“This is like coming home.”
— Rob Burton, the new vice president and market manager for Clear Channel Radio Wichita, who previously was in Wichita managing Journal Broadcast Group from late 2003 to summer 2007
“This is like coming home.”
— Rob Burton, the new vice president and market manager for Clear Channel Radio Wichita, who previously was in Wichita managing Journal Broadcast Group from late 2003 to summer 2007
WICHITA — Alan Jackson may still sing “she’s gone country,” but KFTI, 1070-AM, will no longer play it.
The station has now gone oldies, with a format that will include pop and rock from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
The new call letters are KLIO.
For years, when radio listeners thought of classic country in Wichita they thought of KFDI, 1070-AM — later renamed KFTI — and powerhouse personalities like Johnny Western and the late Mike Oatman.
Western retired last month.
No one with Journal Broadcast Group could be reached for comment.
In a prepared statement, Eric McCart, vice president and general manager of the Wichita operations explained the switch to oldies.
“There is a gap in the Wichita market that needs to be filled,” he said.
There was no mention of the classic country station’s storied history.
WICHITA — After what he says has been five months of waiting, Brett Harris has been offered a new three-year contract at B98 FM.
“For five months, I didn’t have any contract talk at all,” Harris says.
That’s led him to look at what he calls “a menu of other options if Clear Channel wasn’t interested in me.”
Harris says he had to consider alternatives to protect his family, which includes two young girls.
“If you don’t get an offer in five months, you naturally are going to look at your options for your daughters.”
One of those options, which is still on the table, is for Harris and a group of investors to buy Journal Broadcast Group’s classic country station KFTI, 92.3-FM.