[4] KFTI is one of oldest stations in Kansas, dating to 1923, when it was founded as KFKB in Milford by the notorious "goat gland doctor", J. R. Brinkley.

The station was first licensed, as KFKB, on September 20, 1923, to the Brinkley-Jones Hospital Association in the small town of Milford, Kansas, transmitting on 1050 kHz.

[8] After its introduction, KFKB was used to promote the hospital and a line of pharmaceutical products, and profits from these two sources provided funds that financed an ambitious range of programming.

[8] Finally, on February 2, 1931, the Court of Appeals of District of Columbia upheld the FRC's ruling denying the station's license renewal.

[22] On February 20, 1931, the Farmers and Bankers Life Insurance Company was authorized to take over station operations,[23][24] and the call sign was changed to KFBI on May 1, 1931.

[26] This move included the installation of a directional antenna with a strong null to the west, to be used at night, which eliminated the limitation that had previously restricted KFBI's hours of operation due to the need to protect KNX's nighttime signal.

Early in her career Pickford was known as the "Girl With the Golden Curls",[28] and the call letters were changed to the phonetically similar KIRL in 1960.

[31] Soon thereafter, Oatman and Mike Lynch became co-owners of Great Empire Broadcasting Inc., ultimately the parent company of KFDI AM and FM radio.

[34][35][36] The station was an affiliate of Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel, and also aired period American Top 40 with Casey Kasem programs.

[39] At midnight on October 22, 2014, KLIO switched from "ESPN Deportes" back to Classic Country, now simulcasting KFTI-FM, which Journal Communications was selling to Envision, a non-profit low vision advocacy group, in order to meet ownership requirements, as the Scripps buyout nullified the grandfathered ownership clause Journal had.

Scripps exited radio in 2018 and the Wichita stations went to SummitMedia in a four-market, $47 million deal completed on November 1, 2018.