Anyone remember Wild 92.9/Topeka?

[ksradiogeek]

2003 I believe is when this station came on the air. And aired The Playhouse from Portland in morning drive. Anyone remember DJ's and when it left the air? A station that I loved listening to, but is now long forgotten!

[ksradiogeek]

Also, where was the station's transmitter at? I thought I heard it in Ottawa (where I have family) a few times, but not sure.

[TheRob]

During the KANS days, the transmitter was close to Reading-- between Emporia and Osage City.

[ksradiogeek]

Maybe that's where I remembered it. But yeah, a station that should be brought back.

[Kent]

The station was upgraded and moved to northeast of Osage City before it became Wild 92.9.  KANS-FM targeted Emporia, and Emporia is now well outside 92.9's 60 dBu signal contour. 

I remember the station a little bit but only listened once or twice.  By that time, I was living in Columbia and didn't go to KC very often.  I worked a few hours a week at a rhythmic in Columbia, and I seem to remember its playlist as being very similar to ours for what little of it I heard.  I can understand, though, why it didn't do well in Topeka as well as why no one is likely to bring rhythmic back there.  Top-40 has struggled in Topeka since the end of WIBW-FM's days as a CHR more than 20 years ago, and rhythmic is often a really tough format to sell.  On top of that, making money in Topeka has always been difficult. 

[wdb2003]

That station did well. When Zimmer took over it was flipped to Adult Hits Max FM. The owners didnt care for Hip Hop music which is why KLZR flipped to Hot AC. 3 Point Media launched Wild and then sold it to Zimmer or Great Plains. Not sure of the name. Jocks were added shortly but it didnt last. The PD was there for a few months. It was automated for a year commerical free and it sounded good. I remeber the Playhosue was on from 7 til 10 from KXJM in Portland. Sometimes it would come in KC when I lived in Overland Park.

[Kent]

That station did well. When Zimmer took over it was flipped to Adult Hits Max FM. The owners didnt care for Hip Hop music which is why KLZR flipped to Hot AC.

Nope.  Top-40 on KLZR and Wild got okay ratings, but neither station made money.  No Topeka top-40 station has made significant money since 1989.  I've worked for the Zimmers, and I can tell you they don't care what goes out over the air on their stations so long as they're making money.  They've always had the philosophies that music is simply filler between commercials and that you're not sold out if you have music scheduled.  There was no conspiracy by a bunch of Jewish boys to get rid of hip-hop.  Also, if they were so against that kind of music, why did they just bring top-40 back to 105.9?

3 Point Media launched Wild and then sold it to Zimmer or Great Plains. Not sure of the name.

Zimmer initially bought 105.9, and the company broke up in 2004.  One of the brothers got Lawrence, another got Joplin while the other two got Columbia/Jefferson City.  The one who got Lawrence renamed his part of the company Great Plains.  I believe it was Great Plains when he got Wild 92.9.

It was automated for a year commerical free and it sounded good.

And this is why it changed formats.  It was commercial free for so long largely because no one could sell it.

[wdb2003]

Thanks for clearing that up Kent. When I made that statement about Zimmer not catering to a Rhythmic station I was going off what people said on Gatewaycity radio.com years ago.

[rockradio1017]

OH .. Look.. they brought it back... Kiss105.9 .. almost..

[ksradiogeek]

Great Plains, Viking, whatever the name is...decided to bring back an old moniker used twice in the market. VERY original, guys...