Former Great Bend radio personality, John O'Connor, won the 2021 Sonny Slater Award for Service to Station and Community through the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB).
The Sonny Slater Award was established in 1992 to honor Sonny Slater and to recognize a Kansas broadcaster, who is not an owner or general manager, for long-time service to his or her station and community.
O’Connor spent nearly 40 years entertaining, informing and educating Central Kansas as the Voice of the Golden Belt at Eagle Radio in Great Bend.
From his hometown in Wisconsin, John answered a recruitment ad in a broadcasting publication in 1973 for a position in Great Bend, Kansas, where he served as a full-time air personality and part time newsman for four years. He then took a radio hiatus to successfully own and operate a retail record store from 1977-1983. Then in early 1984, John was offered the shift he really wanted, the Morning Show on KVGB. He returned to broadcasting and owned the morning airwaves as a one-man morning show (with some help from a newsman) for 26 years.
In 2010 John semi-retired to a part time position with the station and continued to work daily for another nine years on KVGB.
Prior to coming to Great Bend, O'Connor served the industry and his nation in the U.S. Army. In 1970, O'Connor was drafted and orginally served as a medical clerk, until he obtained a transfer to Armed Forces Radio and TV in 1972.
Away from radio, O'Connor was an active member of the Great Bend Community Theater, starring in several productions.
Other community activities included:
- Membership in the local amateur radio club
- Board member for the Golden Belt Swim Team
- Board member for the Girls Home
- 4-H photo leader
- Member of the American Legion
- Member of the Great Bend Jaycees
In 2019, O'Connor signed off the KVGB airwaves on Aug. 15. He retired to Hutchinson with his wife so they could be close to their daughter and granddaughter. In his retirement in Hutchinson, O'Connor continued his volunteer efforts working as a tour guide at the Cosmosphere and as an adult reading tutor at the public library.
O'Connor joins Scott Donovan, Phil Grosshardt and Abram Burnett as Great Bend broadcasters to win the award.