Well-known Wichita DJ, musician and voice of Spangles commercials dies suddenly at 62

Denise Neil
·5 min read

Most longtime Wichitans knew Sandy White even if they didn’t know they knew him.

They may have become familiar with his voice in the 1990s, when he served as the well-known midday DJ on rock station T-95.

They may have seen him passionately rocking his guitar on stage at Jerry’s or the Kansas Star Casino as part of his band Ten Day Wish.

Undoubtedly, they’d recognize his deep voice from one of the dozens and dozens of radio and television ads he created and narrated over the years, especially those for Wichita fast-food chain Spangles.

White, 62, died suddenly on Monday after collapsing at his Wichita home, said his wife and fellow Ten Day Wish band member, Tanya White. His death was unexpected, she said, and she and his many friends and fans are having trouble accepting it.

“I just have been blown away since he passed away as to how many messages and posts there have been about him,” said Tanya, who in November would have celebrated her 34th wedding anniversary with Sandy. “I am just so thrilled, and I just wish he would have known that that’s how much he was loved.”

Since Monday, social media has been filled with tributes to Sandy, who his widow described as a soft-spoken man who loved people and above all loved performing.

Sandy White, who died on Monday, is pictured as a young musician
Sandy White, who died on Monday, is pictured as a young musician

Sandy White grew up in Colby and eventually moved to Hays, which is where he started his radio career. He met Tanya in Great Bend when a friend dragged her to a wedding reception where Sandy’s band was performing. They married, and the following year, Sandy got a job offer from T-95, which at the time was Wichita’s premiere rock station. He moved to Wichita first, then Tanya followed.

A talented guitar player, Sandy had performed with a country band and often pulled his singer wife on stage to perform Anne Murray songs, she said. After they married, they started a band called Exit Stage Left, which eventually morphed into Ten Day Wish — an anagram of Sandy White’s name.

The band — with Tanya on vocals — played all the time, sometimes every weekend, Tanya remembers. It became well-known as a cover band that performed a lively set and could get people dancing.

“When we were performing, he was the man about town,” Tanya said. “He loved it so much, and he loved being around people. You could just tell it just made his life. It was awesome.”

Ten Day Wish, featuring Sandy White, front left, and wife Tanya White, front right, performed regular around Wichita for 30 years.
Ten Day Wish, featuring Sandy White, front left, and wife Tanya White, front right, performed regular around Wichita for 30 years.

White stayed at T-95 through the mid-2000s, when he became one of many victims of radio downsizing. While at the station, he’d also served as the station’s production director — voicing and editing commercials and winning several awards doing so.

During his time at T-95, he grew close with fellow radio personality Carol Hughes, who he’d first met in seventh grade art class in Colby. At the radio station, the two shared a small office, where she worked as a copywriter and he as a producer.

Hughes said if she ever got stuck on a writing job, Sandy would always serve as her sounding board.

“He always had a way of coming up with a great idea and could bring it to life in the studio,” she said. “He was one of the best producers in the business.”

After he left radio, Sandy built his own business and got voice-over jobs from clients around the world. He also was a producer and did his work from his own recording studio in the basement of his Wichita home.

One of his big clients was Spangles, who he worked with for two decades. Spangles operations director Rene Steven, also famous for voicing the restaurant’s famous commercials, said she frequently worked with Sandy in his home studio and admired his talent and drive.

Sandy White served as the midday DJ and as production manager at radio station T-95 throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. He’s pictured here at age 18, when his radio career first started.
Sandy White served as the midday DJ and as production manager at radio station T-95 throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. He’s pictured here at age 18, when his radio career first started.

He often wrote the Spangles commercials, and she trusted him to make changes on the fly. He made her better at voice-over work, she said, and could always tactfully tell her if her performance could be better.

“He was always very flexible and so appreciative of the business we gave him,” she said. “He really valued our relationship and never took it for granted.”

Ten Day Wish remained active until its beloved keyboardist, Steven “Tank” Tankersley, died in 2020. Recently, the Whites had met some new musicians and were working on a Ten Day Wish revival. Sandy was excited.

Tanya said that she would still like to get the band going again.

“I’m really considering it because I think Sandy would want us to, and I need to sing again,” she said. “I need to be happy again. It’s kind of medicine for your soul.”

Hughes said she will remember her friend as a great musician, as someone born with a voice for radio and as an animal lover.

The band Ten Day Wish’s name is an anagram of leader Sandy White’s own name.
The band Ten Day Wish’s name is an anagram of leader Sandy White’s own name.

But the role she said White played best was husband to Tanya and devoted stepfather to Tanya’s son, Jason, who was a boy when Tanya and Sandy married.

“The one thing I think he’d want to be remembered for is his relationship with his wife, Tanya,” Hughes said. “Those two were meant to be together. He loved her deeply, and you could feel it when you were around them.”

Friends of the Whites have set up a Go Fund Me to help Tanya with expenses. To find it, search www.gofundme.com for “Donate in memory of Sandy White.”