People
Longtime Twin Cities radio voice Steven John delivered his last newscast on Minnesota Public Radio News on July 1:
Stevens John’s last newscast on @MPRnews. End of an era! pic.twitter.com/fGVvAV8RcU
— Tom Crann, MPR News (@TomCrann) July 1, 2022
News reporter Kim David has retired after 45 years at KROC/1340 (Rochester). David wrote a farewell to listeners detailing his experiences and favorite stories.
Joe Lancello is leaving his position as news and sports director at KBOE/104.9 and KMZN/740 (Oskaloosa, IA) to join KRJB/106.5 (Ada, MN) as a play-by-play broadcaster and announcer.
On the TV side, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association reports that Jim Wilson will join Scripps NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV/4.1 (Milwaukee) later this month. Wilson had previously worked at WITI/6.1, where he rose to the position of news director.
News anchor John Stofflet has announced plans to retire from Gray NBC affiilate WMTV/15.1 (Madison) in June 2023. He began his career as a reporter in Madison in 1983 and became WMTV’s main evening co-anchor in 2005.
Morgan Wolfe is joining Tegna NBC affiliate KARE/11 (Minneapolis) as an anchor/reporter. She had been at KARE as an intern and was most recently at Gray NBC affiliate WMTV/15 (Madison).
6 years ago— I left @kare11 as an intern. Next week— I return as an anchor/reporter🎥📺
— Morgan Wolfe (@MorganWolfeNews) July 5, 2022
Growing up in Blaine, I used to marvel at KARE’s journalists then I was lucky enough to learn from them during college @UMN_HSJMC ! It’s a surreal feeling returning home. pic.twitter.com/JkbPmiwQ37
Stations
As reported here earlier this week, WCTS is the winner of an open frequency in Minneapolis, with the FCC granting an upgrade to WCTS’ FM translator on 97.9 and denying a low-power FM station’s application.
The website for digital subchannel network Twist lists channel 11.7 of Tegna’s KARE (Minneapolis) as a future affiliate. The network is owned by Tegna.
Listings indicate Tegna’s WOI-DT (Ames-Des Moines) has added ThisTV on channel 5.8, as well as QVC on 5.7 and 5.9, as noted by a viewer on AVS Forum.
TV Technology profiled the new master control at Iowa PBS.
Updating this week’s FCC Monitor report, new low-power TV station K35PO-D (Bismarck) is relaying co-owned KFYR-TV.
A couple of weeks after their reports on Duluth were noted here, the American Countryside radio feature and podcast got into an area of even more interest to NorthPine readers: the history of the KORN callsign in South Dakota!
On another callsign note, KROC is used as the fictional callsign of a radio station in the latest season of “Kids in the Hall.” The format used in the fictional station is very different from what’s heard on AM and FM in Rochester, MN.
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