Be a Member Underwriting Arts Calendar  

David Horning

My career in public radio started a little bit before there really was public radio. I was starting my second year of college at Wichita State University and was already working on my fifth unsuccessful major. During registration I became aware of the campus radio station. After a little exploring I decided that this was pretty interesting and held somewhat more future than my current major, math. (The fact that I had a solid D average in math was another small factor.)

I began work at KMUW-FM at Wichita State in 1970. I did a number of things there as did most students. I worked as student production director, assistant engineer, announcer, and many other things. However, I was most attracted to the news. I was lucky enough to be on the air when NPR aired it's very first programming, coverage of the Senate Vietnam hearings in April of 1971 and I was also on the air when All Things Considered premiered on May 3, 1971.

While continuing to work at KMUW, I also worked at a couple of commercial radio stations in Wichita while finally ending up with a master's degree a few years later. I also worked for KWCH-TV(then KTVH) as a booth announcer. I also worked and volunteered for channel 8 and channel 10.

My real breakthrough came when I began graduate school in 1973. That's when I started hosting a daily ½ hour interview program. In the next two years I had a chance to talk with a huge variety of people. I was lucky enough to also be able to share a great number of these interviews with the rest of the country through submissions to National Public Radio.

After graduating in 1976 with a master's degree, I moved to WBAA-AM at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. As Public Affairs Director, I continued to do a number of interviews each day. I also continued to produce programming to air nationally on NPR.

In 1979 Hutchinson Community College planned to put on a professional public radio station, KHCC. I was privileged to be hired as the first General Manager of KHCC. As the years went by we built KHCD and KHCT and eventually became Radio Kansas.

I just finished my 27th year here and am still having a great time and looking forward to the continued growth of Radio Kansas.
 
 


Listen On-Line
| Be a Member | Programming | Underwriting
Signal Coverage | Employment | Contact Us | Home

815 N. Walnut, Suite 300, Hutchinson KS 67501 - (620) 662-6646

A service of Hutchinson Community College
Copyright 2001-2007, Radio Kansas, All rights reserved