The FCC has formally cancelled the license of a western Twin Cities metro AM radio station that did not seek license renewal.
The license of KPNP/1600 (Watertown) expired on April 1. The FCC moved its status to “license cancelled” and changed its database callsign to DKPNP on April 2.
The station is off the air. Its website is still active but an email to the contact listed on the website was returned as undeliverable, and a call to the phone number listed on the website could not be completed.
KPNP was owned by Peter Xiong’s Self Retire, Inc. and had an office in Brooklyn Center.
The station rimshotted the west metro area from a three-tower array near St. Bonifacius, using 5kW day and night with the same directional pattern. The facility delivered a strong signal to the Lake Minnetonka area and also reached parts of the western and central metro.
1600 first signed on in 1996 as KWOM with a Nostalgia format and then switched to Oldies in 2002. New owners changed station to a Spanish-language format under the callsign KZGX in 2004. It switched to its most recent Hmong-language format, callsign, and ownership in 2007.
The “license cancelled” status does not definitely mean the end for KPNP, since the FCC has restored licenses in rare similar circumstances during previous license renewal periods.