January 2000

WISCONSIN:
WATQ/106.7 (Chetek-Rice Lake-Menomonie-Eau Claire) dropped Classic Country for News/Talk today (1/31). The lineup is the same as sister station WMEQ/880 (Menomonie), including Rush, Dr. Laura, Michael Reagan, and Jim Bohannan, with CBS news on the hour. The stations have separate commercials, liners, and ID's. WATQ is still has its stereo pilot on. (1/31/2K)

WISCONSIN:
WJMC-FM (Rice Lake) is announcing frequently that they'll be changing from 96.3 to 96.1 tomorrow (2/1). The change will involve a large on-air cash giveaway. (1/31/2K)

WISCONSIN:
WMEQ-FM/92.1 (Menomonie-Eau Claire) has dropped the "Arrow" out of its name and is now known as "The Valley's Classic Rock 92.1." (1/29/2K)

MINNESOTA:
WMCN/91.7 (St. Paul) is off the air and has been since last September. Their antenna was supported by Macalester's old Student Union building, which was torn down. The antenna was damaged in the process, holding up the plan to begin broadcasting from the DeWitt Wallace Library. They had hoped to be back on the air by the beginning of this semester. (1/28/2K)

MINNESOTA:
The construction permit for 91.9 International Falls has changed call letters from KBOG to KXBR. The station is expected to have a Contemporary Christian format. (1/28/2K)

MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN:
Family Worship Center has applied for translator stations in the following locations: 90.5 Benson, 89.9 Canby, 88.1 Marshall, 90.5 Morris, 90.1 Walker, and 88.1 Warren, MN; and 90.1 Reedsburg, 89.9 Rhinelander, 90.1 Rice Lake, 91.5 Sparta, 90.5 Spring Green, 88.3 Wabeno, WI. (1/27/2K)

MINNESOTA: (updated)
Lake City FM Radio Venture is the winner of the settlement agreement for a new station on 94.9 in Lake City. The Venture is a combination of the original four applicants: James Ingstad, Sorenson Broadcasting, Jerry Papenfuss, and Gregory Gentling, with the same mailing address as Southern Minnesota Broadcasting, owner of Rochester market stations KROC/1340, KYBA/105.3, and KROC-FM/106.9. It will be a class A station (6kW at 100m) with transmitter here. 94.9 Lake City will have a fair signal into Rochester and a good signal into Red Wing. (1/26/2K)

IOWA/NEBRASKA/SOUTH DAKOTA:
Waitt Radio has hired Col. Jon Phillips to deliver daily farm market reports to its rural stations. Phillips most recently worked at WNAX/570 (Yankton). His reports are heard on Waitt stations in Algona, Boone, Fort Dodge, Sioux Center, Spirit Lake, Storm Lake, and Webster City, IA; Norfolk and Wayne, NE; and Brookings, Mitchell, Pierre, Watertown, and Yankton, SD. (1/26/2K)

NEBRASKA:
Waitt Broadcasting is buying KTCH/1590 and KTCH-FM/104.9 (Wayne) from Wayne Radio. (1/25/2K)

MINNESOTA:
The Educational Media Foundation has been granted a new translator in St. Cloud, K208DV/89.5. K208DV will broadcast the "Air1" Christian Rock format from KSKD-FM. (1/25/2K)

MINNESOTA:
The FCC has denied Family Worship Center Church's application for a new translator on 91.3 in Worthington. It would've relayed WJFM. (1/25/2K)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
The Calvary Chapel of Twin Falls, Idaho (KAWZ/Calvary Satellite Network) has applied for new translators on 90.9 in Box Elder and 88.7 in Rapid City. (1/25/2K)

WISCONSIN/MINNESOTA:
There's a rumor floating around that Hubbard Broadcasting is expanding its Twin Cities radio portfolio with the purchase of WIXK-FM/107.1 (New Richmond). The rumor is that 107.1 will change to a Smooth Jazz format and have a Twin Cities studio. Dan Smith currently owns WIXK-FM, as well as WIXK/1590 (New Richmond) and WEZU/1220 (Stillwater). WIXK AM-FM currently runs ABC's Real Country format, and WEZU runs ABC's Stardust. Once again, this is in the rumor stage. (1/22/2K)

MINNESOTA:
WLTE Lite Rock 103 switched to a new jingle package on Friday afternoon (1/21). The new jingles are a little more upbeat than the old ones. (1/22/2K)

WISCONSIN:
WBJZ/104.7 (Berlin) changed from Country to Smooth Jazz on January 15. (1/21/2K)

MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN:
The Pioneer Press reports that KARP and WJMC-FM plan to switch over to their new facilities on February 1. (1/21/2K)

MINNESOTA:
KMSP reports that Kandu Communications and Blue Chip Broadcasting are buying KARP/96.3 (Glencoe-Minneapolis) from the Linder Broadcasting for $20 million. Kandu is headed by Thomas Ross and opposed 104.1's sale to CBS in 1998, saying a minority-headed group should have a shot at buying a station. Blue Chip is a black-owned chain based in Cincinnati. KMSP says Ross hopes to take over the station in March. KARP, as everyone should know by now, has a Construction Permit for 100kW from a tower near Watertown that's all ready to go. (1/20/2K)

LPFM:
The FCC has approved a scaled-back version of Low Power FM on a 3-2 vote. The maximum power will be 100W, and the stations will be noncommercial. Here's more information. (1/20/2K)

WISCONSIN:
Tim Noonan sends word that WPVL-FM/107.1 (Platteville) is now "Classic Hits 107.1" with a format matching the name. WPVL-FM used to be Oldies; no idea when the change was made. (1/19/2K)

IOWA/MINNESOTA:
KYTC/102.7 (Northwood, IA) has upgraded from 6kW to 25kW, improving the signal into its target market of Albert Lea, MN. (1/19/2K)

MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN:
Everything appears to be ready to go for KARP/96.3 (Glencoe, MN) to switch to its new 100kW transmitter site near Watertown. WJMC-FM/96.3 (Rice Lake, WI) will move to 96.1 and drop from 100kW to 50kW at the same time. KARP's signal will be strong in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities and still good across the rest of the metro area. There will be no problems picking up the station on car radios, but there may be some difficulty hearing KARP in many offices. This will be the most significant new signal in the Twin Cities area since 105.1 Lakeville signed on in 1993. (1/15/2K)

MINNESOTA:
DirecTV began offering four Twin Cities stations today (1/15). They're 944-WCCO, 945-KSTP, 946-KARE, and 947-WFTC. They're available to anyone in the Minneapolis-St. Paul TV market. DirecTV does not appear to have plans to add any more Twin Cities stations until 2002, when they'll be required to carry every channel in every market they choose to serve. Dish Network began offering the channels last month. (1/15/2K)

WISCONSIN:
WLSL/93.7 (Three Lakes) is changing hands again, from Marathon Media to Results Broadcasting. (1/13/2K)

IOWA:
Ellen Chang has joined KLJB/FOX18 (Davenport) as co-anchor of their new 9:00 newscast. She's moving up from Elko, Nevada. (1/13/2K)

IOWA:
The new weekend sports anchor/weekday sports reporter at KTIV/4 (Sioux City) is Brad Reierson. He's been a producer at KSTP-TV/5 (St. Paul) and has done play-by-play for radio and cable TV. (1/13/2K)

IOWA:
KKEZ/94.5 (Fort Dodge) is now "Mix 94.5" with an Adult Contemporary format very similar to Mix 100.3 (KMXD Des Moines). KKEZ was recently purchased by Clear Channel, which also owns KMXD. KKEZ had been running a satellite Classic Rock format. (1/10/2K)

WISCONSIN:
WCSW/940 (Shell Lake) added Dr. Laura and went to a mostly Talk format last month. Dr. Laura airs from 8-11 a.m., followed by Rush Limbaugh live from 11-2. (Rush was previously tape-delayed from 1-4.) Paul Harvey's midday news and comment airs at 2, followed by local news and some locally-originated Nostalgia. WCSW is a daytime-only station. (1/7/2K)

WISCONSIN:
A clarification on WQOW's new antenna (see below): the antenna will be used for both WQOW/18 and WQOW-DT/15, with analog broadcasts only at first and digital broadcasts starting later. (1/7/2K)

NORTH DAKOTA:
After just a few months on the job, Y94 (WDAY-FM Fargo) has dropped Program Director and mornning host Jack Kelley. One rumor is that Rick Acker will come down from Grand Forks to take over the position. For now, Y94 afternoon host Chris Pickett will join Jill St. John in the morning. (1/7/2K)

MINNESOTA:
When Andy Hilger decided to sell his St. Cloud stations to Regent Broadcasting, he kept Spirit 93 (KKJM/92.9) to preserve its Contemporary Christian format. Now, he's donating the station to the Diocese of St. Cloud. The station is reportedly valued at $2.7 million. (1/7/2K)

MINNESOTA:
Harris Faulkner will join KSTP-TV/5 as co-anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast with Randy Meier. She's moving from WDAF-TV in Kansas City, where she anchored the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts. (1/7/2K)

MINNESOTA/WISCONSIN:
The Superior Daily Telegram reports that WDSE/8 (Duluth) will return to full power in a few weeks, after installation of a new antenna for WDSE is completed. The old antenna was damaged in last spring's ice storm. An antenna for WDSE-DT/38 is also being installed. The same tower crew is working on the KBJR tower, which should be completed by mid-February. (1/7/2K)

MINNESOTA:
Dr. Laura has lost another market. KNSI/1450 (St. Cloud) is dropping Dr. Laura and affiliating with KSTP/1500's network starting on January 10. KNSI will broadcast Joe Soucheray from 2-5 p.m., and changes in the evening syndicated programming will be made. (1/6/2K)

WISCONSIN:
Rush Limbaugh is changing stations in Green Bay. Midwest Communications announced last week that it would move Limbaugh from WNFL/1440 to WGEE/1360. (1/6/2K)

MINNESOTA:
WLOL/100.3 (Minneapolis) has been broadcasting from its IDS Center backup site for several days, following damage to WLOL's antenna on KMSP's Shoreview tower. Repairs are in progress. (1/6/2K)

MINNESOTA:
WLKX/95.9 (Forest Lake) has been at low power since Dec. 31 due to transmitter problems. They hope to be back up to full power by the end of this week. (1/4/2K)

WISCONSIN:
Things that haven't changed: WATQ is still Classic Country, WJMC-FM is still on 96.3, and WXCX is still relaying WWLC. (1/4/2K)

WISCONSIN:
The antenna for WQOW-DT/15 (Eau Claire) has been attached to the top of WEAU's Eau Claire tower, and WQOW plans to begin digital broadcasting in February. (1/3/2K)