“Go” Stations Shutting Down, To Be Replaced with National Networks

Posted on by Jon Ellis

Staff members of the “Go” duo of radio stations in the Twin Cities are losing their jobs after their owner decided to leave the radio business.

The Pohlad Companies own “Go 95.3” (KZGO St. Paul) and “Go 96.3” (KQGO Edina-Minneapolis) through licensee Northern Lights Broadcasting. An asset purchase agreement filed with the FCC on Thursday says that the stations are being sold to the Educational Media Foundation for $2.45 million.

Pohlad’s Tuesday announcement said a small number of employees will remain on staff to assist with the business closure, and all will be provided with transition support. The stations will operate with music-only formats until the sale closes, which is expected to happen early next year.

EMF operates the non-commercial “K-Love” and “Air-1” Christian music networks, which are currently heard on translators and HD subchannels in the Twin Cities. The organization has been adding stations for years, including former commercial stations in Chicago and New York, and does not carry local programming on its stations.

The situation is reminiscent of Emmis Communications’ 1990 decision to sell commercial station WLOL/99.5 to Minnesota Public Radio, though in that case, the airstaff remained on the air until the sale closed.

It’s not known exactly how many people are affected by the shutdown of the “Go” stations, but each had several on-air personalities (their social media statements are below).

Pohlad/Northern Lights is the smallest of the five companies that own full-power commercial FM signals in the core metro area. KZGO and KQGO had a combined average quarterly hour share of 2.2 in Nielsen Audio’s November ratings for listeners 6+.

KZGO carries a Hip-Hop format competing primarily with iHeartMedia’s “Hot 102.5” (K273BH and KTCZ-HD3). KQGO carries Alternative, competing with Minnesota Public Radio’s “The Current” (KCMP/89.3) and iHeart’s “Cities 97.1” (KTCZ).

The change will end 20 years of commercial operation of 96.3 in the Twin Cities market. It was moved in from central Minnesota in 2000 as “B96” (KTTB) with a Hip-Hop/R&B format first operated by Blue Chip Broadcasting and then Radio One.

Pohlad bought the station in 2007 and changed its format to Rhythmic Top 40 as “96.3 Now” (KHTC) in 2010. Two years later, the format was changed to Modern Adult Contemporary as “K-Twin” (KTWN).

KTWN secured the rights to the Minnesota Twins starting in 2013 and later segued to Adult Alternative, becoming “Go” in 2015. However, the Twins failed to help the station become a major player in the market and the team moved to Entercom’s WCCO/830 in 2018.

Here’s an audio montage of 96.3’s imaging over the last 20 years:

KQGO transmits with 19kW/77m (class C3) from the northwestern suburb of New Hope. The station got its start in Glencoe in 1993 and later paid a Wisconsin station to downgrade so it could move into the Twin Cities market, first with 100kW from a tower north of Watertown and later changing its community of license to Edina with the present facility.

95.3 had operated as a little-noticed Christian station for decades until Northern Lights bought it four years go. It transmits with 900W/258m (class A) from the IDS Center.

The sale raises the question of future programming for EMF’s existing signals in the metro area, including core signals W225AP/92.9 and K260BA/99.9. Some other EMF-owned translators, including K244FE/96.7, are operated by iHeart as part of a multi-market partnership.

This story was originally posted on Dec. 1 and was updated on Dec. 3 with the purchase price.

2 thoughts on ““Go” Stations Shutting Down, To Be Replaced with National Networks”

  1. Pingback: Still Listening to 99.5 WLOL 30 Years Later – Upper Midwest Broadcasting
  2. Pingback: No Twin Cities K-Love Upgrade as PraiseLive, Air1 Get New Signals – Upper Midwest Broadcasting

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