South Metro FM Rimshot Station Seeks Move Closer to Minneapolis

An FM radio station that has provided rimshot coverage of the southern Twin Cities metro area for the past two decades is seeking a move closer to Minneapolis.

Milestone Radio II’s KBGY/107.5 (Faribault) currently broadcasts with 48kW/120m (class C2) from a tower south of Faribault. It’s filed an application with the FCC to downgrade slightly and move north.

The new facility, first noted by RadioInsight, would use 23.5kW/103m (class C3) from a tower just east of Elko New Market in Dakota County. It would also change its community of license to Elko New Market, a community of just over 4,000 people along I-35 in the far south metro.

Currently, KBGY’s 60 dbu contour (generally regarded to be the edge of a station’s main coverage area) ends on the southern edge of the metro area. From the new site, KBGY would deliver a 60 dbu signal as far north as Bloomington and the far southern neighborhoods of Minneapolis, adding about 675,000 people to its main coverage area.

FCCData has a comparison of the two coverage areas.

All three formats that have aired on KBGY since it signed on in 2001 have targeted Twin Cities audiences, as well as southern Minnesota listeners. It currently simulcasts a “Bob FM” Classic Country format with sister stations KLCI/106.1 (Elk River) and KDDG/105.5 (Albany).

KLCI made a similar move in 2001, when it downgraded from class C2 to C3 so that it could move its tower closer to the northwest metro.

KBGY’s potential move north is possible because of a quirk of the Twin Cities FM dial layout. KTMY/107.1 (Coon Rapids) transmits from the main Shoreview antenna farm but is a class C2 license rather than C1 or C0, while KQQL/107.9 (Anoka) transmits from Nowthen in the far north metro.

KBGY is proposing that KQQL, an iHeartMedia station, be downgraded on paper from full class C to C0 to meet minimum distance separations, though KQQL would not change its actual facilities. (KQQL’s 100kW/333m facility was licensed as class C when the standard for class C was 100kW at 300m or higher; the standard was later changed to 100kW/450m when class C0 was added.)

The move could also force Salem Media’s K298CO/107.5 (Minneapolis) to change its facilities or leave the air. K298CO signed on two years ago relaying Conservative Talk station WWTC/1280 from Golden Valley.