Originally featured in our December 2023 Legacy Ledger, this alumni spotlight shares the story of Mike Olmstead, Floyd Central Class of 1989.
From choir and theatre at Floyd Central to a long career in broadcast journalism, Mike built his path through sports reporting, producing, anchoring, and media relations. His career has taken him from Joplin to Fayetteville, Tulsa, Louisville, and back to Joplin, where his work has earned recognition from multiple broadcasting organizations.
Rex Bickers (FCHS ‘70)
Mike Olmstead
(FCHS, 1989)
In a grade school play, Mike Olmstead got a big laugh from the crowd when he delivered a single line. He wanted more of that, daring to dream of becoming a performer when he grew up.
At Floyd Central, he did well in choir. In theatre, he found motivation in the “tough love” of Glenn Edwards, But college seemed different; he felt unprepared. He credits a classmate of his younger brother Rob (FCHS ’91): Travis Schraffenberger as just the kind of friend he needed. Travis was at Franklin College; a relatively new TV station had been launched on campus. He told him straight up: “You should transfer here”. Mike did and studied broadcast journalism before leaving Franklin in 1995, after his junior year.
In broadcasting, he chose to focus on sports. In high school, he hadn’t been a varsity athlete in any sport. And yet, he really admired the classroom teachers who were also coaches: Cerqueira. Hinton, Rick Miller, as well as both Bob and Dave Caple. At Franklin, he got to cover some sports and campus news stories; he racked up various demo video tapes. He set out to find an entry-level TV job in sports and a promising call came from Joplin, Missouri: KSNF, the local NBC affiliate. Mike landed the job over the phone without any face-to-face interview. (Funny anecdote: he initially thought “Wow, I guess I’m pretty good”. As he later learned, KSNF had no budget to fly candidates in for interviews!)
He succeeded in Joplin. He got better offers: four years there landed him in Fayetteville, Arkansas, then Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 2007, he got the chance to come “back home” to Kentuckiana, at WDRB. Curious twist: he was a mentor to Larra Overton, who was interning there! He developed a strong resume of work at WDRB, and at WAVE-3 also, gaining extensive producer experience.
Back in Joplin, various people remembered Mike from the 90’s and they were careful to keep tabs on his career. In 2011, the Fox affiliate KFJX asked him to return to Joplin as a news anchor and executive producer. He was there for eight years; in 2015, he was recognized as Best News Anchor in the state by the Missouri Broadcasters Association. In 2018, he was recruited by Missouri Southern State University to head their media relations. By early 2021, local television reeled him back in… to KSNF, where he first started.
Later that year, ABC affiliate KODE chose him as their main news anchor (the two stations share the same building and the same ownership). Working for three of the four networks in Joplin, Mike has also earned awards from the Associated Press and the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. It seems likely that the accolades will keep on coming.
Mike and his wife, Cynthia, live in Joplin and have three children: Chandler, Mykala and Jude.
Read the entire December 2023 Legacy Ledger (Issue 40) edition.