.
And now one of the state’s best-known independent broadcasting families is adding another piece to its Wichita operation.
So congratulations to Greg Steckline and the entire Steckline Communications team.
Congratulations to Murfin Media on reaching an agreement.
And most importantly, good luck to every employee on both sides of this transaction.
To Jack Oliver and everyone currently connected to Classic Hits 92.7:
We’re watching. We’re rooting for you. And we’re hoping there’s plenty more radio ahead.
Because somewhere in Wichita, Wellington or Belle Plaine, somebody is already looking at 92.7 on the dial and wondering:
What are they going to do with it?
So are we.
And Greg…
You know we’re going to ask.
What’s next?
An On The Dial Perspective
There is something particularly encouraging about seeing a locally based independent broadcaster invest further in terrestrial radio. Steckline Communications isn’t buying KWME from thousands of miles away; this is a company already deeply invested in Kansas broadcasting adding another Kansas signal to its portfolio. Now comes the important part. Protect the people where possible. Respect the station’s history. Give the personalities an opportunity to succeed. And build something listeners can’t get from an algorithm. We’ll especially be watching what happens with Jack Oliver and the KWME morning show, because heritage talent matters. Congratulations to everyone involved, and here’s hoping this transaction begins another great chapter for 92.7.
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