© 2025 Kansas Public Radio

91.5 FM | KANU | Lawrence, Topeka, Kansas City
96.1 FM | K241AR | Lawrence (KPR2)
89.7 FM | KANH | Emporia
99.5 FM | K258BT | Manhattan
97.9 FM | K250AY | Manhattan (KPR2)
91.3 FM | KANV | Junction City, Olsburg
89.9 FM | K210CR | Atchison
90.3 FM | KANQ | Chanute

See the Coverage Map for more details

FCC On-line Public Inspection Files Sites:
KANU, KANH, KANV, KANQ

Questions about KPR's Public Inspection Files?
Contact General Manager Feloniz Lovato-Winston at fwinston@ku.edu
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Live Music on the Radio Has a Long History in Kansas (It May Have a Future Too)

From the 1940's through the mid 1980's, the "Pleasant Valley Gang" filled the early morning airways with live music on WIBW Radio 580 in Topeka. (Photo Courtesy WIBW)
From the 1940's through the mid 1980's, the "Pleasant Valley Gang" filled the early morning airways with live music on WIBW Radio 580 in Topeka. (Photo Courtesy WIBW)

Thirty-five years ago, the Pleasant Valley Gang played their final radio show on WIBW in Topeka. It was America’s last known live music radio show and marked the end of an era that once featured hundreds of musicians performing live on radio...or so it seemed, until the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, some Kansas musicians are reviving live music on the airwaves and on the internet. Barney McCoy told the story for Nebraska's NET News in Lincoln.


This report as produced by Barney McCoy, professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This story comes to us from NET, Nebraska's PBS & NPR Stations, the statewide public media service.