Townsquare Adds 5th Duluth Station, Vikings

Townsquare Media is adding a fifth station in the Duluth market and has also acquired the rights to the Minnesota Vikings.

The company announced Thursday that it will take over operations of WWAX/92.1 (Hermantown-Duluth) from Twin Ports Radio LLC on Feb. 1 with plans to buy the station in the near term. They plan to move the existing “Sasquatch 106.5” Classic Rock format to 92.1.

The move will give “Sasquatch” a stronger signal in its competition with Midwest’s KQDS-FM/94.9 (Duluth). Nielsen Audio ratings released this week showed KQ with a wide lead in 12+ ratings, more than doubling the next closest station, while “Sasquatch” was the lowest-rated of the subscribing commercial stations.

WWAX’s existing “Fan” format will move to the current “Sasquatch” stations, W293CT/106.5 and WEBC/560 (Duluth), during the week of Feb. 17 after a brief simulcast of “Sasquatch” on both its old and new homes. WEBC, the market’s oldest station, had previously carried the Minneapolis-based “Fan” network from 2003 to 2007.

Additionally, Townsquare has acquired the rights to the Vikings for the 2020-2024 seasons and will begin carrying the team on both “The Fan” and “Sasquatch” this fall. The Vikings had previously aired on KQDS.

As “The Fan,” WEBC will continue to carry Grandma’s Marathon and high school football and hockey.

In a news release, Townsquare CEO Bill Wilson said, “We are pleased to announce this strategic move which will strengthen our position in Duluth, and more importantly, strengthen our content offering for our local community and our marketing capabilities for our local advertising partners. The addition of WWAX to our local media portfolio is a clear demonstration of our ‘Local First’ strategy, which is a commitment to super-serve our local clients, local listeners and local communities while helping local businesses grow.”

The change marks the last step in the reduction of the Twin Ports radio market from three to two major FM owners. WWAX and KQDS-FM were both previously owned by Red Rock Radio, with KQ sold to Midwest several years ago and WWAX now going to Townsquare.

In Nielsen’s fall book, six Midwest stations had a 40.1 share in 12+ compared to 20.8 for Townsquare’s four stations.

Twin Ports Broadcasting also owns KJOQ/1490 (Duluth) and FM translator W265DO/100.9. KJOQ carries a separate Sports format as “The Jock” but currently shares some syndicated programming with WWAX.