Did you know Minnesota’s top radio group owner has more than twice as many stations as the second-place group, but the top owner has no AM stations?
The state’s top radio station owner is Minnesota Public Radio, a non-profit which runs the state’s successful public radio network.
In-state ownership extends to Minnesota commercial radio, too. A count of all signals in the state shows four of the top five radio group owners in Minnesota are based in the state.
This tally comes after the earlier count of Wisconsin radio group owners. As with the Wisconsin list, this list only includes licensees that own ten or more stations (including translators) in Minnesota.
The challenge for Minnesota is the Red River Valley: Fargo and Grand Forks may be in North Dakota, but their metro areas include significant Minnesota population and many of their markets’ stations are licensed in Minnesota. For purposes of this list, Fargo and Grand Forks market stations are included, but parentheses show the Minnesota total excluding the Red River Valley.
| FM full-power | FM translators | FM total | AM | Total | |
| MPR | 41 (37) | 36 | 77 (73) | 0 | 77 (73) |
| Leighton | 16 (13) | 11 (8) | 27 (21) | 9 (7) | 36 (28) |
| Townsquare | 17 | 8 | 25 | 8 | 33 |
| Northwestern | 7 (6) | 19 | 26 (25) | 2 (1) | 28 (26) |
| Hubbard | 13 | 6 | 19 | 5 | 24 |
| Midwest | 12 (8) | 5 (3) | 17 (11) | 7 (5) | 24 (16) |
| Iowa City Broadcasting** | 8 | 7 | 15 | 7 | 22 |
| iHeartMedia | 11 (7) | 6* | 17 (13) | 3 (2) | 20 (15) |
| Subarctic | 10 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 19 |
| R&J Broadcasting | 8 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| Heartland Christian | 3 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| Alpha Media | 8 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 13 |
| Real Presence Radio | 3 | 6 (4) | 9 (7) | 4 (2) | 13 (9) |
| EMF | 6 (4) | 6* | 12 (10) | 0 | 12 (10) |
| State of Minnesota*** | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 11 |
| De La Hunt Media | 4 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 11 |
| Praise Live | 4 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| Kinship | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
*includes translators programmed, but not owned, by the organization
**Iowa City Broadcasting does business jointly with Ingstad Brothers Broadcasting as Ingstad Media. Together, the two companies own 28 Minnesota stations. Other members of the Ingstad family own an additional 11 stations in the Fargo and Wahpeton markets.
***Stations owned by the U of M Board of Regents or MnSCU system schools, which are state entities
There are two major national companies not included on this list: Audacy and Cumulus both own major stations in the Twin Cities but don’t have a presence in any other Minnesota markets. (Audacy has three stations and Cumulus has five.)
Another footnote is that Subarctic Media is owned by members of the Linder and Ketelsen families, who have various interests in a number of other licensees including Lakeland Broadcasting, Main Street Broadcasting, Blooming Prairie Farm Radio, and City of Lakes Media. Together, members of the two families own 32 stations in Minnesota.