The Classic Country “Bob FM” format has added several more signals in the northern Twin Cities metro area as the “Big Q” Oldies format becomes HD and online-only.
WLKX/95.9 (Forest Lake), WQPM/1300 (Princeton), and WQPM translator W298CE/107.5 (Princeton) are now carrying “Bob FM,” which is also heard on KLCI/106.1 (Elk River), KBGY/107.5 (Faribault), and KDDG/105.5 (Albany).
Though WLKX’s signal overlaps with KLCI in the Ham Lake and Anoka area, the addition adds a stronger signal for “Bob” around the I-35E, I-35W, and I-35 corridors in the northeastern metro. W298CE adds a slightly stronger signal for “Bob” in Princeton.
KLCI serves the northwestern metro while KBGY serves the far southern metro and KDDG reaches St. Cloud.
Despite lacking a city-grade signal to much of the metro area, “Bob FM” has been competitive with the Twin Cities’ core signals in recent Nielsen 6+ ratings, even pulling slightly ahead of Audacy’s “102.9 The Wolf” (KMNB) in the October book.
A Facebook post said “The Big Q” continues on the HD3 signals of KLCI and KDDG, which had already carried the format.
WLKX and WQPM had revived “The Big Q” in 2020 after switching briefly to Classic Rock starting in 2018. Decades earlier, WLKX was “Lakes Country 95.9” when many of the songs now on Bob’s playlist first hit the charts in the 1980s and early 1990s. Meanwhile, WQPM simulcast a Country format with then-WQPM-FM, now KLCI, during that same era.
KLCI and WQPM are owned by Milestone Radio LLC, which is owned by Dennis Carpenter’s Starcom and companies held by Daniel Peters, who died last year. KBGY is owned by Milestone Radio II LLC and WLKX is owned by Lakes Broadcasting, both of which are controlled by companies that were owned by Peters.