CLASS OF 2013
Ken Fearnow began his radio career as a disc jockey and television weathercaster on Midway Island, while in the Navy. From there he evolved into station management guiding stations and clusters to success.
After working through the ranks of programming, sales, and management at a small station in Oklahoma City, Fernow managed his first radio station in Tulsa before joining Great Empire Broadcasting and moving to Omaha as a sales manager in 1979.
The company was making inroads into Omaha with KYNN but soon found a better signal with WOW AM/FM. Fearnow was made vice president and general manager of the stations in 1983, the stations reaching massive shares over the next 16 years, earning 20 percent of the market’s revenue at one point. When WOW was sold in 1999 Ken was moved to sister station KFDI in Wichita, making it the Kansas “Station of the Year” in 1999 and 2000.
Fearnow had served on the Nebraska Broadcasters Association board of directors and was its Chairman in 1988. He later served as the Legislative Liaison Committee Chair for the association.
Ken returned to Omaha in 2002 as President of Waitt Radio Networks and grew format affiliations from 48 to 155 stations in only two years. In 2004 he was named Regional Vice-President of Waitt/NRG radio in Omaha, where he guided the eight-station cluster to a ten-fold bottom line increase.
In 2007, he moved to Cumulus Media’s five radio station cluster in Lexington, Kentucky as VP/GM and directed its turnaround. In 2008, he transferred to Cumulus’ Fayetteville and Fort Smith, Arkansas radio operations which included 11 stations.
After a brief hiatus from radio, Ken became Senior VP/Operations for the Payne Radio Group in eastern Oklahoma, and from 2011-2012, he was General Manager of Stillwater Broadcasting, LLC, overseeing four radio stations serving the Stillwater, Oklahoma area.
Ken has retired from the radio industry and resides in Oklahoma.
