A new book chronicling the life and broadcast career of Larry Steckline, written by his current wife, Carla Stovall Steckline, former Kansas Attorney General, she also shares her professional life, their courtship and her exit from politics. The book offers a comprehensive look at challenges Larry overcame and achievements he attained in his 50 years of farm broadcasting in Kansas. The book cover says about Larry, “He grew up using an outhouse, became an ag broadcasting powerhouse, was an invited guest at the White House, and now lives in a penthouse – this is the story of Larry Steckline, the ‘farmer's friend.’”Carla said, “We are selling this book on www.larrysteckline.com on behalf of local National Association of FFA chapters. The entire $20 purchase price is being donated to FFA because Larry wants to give back to the agricultural community that made him – personally and professionally – the man he is.”
Larry grew up on a tiny 200-acre leased farm in western Kansas, where he and his parents raised wheat and milked 20 cows twice daily for their income. Seeing no future in this, he enrolled at the Wichita Business College to become a bookkeeper and obtained a job at the Wichita Union Stockyards. After a promotion to PR Director, he presented the live noon TV markets. A radio entrepreneur spotted him and lured him from the stockyards to become a salesman and farm director.
Larry worked with KFRM-AM (Clay Center, KS) for several years, tripling its sales revenue, until he was fired one morning after his boss finalized plans to sell his stations. With a wife, three children and mortgages on a farm and home, Larry fretted about how to make a living. He created the Mid America Ag Network (Wichita, KS) and sold his farm reports to regional radio stations, eventually reaching into four states. He built an FM station in 1974 in Hays, KS, before FM could be heard in many homes or cars. He thought it was the future of radio, although he struggled initially to get advertisers. Larry continued to build or buy stations and owned 27 over his career. Throughout his career, Larry continued delivering his farm reports on television and radio for 50 years and can now be found on the Internet at www.larrysteckline.com. He still broadcasts agri-business issues daily on KWLS-107.9 FM (Winfield, KS), the only station he owns today. To promote his stations, Larry hosted country music concerts. He hired Roy Clark, Reba McIntire, Tanya Tucker, Charlie Pride, T.G. Shepherd, Ronnie Milsap, The Oakridge Boys, the Bellamy Brothers and many more. He and his first wife, Wah-leeta, led Kansas farmers on tours around the world to Russia, China, Australia, and South America. Sadly, she was killed in a farming accident in 2000, a few months shy of their 40th wedding anniversary.
About their life together, Carla said, “Larry and I met years before our first date when he interviewed me about the Republican River lawsuit I had filed, as Kansas Attorney General, against Nebraska. We argued for the entire three-minute interview so we both had to be convinced by our mutual friend to go to dinner together. We were married nine months later! That was nearly 13 years ago.” About writing the book, Carla said, “After Larry and I married, he shared many stories with me of his childhood and career that I found remarkable. I knew I was hearing things his children were unaware of and that, certainly, his grandchildren had never heard. I began to jot down these stories to preserve them for the family and then my project went on ‘steroids.’ I began researching his family history and learned many of his German ancestors moved to Russia at the behest of Catherine the Great in the 1700s and then to America in the 1800s, becoming some of the first Volga-Germans to settle in western Kansas. I am so proud of my husband and relished telling the stories of his struggles and failures followed, ultimately, by his many successes.”
What does Larry say in response? “I’ve had a great ride, that’s all I can say. Although as a child I couldn’t have a nickel candy bar unless the cream had been exceptionally thick that week, I wouldn’t change a thing. I learned to work hard and to appreciate what I have. I subscribe to the philosophy Roy Clark shared with me: I’m lucky and I spell luck, w-o-r-k. Farmers and ranchers made my success, and I’m happy that we are donating 100 percent of the purchase price of our book to local chapters of Kansas FFA. That was important to me. We need young people today to appreciate the impact of agri-business on our national economy.”
