Bill Pearce

Bill Pearce is the host and producer of KMUW’sStraight No Chaser. The music program features mostly instrumental jazz, from early music to recent recordings and airs every Sunday at 9 p.m. 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.