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KNZA Founder Mike Carter Dies

By Brian Hagen

09/24/2012

(KNZA)--A radio station pioneer, who once lived in the local area, has died.

Mike Carter was the founder of KNZA 103.9 in Hiawatha and was 73-years-old at the time of death Sunday, at his home in Carrollton, Missouri.

He once resided in rural Everest where he farmed, and was an avid enthusiast of broadcasting.

Beginning his career in Des Moines, Iowa in the 1960's, it wasn't long before he was on the air at Kansas City's KMBZ. It was there that Carter and co-worker Bill Bilyeu decided to start their own radio station, which became Hiawatha's KNZA FM 103.9, which went on the air in August of 1977.

While it can't be documented, it's believed that KNZA was the first stand alone FM station in the state of Kansas, meaning that all other FM's, until that time, were spin-off's of already established AM stations.

Carter went on to purchase KAOL AM and FM in Carrollton in 1983, renamed three years later as The Farm.

In 1993, he purchased WHB in Kansas City, which he owned until 1999. Around that same time, KTRX in Tarkio, Missouri was acquired, followed by the 1996 formation of a new station, KRLI.

Funeral services will be Sunday in Carrollton.

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