Last week, I brought you the sound of the Twin Cities AM band in 1994 as I recorded it during the beginning of my airchecking hobby. There were several format changes on the FM band that same year. Here’s the Twin Cities FM dial as it was heard in 1994:
88.5 KBEM: Jazz and MnDOT traffic, promoted up by official highway signs around the metro telling people to tune to 88.5 when the light was flashing
Now: Unchanged, though the highway signs have been removed
89.3 WCAL: News/Classical from St. Olaf College. I never recorded an aircheck in 1994, but here is an ID from 1998:
Now: KCMP “The Current” Adult Alternative (MPR)
89.9 KMOJ: R&B/Hip-Hop. The signal was weak in the suburbs but we wanted to hear them! Here they are in 1995:
Now: Unchanged
90.3 KFAI: Community/Variety. The exact year of this 1990s recording is unknown:
Now: Unchanged
91.1 KNOW-FM: MPR News flagship, only a few years after the split that had seen Classical move to 99.5 and 91.1 go all News. This is an ID from 8 p.m. on Dec. 29, 1994, and it’s interesting to note that MPR was carrying “All Things Considered” into the evening at this point:
Now: Unchanged
92.5 KQRS-FM: “KQ92” Classic Rock. The station was pretty dominant in the ratings at this time, led by Tom Barnard’s morning show.
Now: Unchanged/evolved with format
93.7 KRXX-FM: “93X” Hard Rock, positioned as “Minnesota’s Rock ‘n Roll Leader,” until a February format change.
93.7 KEGE: “The Edge” Modern Rock after a February format change.
Now: Back to “93X” Hard Rock as KXXR since 1997
94.5 KSTP-FM: “KS95” Hot Adult Contemporary, positioned as “the best variety of the 70s, 80s, and today”
Now: Unchanged/evolved with format
95.3 KNOF: Christian.
Now: Christian under different owners after a brief run with a commercial format
95.9 WLKX: “Lakes Country 95.9” serving the north metro. They would change to Contemporary Christian in 1995.
Now: “Bob” Classic Country simulcast with KLCI/106.1
97.1 KTCZ: “Cities 97” Adult Alternative, celebrating its tenth anniversary and positioned as “true to the music.” They had an in-studio performance during this aircheck that includes Steven John, who is now at MPR:
Now: Format evolved over time and was considered Hot AC at one time; now “Cities 97.1” as a AAA/Hot AC hybrid
98.5 KTIS-FM: Inspirational Christian music
Now: Contemporary Christian
99.5 KSJN: MPR Classical flagship as “Classical 99,” a slogan heard statewide even though it was only heard on 99 in the Twin Cities:
Now: Unchanged but now known as “Your Classical MPR”
100.3 WBOB-FM: “BOB 100 FM” Country. The format hit the air in 1993 with a massive marketing campaign.
Now: KFXN-FM “The Fan” Sports Talk
101.3 KDWB: Contemporary Hits. The format was in a doldrums in the early 90s, forcing the station to play a lot more gold than a CHR station normally runs. Sounds familiar…
Now: Unchanged/evolved with format
KDWB celebrated its 35th anniversary in 1994 with a reunion broadcast and this cool montage:
102.1 KEEY: “K102” Country, the heritage Country station in the market facing several new competitors
Now: Unchanged/evolved with format
102.9 WLTE: “W-Lite 103” Adult Contemporary, “the station at work”
Now: KMNB “The Wolf” Country
104.1 KJJO-FM: “Thunder 104” Country. It had launched in fall 1992, about eight months before BOB 100 FM. The “Thunder” identity lasted until April 1994; this recording is from December 1993:
104.1 KJJO-FM: “Classic Country 104” starting in April, shortly after the station added former WCCO host Tim Russell in mornings. It wouldn’t last, though — the station changed to Smooth Jazz a year later.
Now: KZJK “Jack FM” Variety Hits
105.1 WTCX: Hot Adult Contemporary until February, featuring Drew Durigan’s Saturday Night `70s show. The format had just launched a year earlier with a signal covering the south metro, but identifying as an overall Twin Cities station. It went silent after being sold to Cargill Communications, which had a months-running public effort to build an Alternative format.
105.1 KREV: “REV 105” Alternative starting in May, simulcasting with 105.3 in the north metro. The signals competed with the Modern Rock format on the bigger 93.7 “The Edge” signal, which had launched ahead of “REV 105.”
Now: WGVX “Love 105” Adult Contemporary
105.3 WLOL: Adult Contemporary until April. The Cambridge station had picked up the legendary callsign in 1991 and upgraded shortly thereafter to add north metro coverage.
105.3 WREV-FM: “REV 105” Alternative starting in May. I only have one recording from 1994 (above), but here is how they sounded in 1996:
Now: WLUP “Love 105” Adult Contemporary
105.7 KCFE: “The Cafe” Smooth Jazz, “serving it smooth.” Like 105.1, KCFE had signed on in 1993; its signal was strongest in the southwest suburbs. It became part of the “REV 105” simulcast in late 1996.
Now: WWWM-FM “Love 105” Adult Contemporary
106.1 WQPM-FM: “Country Q 106” from Princeton. The station had added coverage of the Twin Cities metro with an upgrade in 1992.
Now: KLCI “Bob FM” Classic Country
107.1 WIXK-FM: “Real Country 107” from New Richmond, WI, but including some metro areas in its ID’s and imaging. It partially ran the syndicated “Real Country” format. 107.1 would upgrade to full metro coverage six years later.
Now: KTMY “My Talk 107” Personality Talk
107.9 KQQL: “KOOL 108” Oldies, co-owned with WBOB-FM in the market’s first commercial FM duopoly starting in 1993. Those Oldies are short, so there was plenty of imaging!
Now: evolved to Classic Hits