While its $5.75 million deal announced in April to combine its cluster with NRG Media’s cluster to create an eleven brand super-cluster in Lincoln NE remains pending, Connoisseur Media cut the entire local staff of Rock/Alternative “104.1 The Blaze” KIBZ Crete/Lincoln.
Among the talents exiting the station are Program Director/afternoon host Jon ‘The Animal’ Terry, midday host Lexi Trumbley, evening host Nathan ‘Nate Nation’ Glass, and “Local Bandwidth” host Luna Chic. The station has also dropped the KEZO Omaha based “Todd-N-Tyler Radio Empire” morning show.
Despite speculation on social media, the new station lineup does not include any AI personalities. Compass Media Networks’ Free Beer and Hot Wings is added for mornings, while Connoisseur national voicetrackers DJ Mighty Iris and Jon Kamal will voicetrack middays and afternoons respectively.
Should the waiver to purchase NRG’s cluster be granted, KIBZ will overlap with new sister “105.3 The Bone” KLNC Lincoln. KIBZ dropped from a 5.7 share to a 2.6 in the Spring 2026 Nielsen Audio ratings, while KLNC was down from a 2.4 to 1.6 share. Connoisseur also owns Classic Rock “92.9 The Eagle” KTGL Beatrice/Lincoln with its co-market leading 7.9 share.
Trumbley wrote, “Signing off one last time as Lex on 104.1 The Blaze. I’ve been having a lot of bittersweet feelings over the last few days. I’ve loved my time on the Blaze, and in a lot of ways, I feel like I grew up on this station. So much love to my Blaze family, who I know are feeling all the same emotions. And to everyone who’s ever listened to me, supported me, or spent even a little bit of time with me on the air, thank you so much. It truly means more than you know. You may not hear us over your radio anymore, but just know we love the shit out of all of you 🖤 You’ve been listening Lex on The Blaze… Peace.”
