Twin Cities FM Signal Sold to AM Broadcaster

A southeastern Twin Cities metro FM translator that has been off the air for much of the past few years is being sold to an AM radio station owner.

St. Paul-based Hmong Radio Broadcast LLC is buying K294AM/106.7 (West St. Paul) from Fresh Air, Inc. for $260,000, according to an asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC. Hmong Radio Broadcast owns WIXK/1590 (New Richmond, WI) in the far eastern metro, which is rebroadcast on Edgewater Broadcasting’s W277CW/103.3 (New Richmond).

K294AM signed on in 1996, extending the Community/Variety format of Fresh Air’s KFAI/90.3 (Minneapolis) to the east metro area. A 2008 upgrade extended KFAI’s reach to much of the area served by K294AM.

K294AM has been off the air for much of the last two years amid work on the water tower that serves as its licensed site. References to 106.7 have been removed from KFAI’s website and social media feeds.

The application to transfer K294AM’s license says it will relay Cumulus Media’s WWWM-FM/105.7 (Eden Prairie-Minneapolis) but also says that Hmong Radio Broadcast is the licensee of the station to be rebroadcast on K294AM.

This story has been updated to reflect the fact that W277CW is owned by Edgewater Broadcasting, not Hmong Radio Broadcast.