The flagship station, KHCC, first signed on air September 11, 1972, as an 80-watt student station operated by what was then Hutchinson Junior Community College. Studios were in the basement of Kennedy Library.[1] In 1978, HJCC hired its first professional station manager, David Horning, as part of an effort to upgrade the station to an NPR member. On July 1, 1979, KHCC increased power to a full 100,000 watts from the former KTVH tower at Hutchinson, adding Wichita to its coverage area, and joined NPR.[2] becoming Kansas' third full NPR member. This also made Wichita one of the smallest markets with two competing NPR member stations. KHCC brought NPR programming to several Wichita suburbs who, at the time, got only a marginal signal from the market's other NPR member, KMUW; that station would not upgrade to full power until 1987.
KHCD was added on January 28, 1988,[3] followed by KHCT on August 3, 1992—delayed by the collapse of its first tower during construction.[4] In advance of KHCT signing on, KHCC rebranded itself as "Radio Kansas". Radio Kansas now serves a broadcast area with over one million, with a combined footprint covering most of the densely populated area of central Kansas.
Radio Kansas began broadcasting in the HD Radio format in 2006 and was one of the first NPR members to do so. In 2012, it signed on three additional HD streams on all three stations. HD2 ("New Grass Valley") is a full-time folk and bluegrass station, HD3 airs contemporary instrumental music ("The Breeze") and HD4 airs jazz ("Radio Kansas Jazz").
