Shout it from the rooftop! At least from the rooftop of the FORMER BW Radio world headquarters at 1700 West 17th. It's been our home since 1953. Now we are working in our new location at 9th and Main, south of the Hutchinson Public Library, in what was the Commerce Bank building. We call it the Eagle Media Center.
OUR NEW HOME AS OF JUNE 2007
May 28th, 1935. Hutchinson's first radio station, KWBG went on the air, the ninth in Kansas according to information from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.
From the City of Hutchinson's website, hutchgov.com: "In the midst of this difficult period (the Great Depression), Hutchinson was given the gift of its first radio station. KWBG, “Keep With Bill Greenwald”, broadcast its first signals in May 1935, from the second floor of the Great American Life Building in downtown Hutchinson." The next time you visit the Reno County Museum at Avenue 'A' and Walnut, you can say you've been in the original home of KWBG and KWBW Radio!
Thanks to Wilma 'Perky' Perks, who worked at BW from 1957-1991 as the original host of the Party Line program, along with information gathered at the Hutchinson Public Library and the Reno County Museum:
In 1940, BG became BW Radio after Mr. Greenwald sold his company, Nation's Center Broadcasting, to Bill and Bess Wyse of Austin, Texas.
Originally with 100 watts, BW Radio power was increased to 250 watts in 1942. Since then, power was raised to the current limit of 1000 watts.
In 1948 the tower, then located next to what is now the museum, came down during a windstorm. That led to relocating the tower in a farm pasture on 17th west of Hendricks, before the flood control ditch and 17th was a through street.
In 1950 Bill Wyse died and Bess took over ownership.
In 1951, BW studios and offices made the first of two moves. From The Fair City, written by Pat Mitchell, BW moved from what is now the museum to what is now the Labor Temple at 5th and Main. At the time, the Labor Temple was the Carnegie Library.
And about two years later, or nearly 20 years after going on the air, BW had a place to call its own. We're still here on West 17th in what was a pasture. Now, we're surrounded by homes on three sides and the flood control ditch to the west. The Hutchinson News reported May 3, 1953 the 3,000 square foot, $25,000 studios and business office joined the 500 square foot, $8,000 transmitter building.
According to Perky, Mrs. Wyse had two managers. Hal King and John Powell were with the station between 1950 and 1956.
Since 1956, there's been only two other managers. The Hutchinson News reported May 2, 1956 was the first day on the job for Fred Conger. The Yates Center native had radio experience in Topeka, Iowa City, and Lafayette, Indiana. According to The Hutchinson Spirit, written by Mary Lynn Baker and Jay Smith for the Reno County Museum, Bess Wyse-Rickard (she had remarried) sold a minority interest in the station to Mr. Conger. She became Vice President and Secretary of Nation's Center Broadcasting. Mr. Conger became President.
Mrs. Wyse-Rickard sold her remaining interest in 1986. The next transition started in 1989 when Mr. Conger sold Nation's Center Broadcasting to KAYS, Inc., headed by Ross Beach and Bob Schmidt of Hays. The relationship between Mr. Conger and Mr. Schmidt went back to the early 1950's as they were among the group that formed the KAB, then known as the Kansas Association of Radio Broadcasters.
The majority ownership of BW Radio is now in the hands of the more than 200 employees of Eagle Communications. Bob Schmidt became majority owner with the retirement of Ross Beach. In 1998 Mr. Schmidt made the gracious decision to start selling his interest to an Employee Stock Ownership Trust, or ESOP. Today, KWBW and fellow Eagle employees in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Colorado enjoy majority ownership thanks to Mr. Schmidt, who is Eagle's Chairman of the Board.
2006 has brought and will bring some of the biggest changes ever at BW Radio. In June, a new transmitter and related equipment were installed to maximize BW's authorized power of 1,000 watts and improve audio quality. On September 27th, it was announced BW and its sister stations were moving to 9th and Main, south of the Hutchinson Public Library, following Eagle Communications purchase of the former Commerce Bank building. Once the move is made, repairs to the BW tower and antenna will be made to further strengthen our signal.
In the summer of 2007, KWBW and it's two sister stations offically made the move into the Eagle Media Center at 9th and main. We now have about four times the space we used to have and our new facility is considered one of the nicest facilities in the state of Kansas.
A former NASA engineer, Tony Cuesta was the brains behind the scene in building our radio stations. Tony actually still has working equipment he designed on the moon. The heart of our operations are located in the old vault of the Commerce Bank building and there are over 7 miles of wires that make up our 3 radio stations. Thanks to Tony and our corporate office in Hays for allowing us to work out of this wonderful facility.
In December of 2008 the old building at 17th and Harding was demolished to make room for future upgrades to our control tower and better signal distribution. While the old building may be gone, we saved the old KWBW signage that stood atop of the building, with future plans being developed as to where it will go.
BW RADIO'S MISSION CONTROL
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