A Kansas federal bankruptcy court auction held Thursday yielded one ultimate winner of 10 radio stations licensed to Rocking M Media, the company associated with the Miller family.
Who is Kyle Bauer? While he’s acquiring the stations through a newly formed company, he’s known for his leadership of “The Voice of the Plains” in Salina, Ks., as CEO of Taylor Communications.
Taylor is the licensee of KFRM-AM 550 in Salina, a Class D facility with a directional two-pattern signal and daytime power of 5kw, with 110 watts at night. It uses three towers and reaches Wichita, Hutchinson, and Hays — in addition to most of northern Oklahoma — during daylight hours. At night the station’s signal is concentrated on Minneapolis and Beloit, Ks.
His other station is KCLY-FM 100.9 in Clay Center, Ks., a 35kw Class C2 FM that “Sounds Like Home.” At 11:15am on Friday, it was playing “Nobody But Me” from Michael Bublé.
Bauer became a co-owner of Taylor Communications in 1994 and joined the management team in 1995. He is a Kansas State University grad, completing his studies in 1980.
Bauer has worked as a farmer, business operator, and commercial real estate owner, which he has continued in years since. His wife is a middle school teacher and together they have three grown children in the central Kansas region, and eight grandchildren.
He still remembers when KCLY came on the air in 1978. “It was a big deal for Clay Center at the time,” Bauer recalls of the station he now runs. Its signal contour includes Manhattan, Ks., and towns including Washington, Blue Rapids, Clyde, Miltonvale, Wakefield, and Junction City.
A February 15 hearing in Kansas Bankruptcy Court to approve the auction results are now all that stands between Bauer’s acquisition of 10 stations, instantly growing his broadcast assets five-fold.
