No Twin Cities K-Love Upgrade as PraiseLive, Air1 Get New Signals

The Educational Media Foundation closed on its purchase of two Twin Cities FM stations on April 12, but it turns out neither one is carrying EMF’s primary “K-Love” network.

Instead, EMF is carrying “Praise Live” on KNOF/95.3 (St. Paul-Minneapolis), which reverted to its heritage callsign after five years as KZGO. Meanwhile, the former KQGO/96.3 (Edina-Minneapolis) is now KMWA, carrying EMF’s Worship network called “Air1.”

KNOF is a class A station (900W/258m) transmitting from the IDS Center while KMWA is a class C3 station (19kW/77m) transmitting from the northwestern suburb of New Hope. KNOF had operated as a non-commercial Christian station for 55 years before its brief run as commercial station began in 2016, while 96.3 had been a commercial station in the market for two decades.

The former KZGO had carried a Hip-Hop/Rhythmic Pop format while KQGO had carried Adult Alternative, both using “Go” branding. EMF bought them from Northern Lights Broadcasting for $2.45 million. All station employees lost their jobs.

“Praise Live,” then known as “Praise FM,” had previously been heard on KNOF from 2009 to 2016. It’s also heard on three FM stations in western Minnesota and had been heard on KQGO-HD2 during 95.3’s run as KZGO.

“Praise Live” mixes Contemporary Christian music with programs such as “Focus on the Family.”

The “K-Love” Contemporary Christian format runs on K260BA/99.9, which transmits from the Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis, as well as KMKL/90.3 (North Branch) in the far northeast metro and K288GA/105.5 in the far east metro.

“Air1” is also heard on W225AP/92.9, which transmits from Wells Fargo Center in Minneapolis with a directional antenna that gives it a smaller coverage area than K260BA. Other “Air1” signals include K249ED/97.7 in the far north metro and K221ES/92.1 in the far northwest.

All of them compete with the University of Northwestern’s Contemporary Christian-formatted KTIS-FM/98.5 (Minneapolis), which consistently places among the top stations in the market with an audience larger than many major commercial broadcasters. Northwestern also runs a “Faith Radio” format on KTIS/900 and two FM translators. Other Christian broadcasters include the Central Baptist Theological Seminary’s WCTS/1030 (Maplewood-Minneapolis), which has an FM translator, and Salem Media commercial Christian Talk outlet KKMS/980 (Richfield-Minneapolis).

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Meanwhile, 96.3’s HD3 signal is no longer serving as the originating station for Hmong Radio Broadcast’s K294AM/106.7 (West St. Paul). K294AM’s programming is now originating on the HD3 signal of iHeartMedia’s KEEY/102.1 (St. Paul).