September 2000

IOWA:
KCCI/8 (Des Moines) reporter Sheila Brummer is now the station's weekday morning anchor. (9/28/2K)

WISCONSIN/MINNESOTA:
Casey Communications, the owner of WWLC/104.9 (Balsam Lake) and WXCX/105.7 (Siren), has taken over day-to-day operation of the stations following the end of a Local Marketing Agreement with Pine City Broadcasting. The change in management was effective September 21. No major changes in programming of the two stations will be made. The current announcing staff of Adam McCune and Jon Ellis will be joined on Monday, September 25, by Deidre Berg. (9/22/2K)

WISCONSIN:
Just eight months after flipping to News/Talk, WATQ/106.7 (Chetek-Eau Claire) has flipped back to Classic Country as "Moose Country 106.7." The change, which took place on September 18, follows Clear Channel's purchase of the station. WATQ was tied for fourth place in the Fall 1999 ratings but dropped to 13th in Spring 2000 after then-owner Cumulus changed the format. Most of the talk programming that was broadcast on "News/Talk 106.7" remains on WMEQ/880 (Menomonie). (9/19/2K)

MINNESOTA:
KDUL-LP/12 (Duluth) will officially begin broadcasting on October 1. For now, KDUL is occassionally testing its equipment with broadcasts of programming to be aired as part of the regular schedule. Operations Manager Charlotte Klesman said they are still having some problems with the commercial insertion equipment, audio levels on UPN programming, and reception of AIN programming. Meanwhile, the transmitter for KDUL sister station and PAX-affiliate-to-be K56FH is in place, but the rest of the studio and signal distribution setup is not yet complete. 56 may sign on in a few months. And, KDUL translator-to-be W25CA (Ashland) is still broadcasting its own programming until engineers find a way to get KDUL's signal to Ashland. (9/19/2K)

IOWA:
KUNI translator K274AA/102.7 (Eldridge) has moved to 102.1 as K271AF and upgraded to 250 Watts. (9/19/2K)

MINNESOTA/MICHIGAN:
66 applications for low-power FM stations in Minnesota were filed during the window several weeks ago, with more than half of the applications coming out of the Twin Cities area. Applications were filed for stations on 91.7, 93.1, 97.7, 97.9, 103.5, and 104.7 in the metro. More than a dozen applications were filed for stations on 93.1 and 97.9. Here's a complete list of the applications filed in Minnesota, and here's a few applications from the UP of Michigan. Filing windows for other states in the region have yet to occur. (9/18/2K)

MINNESOTA:
KSKK/94.7 (Staples) has moved to its new facilities, which is an upgrade from 35kW/95m at this site to 50kW/144m at this site. The move and upgrade improves KSKK's signal into Brainerd and the surrounding lakes area. (9/18/2K)

NEBRASKA:
KRKU/98.5 (McCook) is on the air with an unknown format. Meanwhile, sister station KICX/96.1 has upgraded from 3.1 to 55kW. (9/18/2K)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
LA Skywave, Inc. is buying KSFS/1520 (Sioux Falls) from CGN Corporation. (9/18/2K)

MICHIGAN/WISCONSIN:
WIMI/99.7 (Ironwood) is off the air following a fire at its transmitter site near Montreal (WI) Thursday morning. A lightning strike is believed to be the cause of the fire, which destroyed the building, transmitter, and audio processing equipment. It may be several weeks before the station is back up to full power. (9/16/2K)

MINNESOTA:
KRBI-FM/105.5 (St. Peter) has increased power and switched from Adult Contemporary to Classic Hits as "River 105." The format flip occurred Tuesday, September 12 at 1 p.m. KRBI-FM has upgraded from 3 to 25kW and increased it's antenna height from 40 to 100m, improving it's signal into Mankato and New Ulm. Meanwhile, the community-focused AC format continues on KRBI/1310, which had simulcast with 105.5 since 1966. (9/13/2K)

IOWA/ILLINOIS:
Clear Channel is entering the Quad Cities with the purchase of Mississippi Valley Broadcasting's stations: WLLR/1230, WOC/1420, KUUL/101.3, WLLR-FM/103.7, and KCQQ/106.5. The sale apparently doesn't include Mississippi's remaining property, WKBF/1270. (9/13/2K)

MINNESOTA:
KLLZ-FM/99.1 (Walker-Bemidji) is being sold by Kommerstad Communications to BG Broadcasting. BG's president is Louis H. Buron, Jr. The sale apparently doesn't include KLLZ/1600, which currently rebroadcasts KLLZ-FM. (9/13/2K)

MINNESOTA:
Lisa Manna has been promoted from Reporter to Weekend Anchor at WBAY/2 (Green Bay). (9/13/2K)

MINNESOTA:
Hubbard Broadcasting has unveiled the new "format" of channel 45, now known as KSTC. The station was purchased by Hubbard Broadcasting a year ago and is operated jointly with KSTP-TV/5, making the first TV duopoly in Minnesota. The schedule includes a newscast produced by KSTP at 9 p.m., syndicated programming including Queen Latifah and Married with Children, and a movie in prime time. A morning newscast from 7-9 will also be added beginning September 18. Hubbard has already set up a website for the station at kstc45.com. Susan Anderson is the KSTC Station Manager, moving from KSTP-TV satellite KSAX/42 (Alexandria). Channel 45 initially signed on in July 1994 as a Home Shopping Network affiliate. (9/9/2K, revised 9/11)

MICHIGAN:
Anthony J. Fant has been granted a construction permit for a new TV station on channel 24 in Ironwood. This is an interesting situation, since Fant initially applied for the station when his company owned channel 21 in Duluth. (Ironwood is in the Duluth TV market and the Ironwood station most likely would have served as a satellite to the Duluth station.) Fant has since sold the Duluth station to Red River Broadcasting, which signed it on as a FOX affiliate last year. No word on what Fant will do with the Ironwood permit. It's for a 5000kW station to broadcast from the WIMI/99.7 tower. (9/9/2K)

SOUTH DAKOTA:
Sonlife Network translator K215DV/90.9 (Box Elder) is on the air. (9/9/2K)

MINNESOTA/NORTH DAKOTA:
The Nostalgia format of KQWB/1550 (Moorhead-Fargo) has been moved over to 1660, now called "Star 1660." 1550 is reportedly off the air. (9/7/2K)

NORTH DAKOTA:
Forum Communications, owner of WDAY-TV/6 (Fargo) is buying low-power station KVNJ-LP/2 (Fargo). (9/7/2K)

MINNESOTA:
WNCB translator K220EG/91.9 (Bloomington) has made the upgrade from 9W to 216W, expanding its coverage area to a larger part of the southern Twin Cities metro. (9/7/2K)

WISCONSIN:
KFSI translator W206BA/89.1 (Alma) is on the air. (9/7/2K)

IOWA:
Four Seasons Peoria is buying K65GF (Davenport) from Walter Communications. (9/7/2K)

NEBRASKA:
Control of the McCook Media Association, owner of the construction permit for KRKU/98.5 (McCook), is being transferred from Terry Peters to David Stout. (9/7/2K)

IOWA/WISCONSIN:
Several low-power TBN affiliates have changed channels lately. K61FF (Cedar Rapids) has moved to channel 17 as K17ET, W68BS (Green Bay) has moved to channel 49 as W49CB, and W20BG (Sheboygan) has moved to channel 16 as W16BS. The Sheboygan station also got an upgrade from 10 to 35kW. (9/7/2K)

MINNESOTA:
KDUL-LP/12 (Duluth) has been on the air testing for about a week. Currently, the station is broadcasting a loop of ID's and slides for programs the station will air. Operations Manager Charlotte Klesman said they are waiting for editing equipment to arrive and still need to work on switching, traffic, and production before the station can begin regular programming. She said that should happen within a few weeks. (9/1/2K)