Sports commentator Paul Allen has been off the air all week after making comments about “paid protesters” during the Friday, Jan. 23 broadcast of his “9 to Noon” show on iHeartMedia’s “The Fan” (KFXN-FM/100.3 Minneapolis). Allen did not present any evidence to back up his claim. The backlash has been covered by both local and national media outlets; BringMeTheNews and Awful Announcing (below) report “The Fan” aired an apology at the beginning of the show on Jan. 26. Guest hosts have covered Allen’s shift in the subsequent days. There’s no word when Allen, who is also an announcer for the Vikings, will return to the air.
Minnesota Vikings play-by-play announcer Paul Allen opened Monday’s radio show with a statement apologizing for his "paid protester" comments last week, before announcing he’s "taking a few days off." pic.twitter.com/hAVy7FUDMS
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 26, 2026
“The North 103-3” (WDSE-FM Duluth) is adding an hour of talk/magazine programming at noon starting Feb. 1, slightly changing direction from its music-focused format. The hour will feature a different show each day: “Great Lakes Odyssey,” “A Way with Words,” “The Moth Radio Hour,” “Big Picture Science,” and “Filmspotting.” The new shows displace “Live from Studio A, The Archives,” which will air Mondays at 8 p.m.
WTIP/90.7 (Grand Marais) announced that it is ending its annual “Radio Waves Music Festival” due to funding concerns. It will instead expand other live music events throughout the year.
The Minnesota Wild announced that four games will air on broadcast TV stations in 16 Upper Midwest markets this year. The games will run on Hubbard Broadcasting stations in three Minnesota markets and Gray Media stations in 13 other markets in Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The first game was Jan. 29 and the others are Feb. 27, April 11, and April 14.
Coverage of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games runs from Feb. 6 to Feb. 22 on NBC. Initial TV listings show midday and weekend morning programming pre-empted but other local newscasts unaffected. Network coverage is generally scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., 7 to 10 p.m., and 10:35 p.m. to 3 a.m. Central time weekdays, and all day on weekends (NBC will also have the Super Bowl on Feb. 8).
In case you missed it here:
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