Ask NorthPine: Why Are Some Twin Cities Stations Weak in Wisconsin?

Is there a reason why all the Minneapolis-St. Paul stations are really weak in Burnett County (Wisconsin) except 107.9? I normally get the others no problem.

The changes you’ve noticed this summer may be due to work at the KMSP(TV) tower in Shoreview, which is also home to ten FM stations.

Twin Cities Public Television, which also uses the tower, has noted that a guy wire replacement project requires TPT’s stations to shut down on about 21 days this summer. The project should be about halfway done by now, according to the original plan, with an estimated completion date of August 15.

The ten FM stations that transmit from the tower (92.5, 93.7, 97.1, 98.5, 99.5, 100.3, 101.3, 102.1, 102.9, and 104.1) all have licensed auxiliary facilities that allow them to transmit from other sites when work is going on at the Shoreview tower. It appears most or all of the auxiliary facilities are at the IDS Center using around 32kW, as compared with the usual 100kW.

While it doesn’t appear the radio stations have made any public announcements about this work, such announcements may be confusing to listeners since most people in the Twin Cities would not notice much difference. But listeners outside of the metro, such as those in the cabin country of Burnett County, Wisconsin, would notice the weaker signals.

KQQL/107.9 transmits from a tower in Anoka County, which gives it a stronger signal to northerly locations such as Burnett County.

Incidentally, Burnett County poses an interesting scenario for radio reception. Though the area can receive dozens of fringe FM signals from several adjacent metro areas, there are only a few local city-grade signals. This makes the area somewhat of a laboratory for demonstration of troposphere-enhanced reception. On a warm summer day, the area may have strong signals booming in on almost every frequency, while reception is a lot more difficult under normal circumstances.