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 Bill Pearce, former host of Straight No Chaser

Bill Pearce 1946 - 2023

Music Producer and Host

We have sad news to share with you about a long-time music host at KMUW. Bill Pearce passed away. He hosted the jazz program Straight No Chaser for more than 10 years. Bill was always a wealth of knowledge when it came to the jazz world. He thought everyone on a CD cover deserved credit and was known to list the names from artists and musicians to engineers and producers. He was an avid listener to KMUW and was especially proud of the local news reporting and holding anyone in power accountable. We’ll miss Bill, and his Sunday night show Straight No Chaser.

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A Kansas native, Bill graduated with a degree in clarinet performance from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. While in Iowa, he worked at a commercial radio station playing pop-like music records and reading news.

After college, Bill returned to Wichita and began a career in photography. He worked for KTVH, commercial photo studios and Cessna. Bill got back into radio when he found a job at the now-defunct Friends University station. He played classical music during the week and hosted his own jazz show on Saturdays. He was the last person on air at the time of the station’s unfortunate demise. Prior to getting his own show, Bill read magazines like Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly and National Enquirer for eight years for KMUW’s Wichita Radio Reading Service.