Longtime broadcaster and Twin Cities radio station owner Greg Borgen has passed away.
An obituary says Borgen, of Bayport, died unexpectedly on Dec. 21 at the age of 64. Borgen was a second-generation broadcaster and served on the board of the Minnesota Broadcasters Association.
Borgen’s holdings include WREY/630 (St. Paul), WDGY/740 (Hudson-St. Paul), WREY translator W235CT/94.9 (Minneapolis), and WDGY translators W221BS/92.1 (St. Paul) and W279DD/103.7 (Hudson). WDGY’s programming is also carried on the HD2 channel of Hubbard Broadcasting’s KTMY/107.1 (Coon Rapids-Minneapolis), which serves as the originating station for W221BS.
WREY carries a Spanish-language format called “El Rey,” while WDGY pairs its historic callsign with a 60s-70s Classic Hits format that Borgen programmed.
Borgen appeared on a Nautel “Transmission Talk Tuesday” event earlier this month to discuss his experiences with AM HD Radio, as WDGY served as a test station for all-digital AM broadcasts in 2014 and 2015. He also wrote about building the translators in a Radio World article for Nautel a few years ago, saying that the AM revitalization filing window for translator moves brought “the opportunity to bring some additional energy to our stations.”
Borgen is survived by his wife, three children, and nine grandchildren. Visitation will be held on Dec. 30 and the funeral service on Dec. 31 with a livestream option. Details are in the obituary.